The career of Texas Dolly came to a close with a sixth-place finish in a $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship at the World Series of Poker as 85-year-old Doyle Brunson officially retired from professional poker.
The tournament marked the end of a more than 60-year career. Brunson confirmed his retirement to multiple poker media outlets, adding that he also no longer will play in the high-stakes cash game at “Bobby’s Room” at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.
“I am going to quit poker because I’ve been married to the most wonderful woman (Louise) in the world for 57 years, and she’s not in very good health, and I’m going to spend our last years together as much as we can,” Brunson said. “I’m 85 myself, so it wouldn’t be any big upset if I didn’t wake up some morning. We don’t have a lot of time, and I would like to spend it with her. That is my priority.”
According to the Las Vegas Review Journal, Brunson was one of the original poker “rounders,” playing in illegal games around Texas before he eventually settled in Las Vegas. His 1978 best-seller, “Super/System: A Course in Power Poker,” is considered the definitive work or No-limit Texas Hold ’em.
Brunson is a two-time winner of the WSOP Main Event (1976 and 1977) and is tied for second all-time with 10 career WSOP bracelets. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1988 and was voted the most influential force in poker by Bluff magazine in 2006.
“When I started, you were a second-class citizen,” Brunson told the paper. “If you were a poker player, they equated you with being a drug dealer or some kind of mobster. To see it evolve like this to where people do respect the poker players now as a profession, that’s quite a transition. I’m thankful I was a part of it, and all my buddies—most of them are gone now—we played a big part in building all this. It’s gratifying to see it.”
