Aggressiveness: 5
Looseness: 4
Short-handed: 7
Limit: 7
No-limit: 8
Tournaments: 7
Side games: 8
Steam control: 7
Against weak players: 6
Against strong players: 8
Best game: All around great player
Weakness: Stamina is limited, although it has improved since gastric bypass surgery
Doyle is the Arnold Palmer of poker: the king. A fiery competitor at over 70 years of age, Doyle remains one of top five players in the world. He was once strictly a no-limit specialist, but he probably became a top limit player when he was working on his Super System book. People who don’t know him are amazed when he makes it to the final table of one of the few tournaments he enters each year. He is still a better player than all of the players on the tournament trail.
Amusing anecdote
When I first started playing with Doyle, we’d play in out of the way places because some of the well known players didn’t want public scrutiny. I would ask Doyle about the poker game, but he would always talk about the food spread at the game. He weighed 400 pounds and he’d say to me, “Look at those pork chops” or “Tell me if you’ve ever tasted a better sweet potato than those.” He seemed to get much more delight from eating than playing poker. Doyle Brunson’s website: www.doylesroom.com
Title: In the Court of the Crimson King
Artist: King Crimson
Year: 1969
Reason for this song choice
Doyle wanted me to use Yellow Rose of Texas, but I thought that was too boring. He is the King of Poker, so I chose this song. He complained that he had never heard of the song before. I told him it didn’t matter as long as he realized I was saying that he is the king.