Poker bankroll management, building and strategy – online poker guide

How did Vanessa Rousso build her poker bankroll?

Friday, December 17th, 2010 | Poker Articles, Poker Bankroll Building, Poker Pro | 2 Comments

Poker hottie and sex symbol Vanessa Rousso was born in New York on February 5th 1983 and has dual citizenship in the U.S. and France. She graduated with honors from Duke University and later studied law in Miami and wanted to be a securities litigator. It held up until she discovered poker. Since her start as a professional poker player, Vanessa Rousso has earned more than 2500000 dollars in live tournament winnings which at the young age of 27 ranks her among the top 5 all time female money winners. She is also a Team Pokerstars Pro playing online under the nick LadyMaverick. In this article I will try to sum up how Vanessa Rousso built her poker bankroll.

We recommend these poker bonus deals

LadyMaveric’s early gambling days

While attending Duke she proved herself to be quite the brainiac and she became interested in game theory, which is about how you relate complex mathematical decision strategies for everyday life. Although having dabbled with chess, her choice of game fell on poker due to its aspect of human psychology (as you know, the best hand doesn’t always win in poker). In 2003 she graduated from Duke with a major in economics and a minor in political science. She completed her college time in only 2 and a half years which was the fastest completion in the history of Duke. Vanessa started law school in 2004, but never finished after playing tournaments in her summer holiday. Having played poker since the age of 5 and playing online throughout college building a substantial poker bankroll, she realized that this was the career for her and she turned professional in 2005.

Vanessa Rousso’s major tournament wins

If I’ve forgotten soon please let me know.

We recommend these poker school and poker tools

Vanessa Rousso’s other achievements

When Vanessa is not playing poker, she finds time for a lot of hobbies. She describes herself as an adrenaline junkie, so she is often outdoors and skydive and bungee jumping. She has also provided strategy articles to several poker magazines.

Vanessa has also engaged herself politically in an attempt to overthrow the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act, which all American poker players hate and find very unfair.

In 2009 Vanessa Rousso started her own poker training camp in Florida tailored to poker tournament play. The Big Slick Bootcamp instantly became very popular (a 399$ entry fee sounds cheap if you get the chance to spend time with one of the hottest female poker players)

Tags: Poker Articles, Poker Bankroll Building, Poker Pro

How did Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier build his poker bankroll?

Friday, December 17th, 2010 | Poker Articles, Poker Bankroll Building, Poker Pro | No Comments

French poker pro Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier was born in France on the 8th of February, 1981. He currently resides in London. In his relatively short poker career he has become one of the most successful French poker player, doing well both in live tournaments – with a estimated total winnings of more than 6.1 million $ and on the online felt at PokerStars where he’s a member of team PokerStars. I’ve not been able to find out where the nick “ElkY” originated from. Do you know?

In this article I will give a recap of Elky’s path to the poker tables in addition to summarizing how Bertran Grospellier built his poker bankroll.

We recommend these poker bonus deals

The early gambling / gaming days of Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier:

“Elky” was already an online star player before he became a poker player. After he moved to Korea in 2001, ElkY was a regular participant in the World Cyber Games and the Korean Pro Gaming leagues thanks to his talent for computer strategy games. His specialty was Starcraft (great game by the way…Protos FTW), a game where he still ranks among the best. His major gaming results are quite impressive:

• 3rd – KBK Jeju (Seoul, South Korea)
• 2nd – World Cyber Games 2001 (Seoul, South Korea)
• 4th – World Cyber Games 2002 (Daejeon, South Korea)
• 4th – SKY 2 Ongamenet Starleague (Seoul, South Korea)
• 2nd – Ongamenet WarCraft Retail League (Seoul, South Korea) [WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos, all others StarCraft: Brood War]
• 1st – Euro Cyber Games 2003 (Paris, France)
• 5th – World Cyber Games 2003 (Seoul, South Korea)
  
• top 16 – World Cyber Games 2004 (San Francisco, California, U.S.A.)

