High-stakes gambler Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson (1933–2023) was born on this day in Longworth, Texas. An all-state basketball player in high school, he discovered his true passion for poker while in college.

Regarded by many as the boldest and best no-limit and Texas Hold’em player of all time, Brunson once said: “When a man's got something heavy on his mind besides poker, he's got no business playing.”

In 1961, Brunson cheated death. Diagnosed with melanoma, a serious form of skin cancer, he survived what he described as “a miraculous recovery that they still can't explain.”

Amazingly, he won two consecutive World Series of Poker titles in the 1970s with the same hand—a full house of tens and deuces. That “10–2” combo has since been nicknamed a “Doyle Brunson.”

In 1971, he published Super System, a groundbreaking manual that became the poker bible, opening a door into professional strategy. Brunson changed the game forever.

“To be a successful gambler you have to have a complete disregard for money,” he once said.

Inducted into the Las Vegas Poker Hall of Fame in 1986, Brunson helped redefine gambling as a legitimate profession. “Everyone gets lucky once in a while,” he observed, “but no one is consistently lucky.”