SOURCE: Las Vegas Review-Journal

Continued from page 1

"A lot of us see all the big faces, but only one person still puts a lump in my throat. That's when Doyle Brunson walks into the room and people are clapping," Dalla said.

MGM Mirage executive Bobby Baldwin, who won the world poker championship in 1978, said it's appropriate for fans to acknowledge Brunson and what he has meant to the game.

"As well they should, because he is a legend and there is no question he is responsible for what the game is today," said Baldwin, the president and CEO of Mirage Resorts.

For his part, Brunson doesn't consider himself a celebrity, just an old-time gambler who makes his living playing poker.

"It's flattering and appreciated but it really is unsolicited," Brunson said. "I don't mind a little of it, but it can really begin to get old. I'm a poker player. That's what I do and that's what I am. I'm the real deal there."

Brunson can't fathom how much he has earned or gambled away playing poker since he took up the game in the 1950s. He estimates tens of millions of dollars have crossed the tables.

"I really have no idea how much I've won and lost," Brunson said. "A lot, obviously."

That's a good thing. Brunson freely admits he hasn't had much success in the business world outside of the poker room.

Brunson said poker helped offset the millions he lost betting on sports when he was younger. He has also invested money over the years in an oil business, an Alabama television station, a mining company, a horse racing track and a 900 telephone number tout service, all of which went under.

"The only way I ever made any money was in poker," Brunson said. "I went into about 10 businesses and they all failed. So I always had poker to fall back on, and that's what I did."

Brunson said real estate ventures in Southern California and Texas, however, did pay off.

His life could have had a different story. Brunson was born and raised in rural Texas and he went to college on both a basketball and track scholarship. He was set to play in the NBA for the Minneapolis Lakers when an accident shattered his leg and ended his basketball career before it started.

Page 1, 2, 3, 4