Doyle Brunson: The Godfather of Poker – Book Review
Doyle Brunson is a man who needs ample introduction. After 40 years poker at the highest level, 10 WSOP Bracelets (including 2 wins in the WSOP Main Event), a WPT victory, and as author of the classic poker book Super Systems he is a living legend in poker. Where many older poker players opt for a quieter life, Brunson often plays the “The Big Game” in Las Vegas and plays each year WPT and WSOP tournaments. A man who has accomplished so much and has been through a lot deserves a biography in 2009 and he wrote and published this himself in 2009. This autobiography is a story of a man who grew up in a poor family in the bible belt of the U.S. and became the most famous gambler in the world many years later. During his life he was given the nickname “The Godfather of Poker” and this is therefore the appropriate title of his book.
Structure The Godfather of Poker
Brunson starts his book with a cliffhanger chapter. Brunson and his wife Louise were robbed in their own home in Las Vegas in 1998 and this robbery is the subject of the first chapter. How this robbery ends you will not read until halfway through the book, although I don’t spoil anything by saying that they survived the raid. After this “initiation” Brunson tells of his childhood in Texas and how he has ended in the world of poker and gambling. Brunson goes through his life primarily chronological, although the book also contains chapters in which the author writes about certain specific issues. Brunson elaborates for instance in these chapters on his big hobby golf and of course the big bets that were made playing golf and for instance on the stigma that the profession of a gambler has.
Writing Style Doyle Brunson
Although Brunson is a poker player and gambler and not a professional writer, he describes events extensively and colorfully. Brunson also describes events from many decades ago in a very detailed and vivid way. In the latter part of his biography Brunson is nostalgic when he thinks back to his childhood and all the friends he has lost over the years.
Opion The Godfather of Poker
This book is a must have for any poker player for several reasons. First, because it revolves around one of the best poker players of all time, which gives you a look into the fascinating life of a professional gambler. Brunson also has a life, which he experiences events that most people only see in movies. He traveled in the beginning of his career on the Texas poker circuit, which was a risky business, and during this time he was frequently robbed and arrested. Although Brunson writes that Vegas was a lot safer than Texas, this was just relative. Brunson writes extensively about his (golf) adventures with Mob boss Tony Spilotro, known from the movie Casino in which Spilotro is played by Joe Pesci, and drug lord Jim Chagra.
This book is also a must have, because it gives an interesting insight in the history and growth of poker. When Brunson began his poker career in Texas, poker was still a relatively unknown game. In addition, the currently popular version of No Limit was only played in Texas. Doyle Brunson played the first version of the World Series of Poker and witnessed how the event grew into the spectacle it is today.
On internet forums you can read many denigrating stories of online players about the game of oldtime players like Doyle Brunson. I recommend to these players to read biographies like these. Playing professional poker was in the time that Brunson began much tougher than it is today and the most online professional players do not have the personality and toughness to do what Doyle Brunson all did. I think that this autobiography deserves a movie and I believe that we don’t have to wait very long for this.
