Unless you've been hiding under a rock or just hate poker, you've
seen Doyle Brunson on television. He wrote a book called
Super/System that's considered by many to be the Bible of poker,
and he's won the main event at the World Series of Poker twice. He's
still playing poker professionally in his 70's, a time when many
Americans are either retired, in poor health, or both.
Two World Series, Two Wins - With the Same Hand
Doyle Brunson's two big wins in the WSOP were consecutive, the first
being in 1976 and the 2nd being in 1977. The fun part is that the
hand he won the tournament with in each year was the same, 10-2.
(That was his starting hand, anyway.) Both years he got lucky and
hit a full house with the 10-2.
Aces might be called rockets, and kings might be called cowboys, and
queens might even be called Siegried and Roy, but 10-2 is always
called a "Doyle Brunson" now. This is as official as an unofficial
name for a starting hand can be. It's on all the starting hands'
nicknames lists, and it's used by all the announcers on television.
Brunson's 1976 hand was against Jessie Alto. Alto held A J, Doyle
had T 2, both Spades, and the flop was A J T with one Spade, Alto
bet and Doyle called. A two came on the turn and Doyle moved in,
caught a ten on the river and won his first WSOP championship.
In 1977 Doyle was heads-up against Bones Berland, who held 8 5. The
flop was 10 8 5, giving Doyle top pair and Bones two pair, and both
players checked. A two hit the turn, Doyle bet and Bones moved all
in. Doyle called and the river was a ten giving Brunson the full
house and his second championship in as many years.
You'll probably also be interested in reading our profile of
Evelyn Ng.
A couple of other articles about starting hand include our
article about
Phil Hellmuth's no limit starting hand recommendations and this
article about
Texas holdem starting hands.
This page was last updated on January 5, 2006.