Around 2004, “ElKy” was introduced to  the poker scene by a friend and instantly fell in love with the game. His background in professional gaming gave him an enormous advantage during long multitabling sessions where mouse dexterity, the abilty to see perfectly with the corner of your eye, fast reflexes and obviously quick thinking are key skills. Elky started playing at PokerStars at became the first player ever to achieve Supernova (100000 VPPs) and Supernova Elite (1000000 VPPs) status. What’s even more impressive is that he achieved Supernova status in 2 weeks and Super Nova Elite status in 4 and a half months. That’s insane! To illustrate his multitabling skills he also currently holds the Guinness Book record for most SNGs played in hour…62 in total!

Elky’s major live tournament results

Table taken from the PokerStars player profile page for Bertrand “ElKy” Grospellier.

We recommend these poker school and poker tools

Elky’s other interests

As fellow poker pros will attest to, there isn’t much spare time when you play as many live tournaments as “ElKy”. In the little spare time he has, he still enjoys to play online real-time strategy games. In addition Elky has also appeared on numerous TV shows including High Stakes Poker.

A fun anecdote from the 2009 WSOP

During the 2009 WSOP Sorel Mizzi and Elky had some serious sidebet action in an equivalent to the Olympic Games. Here’s the series of events:

Day 1:
Bench press
Bicep Curl
Shoulder Press
Triceps Pull Down
Chin-ups

Day 2:
Angled Leg Press
Leg Extension
Squats

Day 3:
Tennis (best out of 3 sets)

Day 4:
Skipping rope (most in a row without missing)
Arm wrestling  (Bedst ud af tre)

Day 5:
Kick Boxing (9 rounds)

Day 6:
Swimming (Who can stay longest in the center of the pool without touching the bottom)

Day 7:
Rowing (longest in 15 minutes)

Each side bet was worth 10000$ and as an extra bonus, the loser had to hand in 15% of his WSOP winnings (up to 300000$ as the maximum). If one person won more than 80% of the disciplines there was an additional 50000$ bonus to the winner. I wonder what the results were?

Tags: Poker Articles, Poker Bankroll Building, Poker Pro

How did Chris Ferguson build his poker bankroll?

Friday, December 17th, 2010 | Poker Articles, Poker Bankroll Building, Poker Pro | No Comments

I’m looking forward to write about how Chris Ferguson built his poker bankroll. Born on April 11, 1963 in Pacific Palisades, California, Christopher Philip Ferguson was destined to become quite the academic. Both parents have doctorate degrees in mathematics so it was no surprise when Ferguson followed a similarly academic field, earning himself a Ph.D in computer science, focusing on virtual network algorithms. But, despite holding this Ivey League degree, Ferguson chose another career path – that of a professional poker player.

We recommend these poker bonus deals

The early days of Chris Ferguson’s bankroll

Ferguson began playing poker at the age of ten and would play for play money in chat rooms via Internet Relay Chat (IRC). It was 1993 though before he started to regularly play live, real money tournaments in his hometown state of  California. In the following two years Ferguson had a dozen or so minor cashes but in 1995 he came within a $1,500 Razz event at the World Series of Poker for a career-best score of $10,350, the first of his 63 cashes at the long-running series and a total he will be looking to add to at this year’s WSOP.

Chris Ferguson’s major tournament results

Over the next five years he had numerous scores but 2000 was the year of the man they now called “Jesus” (due to his long hair and beard). He won his first WSOP bracelet in the $2,500 Seven-card Stud event for $151,000 before winning the $10,000 Main Event, defeating T.J. Cloutier heads-up to win $1,500,000 – still his largest tournament cash of his career.
Fast forward to today and Ferguson has an extremely impressive tournament record, including five WSOP bracelets, an NBC Heads-Up Championship gong and almost $8,300,000 in winnings. However, despite his obvious tournament prowess he is better known for something completely different.

