Poker News / Short-Stacked Shamus / 04 December 2009 / Leave a Comment

About a third of the way into Doyle Brunson's newly-released autobiography, The Godfather of Poker, the 76-year-old grand statesman of the game shares an old gambling friend's comment regarding the relative authenticity of gamblers' tales. According to Brunson's friend, "normal people routinely enhance and exaggerate their stories, while gamblers had to tone down their yarns."

There could well be moments in the book in which Brunson opted to choose moderation when sharing details from his long, varied journey in search of the biggest games around. For the most part, though, Brunson appears to have employed that fearless, pull-no-punches style which has served him so well on the felt for so many years. That is to say, with The Godfather of Poker, written by Brunson with fellow Texan and longtime journalist Mike Cochran, the gambler appears to have brought it all to the table, so to speak. The result is a highly entertaining and revealing look at the life of the one poker player who perhaps more than any other can say he's seen it all -- and not be exaggerating.

Brunson has shared some details of his story in print before. His preface to the original Super/System, first published as How I Made Over $1,000,000 Playing Poker in 1978, gave an overview of his Texas days and early triumphs at the WSOP. Other works like According to Doyle, a compilation of columns originally published in 1984 then later repackaged as Poker Wisdom of a Champion, also share particular anecdotes from Brunson's career, a few of which turn up again here. The Godfather of Poker, though, offers a much more comprehensive account of the life and career of Texas Dolly, and thus will surely become the most referenced title for Brunson's story, as well as a useful resource for those interested in the last fifty years of poker history, generally speaking.

The book begins, epic-like, in medias res, with our hero and his longtime wife, Louise, confronted with a harrowing home invasion just one night after Doyle had claimed yet another bracelet at the 1998 WSOP. Leaving that scene on a cliffhanger, the reader is then taken back to the author's childhood days growing up in Longworth, Texas. Much of these early chapters share Brunson's early love of athletics, highlighted by several noteworthy achievements in track and basketball.

Brunson tells the story -- perhaps familiar to some -- of how a catastrophic leg injury prematurely ended a promising basketball career at Hardin-Simmons University, one that may well have landed Brunson a career in the NBA. Redirecting his energy momentarily toward his education, Brunson obtains a master's degree and for a time appears headed for a life as an educator or in business. However, poker -- a game first introduced to Brunson during his school days -- quickly turns from an avocation to a vocation for the young Brunson, replacing athletics as a means to allay his seemingly insatiable hunger to compete.

From there the story carries through four distinct periods -- the "Texas years" of his early tutelage playing games on Exchange Avenue in north Fort Worth; "fading the white line" throughout Texas and the rest of the south in search of more action; moving to Las Vegas at age 40 and thereafter establishing himself as a high-stakes winner and collector of WSOP bracelets; and the post-"poker boom" years of 2003 onward in which a septuagenarian Brunson discovers himself having become a bona fide celebrity.

Certain themes emerge as Brunson's story progresses, themes which ultimately shed a lot of light on his personality and character. At nearly every step of his journey, Brunson seems to be accompanied by "running mates" -- close friends with whom he shares meaningful, mutually supportive relationships. Indeed, one gets the sense at times that one reason for Brunson's having written the book may have been to pay tribute to these many individuals who played significant roles in Brunson's life, from his high school teammates D.C. Andrews and Riley Cross, to his partners traveling the Texas Circuit, "Amarillo Slim" Preston and "Sailor" Roberts, to Vegas friends Jack Binion and David "Chip" Reese, among a host of others.

Another theme, signaled by that opening scene, is the risk to personal safety Brunson frequently experienced in his pursuit of poker. From the beginning, Brunson finds violence and crime surrounding the game, starting on Exchange Avenue, where "a sinister, often evil, and always dangerous element" dwelled. Such threats were present on the road as well, where Brunson and his partners were constantly apprehensive of "hijackers," and in Vegas, too, where for some time he had to deal with mobsters looking for their cut of the action.

Other, reoccurring motifs include how poker is perceived by the public (something that changes markedly over time), the complicated ethics of gamblers ("While a man's word in the gambling world is his bond, honor among gamblers got slightly warped at times"), love for his wife and family, matters of faith, and coping with tragedy and/or illness. With regard to the latter, Brunson includes the story of his seemingly miraculous recovery from cancer in his late twenties. He also movingly relates his grief over the early death of his eldest child, Doyla, and the loss of friends like Roberts, Reese, and others.

The book shares numerous, memorable character sketches as well, with nearly every figure of significance in the history of poker and gambling from the last fifty years receiving some attention. For this reason, the inclusion of an index is much appreciated.

That opening scene gets revisited (and concluded) about two-thirds of the way through The Godfather of Poker -- when the story reaches 1998 -- and the narrative's organization thereafter seems a little less carefully maintained than had been the case up to that point. Indeed, after having adhered relatively strictly to a chronological sequence, the last 20 chapters or so (of 52 total, natch) appear to dissolve into what at times seem like hastily juxtaposed stories and sketches from various points in Brunson's life.

Even so, the book remains fairly riveting from beginning to end, and its finale is quite inspiring.

Looking back, Brunson sometimes yearns for earlier, simpler times, but expresses few regrets. "I feel you own your experiences," he says. "Think about that as you go through life. I can't tell you that the cards you're dealt will be the ones you want, but whatever they turn out to be, play them wisely, honestly, and with passion and pleasure. That's the secret."

Looking forward, Brunson is ready to collect still more experiences, advanced age obviously having done very little to deter Brunson's hunger for competition. "Everything I have is ready to play," says Brunson, declaring his desire to keep gambling, and to put all he has on the table. Much as he has done, one might say, with The Godfather of Poker.

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