PokerShark's Exclusive Interview with the Legendary Doyle Brunson

One of the most well known poker players on the face of the earth, Doyle Brunson AKA Texas Dolly took the time to speak with me at PokerShark.com for a one on one interview. Little did I know that he would open my eyes to a whole other world of poker that has since been replaced by the major tournaments and virtual tables on the internet.

Doyle has certainly earned the respect of his fellow poker players and is known as a legend by many, including myself. So when I got the opportunity to interview him, I immediately jumped on it. What is it like for one of the best poker players of all time? Find out below!

Liz: You were constantly on the go last year when it comes to playing poker. What are your plans for this year?

Doyle: Well, I’ll continue to do the same. I enjoy what I do so I just keep truckin.

Liz: I hear you’ve been married for nearly 50 years! You have been so successful in both your career and family. Do you have any advice for other poker players with families?

Doyle: My advice to the men is to find a woman like the one I married. She’s a very understanding and very unusual woman and that’s kinda what it takes to keep a marriage together for a poker player because he’s gone so much.

Liz: Your son and daughter, Todd and Pamela are excellent poker players as well. Did they learn how to play by watching you or it is something they picked up on their own?

Doyle: Well they picked it up on their own believe it or not. My son was a law major at Texas Tech University and after his junior year he came home and announced he wanted to be a professional poker player and I didn’t even know that he knew how to play. And I took him out to the card rooms and saw right away that he was pretty darn good already so I didn’t really have any objection. My daughter Pam kinda picked it up in DoylesRoom playing in tournaments and I uh..I guess maybe it’s something in the genes, I don’t know.

Liz: Playing poker professionally has turned out to be an incredible adventure for you. What would you have done instead if playing poker professionally had not been such an incredible opportunity in your life?

Doyle: I went to a University and got my Masters degree in administrative education. So I’m sure that I would have probably taught and been a school administrator.

Liz: I heard that you used to played basketball.

Doyle: Yeah, It was at the end of my time (in college). The Lakers were going to make me their first round draft choice. Following my senior year I broke my leg that summer and I never was able to compete the year after that.

Liz: Is that when you started playing poker?

Doyle: Yeah, as a graduate student.

Liz: Having participated in many poker games and tournaments throughout the years, is there a specific one that stands out the most to you?

Doyle: I think the World Series (of Poker) will always be a special tournament for not only me, but for all poker players because it was the original poker tournament and it’s the most prestigious one so that would be my choice.

Liz: Do you prefer cash games or tournaments?

Doyle: Oh cash games, I prefer cash games by far. I don’t really like tournaments.

Liz: Over the years the WSOP has changed dramatically from the days at Binion’s. Do you consider the changes to be good? What, if anything would you change about it?

Doyle: Well, you know, it’s progress- it’s something that just happens. I preferred it when it was smaller and more intimate. You knew everybody and it was a kind of camaraderie among the player and now it’s just gotten so big, that it’s lost that particular aspect of the tournament. On the other hand you’ve got more players, more tournaments, more money so it’s a two edged sword. I don’t suppose I would do anything differently. 

Liz: What was it like when you first began playing poker? Was it dangerous? Did you ever experience a scary situation? What did you do?

Doyle: Oh Lord yes, many, many times. I saw two men die with heart attacks at the table. I’ve been robbed five times. I saw a guy get shot in the head at a poker table. One guy got shot through the neck and he pursued to beat up on the robbers than. So there’ve been many, many uh, what you’d call, scary experiences.

Liz: While playing poker over the years, was there something that you did that you look back on as being especially hazardous, that if you went back in time, you would definitely not do again?

Doyle: As far as my poker career goes no, I don’t think that I would do anything differently. I evolved, came up through the lower limits. I played at the highest possible level at the time which was, back in the fifties, sixties and seventies would be considered the small stakes today. So I didn’t just come along.

Liz: You are known by many in the poker world as Texas Dolly. How did you earn this nickname?

Doyle: (laughs) Well, Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder. He was a famous sports handicapper. When I first came to Las Vegas he was a sports writer for the Las Vegas Sun and in those days we didn’t want any publicity so I asked him not to use my name when he wrote about me and said ok so he called me Texas Doyle when he wrote about me. He and I became good friends and he called me Doyley and some other reporter heard him call me Doyley and then he put the Texas Doyle as Texas Dolly and I’ve been that ever since.

Liz: As a poker player, traveling places all over the world for poker tournaments is something you’re familiar with. Do you have a favorite?

Doyle: I enjoy the Irish Open a lot. I like the people in Ireland and it was one of my favorites.

Liz: Before playing in a tough tournament or cash game, Do you have any special mental training techniques or do you prepare yourself by watching recording of the players you’ll be facing?

Doyle: No I don’t, I play purely by instinct. I don’t have a particular pattern that I use, I don’t approach any game knowing what I’m gonna do. The way that other players play, dictates the way that you play. That’s what [a lot] of people don’t understand. I think that’s the mark of the better players

Liz: There have been many new professional poker players emerging from online, cash games and in tournaments recently. Out of the many new names to the poker scene, which three do you consider to have the most potential and why?

Doyle: I’m not really familiar with the online players. I don’t know exactly what’s what on the online. So I have to go back to the cash games. From the new players I’d say Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu and the boy from Sweden, the Erick123 (Eric Sagström).

Liz: What are the most challenging factors when it comes to online poker versus live cash games?

Doyle: The online poker is kinda different because you can’t see your opponent you don’t really develop many tells. I guess maybe you try to pick up on patterns. I know they’ve got these different programs out there that describe how your opponent usually plays. I don’t believe they could have one on me because I don’t know myself what I’m gonna do. I don’t have any set plan of when I’m gonna bet and raise and so forth. I’m sure that these young guys, I know most of them, have all those different programs so I guess that’s something you’ve gotta be aware of- that you don’t fall into any pattern.

Liz: Thank you so very much for taking the time to be interviewed today. Before we are finished, do you have any advice for the amateur poker player who wants to play professionally?

Doyle: Yeah. To stay in the limits that you can play comfortably in and wait until you can beat that level before you move on to the next level.

Join PokerShark’s exclusive Doyle Private Tournament every Thursday at 4pm ET for some NL Hold’em.

Doyle Brunson can be found on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TexDolly

You can also play with Doyle by visiting his online poker room Doylesroom.com