The Chris Ferguson Challenge

Back in 2007 Ferguson set about what is now known as “The Chris Ferguson Challenge” where he started with a completely empty poker account and attempted to win $10,000. Not only did he manage to reach $10,000, he actually continued and was at more than $20,000 at one point. He started by playing daily freeroll tournaments, available on any safe online poker sites, and then progressed to cash games. On numerous occasions he lost the little amount he had won in the freerolls but he was determined to prove solid play and good bankroll management were enough to see poker players succeed.
Chris Ferguson bankroll management followed strict rules where he would never buy into a cash game or sit ‘n’ go that represented more than 5% of his total bankroll and no multi-table tournament that would cost him more than 2% of his bankroll. Finally, if he was having a good cash game session in a pot limit or no limit game and his stack represented 10% of his overall bankroll he had to leave the table as soon as the blinds reached him. Eventually, Ferguson went from playing freerolls and was spotted at the $25/$50 tables from time to time proving “The Ferguson Challenge” does indeed work and has since resulted in many players attempting to follow suit.

We recommend these poker school and poker tools

Chris Ferguson anecdotes

Along with his trademark image and the fact he sits completely motionless during hands, Ferguson is also known for a rather fun fact. I am unaware how he learned how to do this trick but he can cut vegetables and fruit with a playing card! There is even a YouTube clip of him slicing carrots, bananas and even a water melon with instructions on how to throw the card like “Jesus!”

How did Phil Hellmuth build his poker bankroll?

Friday, December 17th, 2010 | Poker Articles, Poker Bankroll Building, Poker Pro | No Comments

Did you ever wonder how Phil Hellmuth built his poker bankroll? In this article I will give you an overview of how Phil Hellmuth – aka The Poker Brat, The Madison Kid and the Joe McEnroe of Poker- has become one of the most famous poker pro players in the world along with a massive bankroll to his name. The nick “The Poker Brat” stems from Phil Hellmuth’s infamous tendency to blow up when he suffers a bad beat or doesn’t catch a break. The Poker Brat is also known for delivering some of the most memorable quotes in poker history:

• “Honey, honey, I was supposed to go broke on that hand: Honey. But they forgot one thing: I can dodge bullets, baby!“
• “This fricking donkey stuffs $15,000 in with king-jack. I mean … the guy can’t even spell poker.“
• “When I watch myself on TV, I am a bit compelling …”
• “What’s my name? You know what my name is? I forgot my name even. Who am I?… Am I Phil Hellmuth?“
• “If there weren’t luck involved, I would win every time.“
• “Poker is 100% skill and 50% luck.“

We recommend these poker bonus deals

Phil Hellmuth was born the 16th of July 1964 in Madison (hence the nick “The Madison Kid”) Wisconsin and currently resides in Palo Alto California with his wife Katherine (a child psychologist) and two sons Philip and Nicholas. Throughout his career, Phil Hellmuth has won more than 11 million $ in live tournament prize money. This puts him on a 4th place on the All Time Money list behind Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu and Jamie Gold.

The Poker Brat’s early gambling days

Growing up in a middle class home as the oldest of 5 siblings there was always someone to play games with and from a young age the competitive nature of Phil Hellmuth was developed. His father being an assistant dean and professor at the University of Wisconsin had an academic career envisioned for his oldest son and Phil also studied for some years at the University of Wisconsin. However it was the game of poker, which he learned while studying at university that quickly became The Poker Brat’s main passion and to his father’s disappointment Hellmuth dropped out of school to become a professional poker player. Later in his career his father came to terms with his son’s choice of life, especially after Phil Hellmuth bought him a brand new Mercedes after his 1989 WSOP main event win.

