SOURCE: Las Vegas Review-Journal

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Dalla said Brunson connects the history of the World Series of Poker, from its small roots at Binion's, to today's 55-event, six-week tournament at the Rio.

"Doyle Brunson, perhaps more than any other poker player, represents the bridge between the past and present," Dalla said. "He was there at the beginning, he's here now and maybe he's part of the future, based on the way he's playing."

Brunson has authored two of the biggest-selling self-help books on poker, "Doyle Brunson's Super System: A Course in Power Poker," and "Doyle Brunson's Super System II." Both books have sold well over 200,000 copies.

Internet gambling, which boosted the popularity of poker in the past few years, brought Brunson a new legion of fans.

He lent his name and image to an online poker site housed in Costa Rica. In its heyday, before federal legislation effectively eliminated the ability of Americans to legally gamble online, Doylesroom.com was one of the most visited gambling sites on the Web.

"It's amazing the people that know me because of Doylesroom," Brunson said. "I think I was a little overly friendly because I tried to accommodate everybody."

This weekend, Brunson plans to ante up his $10,000 to play in the 38th world championship no-limit Texas hold' em event. He's seen the game he loves go through many changes, including an era before television and the Internet when Las Vegas casinos were shutting down poker rooms.

"Poker is the American game and I've seen the game go full spectrum," Brunson said. "I think Americans have found out what a great game poker really is. It has a lot of qualities of a sport. I really don't think poker has reached its zenith yet. I still think there is room for the game to grow."

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