In his early gambling days, Phil Hellmuth built his poker bankroll playing professors, doctors and businessmen in high stakes local games. However, as every aspiring poker pro, Phil dreamt of making it big in Las Vegas. His first attempt ended in disaster and a busted bankroll and Phil returned to Madison to rebuild and develop his game. Eventually he was able to beat the low stakes games in Vegas and grind his way to a living. In 1989 he decided to pay 10000$ for an entry ticket into the WSOP main event despite this being way over his bankroll. He went on to win the event at the age of 24 – beating legend Johnny Chan heads up -  thus becoming the youngest winner of a WSOP main event at the time. The rest is history……

Phil Hellmuth’s major tournament wins

The WSOP is definitely Phil Hellmuth’s playing ground. He has won a record 11 WSOP bracelets along with a whopping 79 WSOP cashes and 41 final tables. In total, Phil Hellmuth has won over 6 million $ at the WSOP. He has never won on the WPT, but has collected more than 1 million $ in prize money. In 2005, The Poker Brat won the first National Heads Up Poker Championship beating players such as Huch Seed and Antonio Esfandiari before crushing legend Chris Ferguson in the final.

Below is an overview of Phil Hellmuth’s WSOP bracelet wins:

Table taken from Wikipedia (gotta love them!)

We recommend these poker school and poker tools

Other anecdotes and controversies regarding Phil Helmuth

• Phil Hellmuth is infamous for his blow ups when people suck out on him and admittedly hates when people get lucky (something I can totally relate to). If you go on Youtube and type in Phil Hellmuth you will find numerous examples.
• Phil Hellmuth endorses UltimateBet.com.
• Phil has written many articles for Cardplayer magazine and numerous books including “Play Poker like the Pros”, “Bad Beats and Lucky Draws” and “Poker Brat”.
• In 2008 Hellmuth launched an online store (www.pokerbrat.com) selling both brat and non-brat poker merchandise.
• Hellmuth is an active philanthropist, donating money to help developing villages in The World’s poorest countries.
• The Brat’s favorite movies are The American President and The Matrix and he like 80s and 90s rock and roll.

Tags: Poker Articles, Poker Bankroll Building, Poker Pro

How did Patrik Antonius build his poker bankroll?

Friday, December 17th, 2010 | Poker Articles, Poker Bankroll Building, Poker Pro | No Comments

Finnish professional poker player Patrik Antonius – aka “the Brad Pitt of poker”, Luigi66369, CryMeRiver9, Finddagrind, I_knockout_U and try_hrdr_fish-  was born in Helsinki the 13th of December 1980. Since he started playing professional poker his poker bankroll has grown large enough to allow him to play in all the major live tournaments, the highest cash games on Full Tilt and live in Las vegas with his wife Maya and daughter Mila. In this post I will sum up how Patrik Antonius became one of the most feared online Heads Up players and built a massive poker bankroll in the process.

We recommend these poker bonus deals

The early gambling days of Patrik Antonius

It was never in the cards (cheesy pun I know) for Mr. Antonius to become a professional poker player. As a kid and teenager he excelled playing tennis but a back injury at the age of 15 meant he had to quit the game for 18 months to recover. During this time – being no stranger to poker since the age of 11- he regularly played poker live games at the local tennis club. Later Patrik Antonius finished a degree from the Helsinki Business college and was on track for his first match as a professional tennis player when he suffered another back injury, which ended his tennis career altogether. After pursuing careers as a male model, a tennis coach and even a door-to-door salesman, Patrick settled for the game he had played as a hobby since a kid and practiced at the local casino in Helsinki from the age of 18. in 2003, as a personal goal prior to attending college in the US, Antonius started a serious attempt to build a poker bankroll after depositing 200$ into an online poker room. In a few months the roll grew to $20,000. He moved to the United States of America to attend college and play poker. In the US he took a break from school and started playing 12 hours a day, 7 days a week and his bankroll grew to 80000$. During Antonius’ early poker pro days he was mentored by Marcel Lüske and later female pokerstar Jennifer Harman.

Patrick Antonius’ major tournament results

To date, The Brad Pitt of poker has accumulated more than 2.8 million $ in live tournament winnings. A lot of these winnings came from his massive tournament heater in 2005, where he among other tournaments won the EPT event in Baden bei Wien taking down close to €290000 and later that year finished 2nd in WPT 5 Diamond World Poker Classic in Las Vegas for a whopping 1,04 million $. Antonius has yet to win a WSOP event but has made close to 800000$ in his appearances so far. His biggest WSOP cash came in a 2007 Pot Limit Omaha even where he took a third place and 311394$.

We recommend these poker school and poker tools

Other achievements and anecdotes

• Has wagered 200000$ in tennis game vs. fellow poker pro Gus Hansen. I don’t actually know if the game was ever played. Rumors have it that Patrick Antonius backed out of the bet due to his old back injury causing him problems.
• In 2008 Patrick Antonius became a member of the prestigious Team Full Tilt.
• Patrick regularly appears on the televised High stakes poker where he was involved in the biggest pot so far in the show against Sammy Farha (a pot where the Finn won a cool 749100$.
• Antonius has also won the largest online pot (at the time in November 2009) against the infamous Isildur1 worth close to 1.4 million $.
• In his spare time he likes to play golf.

Tags: Poker Articles, Poker Bankroll Building, Poker Pro

Mike “the mouth” Matusow

Friday, December 17th, 2010 | Poker Articles, Poker Bankroll Building, Poker Pro | No Comments

I will soon write an article on poker pro Mike “the mouth” Matusow. One of the complaints that poker players have is that there are not as many characters playing the game as there once were. In years gone by there have been many eccentric poker players such as Amarillo Slim and Puggy Pearson but with more and more poker being played behind a computer monitor these type of players are dying out. That said one of poker’s biggest characters in recent times is still going strong and should be playing in several of the upcoming WSOP poker tournaments, I am of course talking about Mike Matusow.

We recommend these poker bonus deals

Matusow was born on April 30, 1968 in Los Angeles, California and is almost as well known for his trash talking (hence the nickname “The Mouth”) and his inexplicable blow-ups deep in major tournaments as he is  for his poker playing ability. When you take away his brash and often crude demeanor at the felt you are left with a player who has won more almost $7,800,000 from live tournaments and had no fewer than three World Series of Poker bracelets to his name.

His first taste of poker came when he was just 18 years old and came in the form of video poker in the Maxim Casino. Here he would play for several hours at a time and even suffered with a repetitive strain injury to his arms and shoulders as a result of his excessive play on these machine. Then in 1989 he met a rounder named Steve Samaroff, who taught him Texas Hold’em, which would ultimately change “The Mouth’s” life.

After honing his skills he decided to play in the 1997 World Series of Poker and almost won his first bracelet in the $2,000 Omaha Hi/Lo Split event but fell just short, finishing in second place. Two years later though and he won a $3,500 No Limit Hold’em event at the WSOP and in 2001 he came ever so close to winning the $10,000 Main Event but busted out in sixth place.

He won his second bracelet the following year in a $5,000 Omaha Hi/Lo Split event before reaching the final table of the Main Event again in 2005, this time he was eliminated in ninth place. Then in 2008 he won his third WSOP bracelet in the $5,000 No Limit Deuce to Seven Lowball event but since then he has had a rather barren spell both on and away from the tables and was at one point rumored to be completely broke, rumors that were reignited at last year’s WSOP after a huge prop bet with Ted Forrest went horribly wrong for Mike The Mouth.

Matusow, who a few years previously had won a large prop bet with Forrest in relation to Matusow losing weight, offered Forrest odds of 20:1 that Forrest could not get down from a healthy 188lbs to 139lbs in two months. Forrest bet $100,000 and amazingly managed to lose more than 50lbs in two months to leave Matusow with a $2,000,000 bet he was too broke to pay. Matusow tried to joke about the matter saying, “I don’t have the $2m to pay out. I made the bet because I didn’t think it was feasibly possible. I could pay him a big lump, but I’m going to wait six months to see if he dies first.”

We recommend these poker school and poker tools

Whether Matusow is so broke he will have to enter some 2011 WSOP qualifiers rather than buy in directly remains to be seen but it sees that he simply cannot stay away from unwanted attention and negative publicity. Just as he was getting over the stigma surrounding his six month jail term for supplying cocaine in 2004 this failure to pay his prop bet comes out of the woodwork.

How did Joe Hachem build his poker bankroll?

Friday, December 17th, 2010 | Poker Articles, Poker Bankroll Building, Poker Pro | No Comments

Soon to come: How did Joe Hachem build his poker bankroll?

Michael “the grinder” Mizrachi

Friday, December 17th, 2010 | Poker Articles, Poker Bankroll Building, Poker Pro | No Comments

Soon to come: How did Michael “the grinder” Mizrachi become a poker pro? Michael Mizrachi is a 30-year old professional poker player who had one of the most turbulent years a poker players has ever had to endure. One minute there were rumours that he was completely flat-broke and then next he was making it to the final table of the World Series of Poker Main Event.

We recommend these poker bonus deals

In May 2010 he hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons when it was revealed that the Inland Revenue Services (IRS) in the United States of America had seized an sold a property of his in Florida as part payment for an underpaid tax bill of $339,711. Mizrachi’s lawyer tried to negotiate on behalf of his client stating that he had lost over $600,000 in property investments and that during the period of underpaid taxes, 2004 to 2007, where Mizrachi won around $6,100,000 from live tournaments more than $3,700,000 of it went back to people who had financially backed his client.

Rumors of Mizrachi being broke soon circulated around the poker community but at the end of May 2010 he took part in the inaugural $50,000 The Players’ Championship at the World Series of Poker, a tournament that will return for WSOP 2011, and in almost fairytale like circumstances he won the entire tournament for a cool $1,559,046. But Mizrachi, who is known as “The Grinder” for his consistent playing style and results, was not finished there and he cashed four more times at the 2010 WSOP, making three final tables including a fifth place finish at in the $10,000 Main Event that saw him walk away with $2,332,992. This took his lifetime tournament winnings past the $11,200,000 mark and confirmed his place amongst tournament poker’s elite and dispelled rumours that “The Grinder” was broke and out of luck.

It is not just the WSOP events that Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi excels at as he is also a double World Poker Tour winner, a tour that really put him on the map. In February of 2005 Mizrachi entered the 2005 LA Poker Classic and took it down for $1,859,909 and he followed that up the following year with an outright win in the 2006 Borgata Winter Open, a result that added $1,173,373 to his winnings.

We recommend these poker school and poker tools

Anyone who wins a seat through the 2011 WSOP qualifiers will not only have the chance to play with Michael Mizrachi but also some of his family because he has an older brother, Robert, and a twin brother, Eric, who are both accomplished poker players. I guess you could say poker is in the Mizrachi’s blood!

Barry Greenstein

Friday, December 17th, 2010 | Poker Articles, Poker Bankroll Building, Poker Pro | No Comments

Soon to come: an article on how Barry Greenstein became known as the Robin Hood of poker. Born on December 30, 1954 in Chicago, Illinois, the parents of Barry Greenstein would have no idea that their son would one day become one of poker’s legends but that is exactly how matters turned out. Greenstein is one of the most recognizable, popular, respected and also feared players in the modern game but he was not also a world beating poker player, far from it.

We recommend these poker bonus deals

Although Greenstein admitted in his book, “Ace of the River: An Advanced Poker Guide” that he had always done OK for himself through poker, the game was not seen as stable by the non-poker playing community and because he wanted to adopt his step-children, he decided to give up the game and put his computer science bachelors degree to use instead.
He did that by going to work for Symantec, now part of the Norton family, when they were just a start-up company and he worked on their famous “Q&A” product but he quickly retired from there aged just 36-years old.

Greenstein famously gives away his net profit from his tournament play, something that has earned him the nickname “The Robin Hood of Poker.” He famously won the Larry Flynt Poker Challenge in 203, a result that saw him walk away with $770,000 and he gave $440,000 away to his favorite charity, “Children, Incorporated.” He chose this
amount as it was $1,000 for each of the 440 employees of the charity. In more recent times Greenstein has earned tens of thousands of dollars for saying specific phrases on the televised poker cash game “High Stakes Poker” where he has said “LOL! Donkaments” and “math is idiotic” to earn payment from the Two Plus Two poker community. So far he has no plans for any funny phrases whilst on camera at WSOP 2011.

Over the years Barry “The Robin Hood of Poker” Greenstein has given away hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars to those less fortunate for himself, which means he has had some tremendous results in tournament poker. He has two World Poker Tour titles to his name and has so far won three World Series of Poker bracelets and will be gunning for more when the 2011 WSOP gets under way on May 31. Although he will not be using 2011 WSOP Qualifiers to win a seat there, he will be playing in dozens of events in an attempt to win another bracelet to those he won in 2004, 2005 and 2008.

We recommend these poker school and poker tools

At time of writing Greenstein’s live tournament winnings stood at $7,228,925

How did Doyle Brunson build his poker bankroll?

Friday, December 17th, 2010 | Poker Articles, Poker Bankroll Building, Poker Pro | No Comments

Doyle Brunson is the undisputed king of poker and still going strong at the age of 75. In this article I will give an overview on how Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson built his poker bankroll. Doyle Brunson was born in Longworth, Fisher County, Texas on August 10th 1933 as one of 3 children. In his younger years Texas Dolly was a talented athlete and basketball player until an accident during a summer job broke his leg in two places and put an end to his athletic aspirations. Instead, Brunson focused on getting an education instead and received a bachelor’s degree in 1954 and a master’s degree in administrative education in 1955. As the story goes, Texas Dolly entered into a game of seven-card stud the first day of his job as a business salesman and earned more than a month’s wage. He immediately quit his job to pursue a career as a poker player and never looked back on his way to building a substantial poker bankroll. Brunson is known to have said : “I’m a gambler,”I’ll always be one. I couldn’t be anything else. So, my life will always be full of wins and losses. I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s exciting. There’s never been a dull moment in my life.”

We recommend these poker bonus deals

Doyle Brunson’s early gamling days

Back in the days when Brunson started to build his poker bankroll, poker was illegal and usually run by members of organized crime groups. On several occasions Doyle had guns drawn at him and he was also beaten and robbed. Gives the term “bad beat” a whole new perspective huh? Brunson first started playing the illegal games on Exchange Street in Fort Worth, Texas together with his mate Dwayne Hamilton. As Doyle Brunson’s poker bankroll grew the two man group teamed up with poker legends Amarillo Slim and Sailor Roberts. As the story usually goes, the group of Texas Rounders built a huge bankroll by the standards in those days, and them hit Las Vegas only to loose everything. The group was dissolved but Doyle Brunson decided to stay in Vegas….a legend was born.

Texas Dolly’s major tournament wins

Doyle Bruson’s poker bankroll has grown considerably from his live tournament winnings which exceed 5.9 million $. Brunson was the first player to reach 1 million $ in tournament winnings and through his career he has won 10 WSOP bracelets.

Table taken from Wikipedia

We recommend these poker school and poker tools

Doyle Brunson’s other achievements

• Doyle Brunson is an inductee of the Poker Hall of Fame
• He is a bestseller author with the 1978 book Super/system which by many is regarded as the bible of Texas Holdem. Super System is the top selling poker book of all times and still sells 14000 copies each month
• He has recently published Super System 2 (2004), a follow up on his first book.
• Texas Dolly is the author of several other poker books including Poker Wisdom of a Champion and My Fifty Most Memorable Hands
• Doyle Brunson is also a spokesperson and endorser of the online poker room DoylesRoom.

Other anecdotes from Brunson’s long poker career

Tags: Poker Articles, Poker Bankroll Building, Poker Pro