Todd Alan Brunson (born August 7, 1969) is an American professional poker player and the son of poker player

Doyle Brunson Doyle F. Brunson (born August 10, 1933) is a retired American poker player who played professionally for over 50 years. He is a two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion, a Poker Hall of Fame inductee, and the author of several ...

. Doyle Brunson did not teach Todd how to play; it was not until he was studying law at

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sy ...

that he learned how to play on his own. Before his senior year, he dropped out of school to turn professional. Most of Brunson's years as a poker player have been spent playing cash games. He plays at the Bellagio in some of their biggest cash games. Brunson won a bracelet in Omaha High-Low at the

2005 World Series of Poker The 2005 World Series of Poker opened play on June 2nd, continuing through the Main Event No Limit World Championship starting on July 7th. The conclusion of the Main Event on July 15th marked the close of play, and the largest prize in sports an ...

, making the Brunsons the first father-son combination to each win bracelets at the World Series. Todd Brunson also contributed to his father's book, ''Super System 2'', the 2005 sequel to Doyle Brunson's poker book

Super/System ''Super/System'', one of the first books about poker strategy, was written and published in 1979 by Doyle Brunson, a professional poker player and multiple winner at the World Series of Poker. History and title ''How I Made Over $1,000,000 Playing ...

, writing the Seven Card Stud High Low Eight or Better section. Brunson's

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

"''Darkhorse''" comes from a tournament he played early in his career, where he was reckoned to be a huge underdog, but outlasted the likes of poker legend

Chip Reese David Edward "Chip" Reese (March 28, 1951 – December 4, 2007) was an American professional poker player and gambler from Centerville, Ohio. He is widely regarded as having been the greatest cash game poker player. Early life Reese suff ...

. Brunson competed in the Poker Superstars 2 Grand Final against

Johnny Chan Johnny Chan (;He has another Chinese name "Chen Qiangni" () which is also commonly used by Chinese-language media. It is a transliteration of "Johnny Chan" (as "Chen" for "Chan", "Qiangni" for "Johnny") rather than his Chinese birth name. born ...

. In 2006, Brunson competed in the Poker Superstars 3 Grand Final against

Antonio Esfandiari Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari ( fa, امیر اسفندیاری; born December 8, 1978 as Amir Esfandiary), is a professional poker player and former professional magician, known for his elaborate chip tricks. Esfandiari was the face of the ...

and defeated him by winning the first three matches in a best three out of five heads-up format. In the third round, he was down to 170,000 chips against 3,830,000 chips owned by Esfandiari and eventually won by getting more than five double ups. Brunson took home the $400,000 first prize In 2006, Brunson competed in the Poker Superstars 2 quarter-finalists freeroll and took home the $500,000 first prize after defeating

Ted Forrest Ted Forrest (born September 24, 1964) is an American professional poker player, currently residing in Las Vegas, Nevada. Tournament wins Forrest won three bracelets at the 1993 World Series of Poker (WSOP). After the mid-1990s, Forrest turn ...

in the final heads-up confrontation. Brunson won over $13.5 million in a two-day span in a heads-up, $50,000-$100,000 limit hold-em game, as chronicled in the 2005 book, ''

The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King ''The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King: Inside the Richest Poker Game of All Time'' is a 2005 book by Michael Craig detailing billionaire Andrew Beal's series of high-stakes poker games with Las Vegas' top professional poker players. ...

''. Brunson has also competed in the

Ultimate Poker Challenge The Ultimate Poker Challenge (UPC) was a series of weekly poker tournaments acting as super-satellites into the series semi-finals. The first and second seasons are available on NTSC DVD. In the United States, it was a syndicated program. Form ...

series. He has also appeared in the GSN series ''

High Stakes Poker ''High Stakes Poker'' is an American cash game poker television program. The poker variant played on the show is no limit Texas hold 'em. The first four seasons ran from January 16, 2006 to December 17, 2007 on GSN. The next three seasons ran f ...

''. In 2009, Brunson made a guest appearance on one of the final episodes of the series ''

Stargate Atlantis ''Stargate Atlantis'' (usually stylized in all caps and often abbreviated ''SGA'') is an adventure and military science fiction television series and part of MGM's ''Stargate'' franchise. The show was created by Brad Wright and Robert C. Coop ...

'' (#519 "Vegas"), during a poker game set in Las Vegas. As of January 2015, his total live tournament winnings exceed $4,000,000. His 47 cashes as the WSOP account for $1,507,822 of those winnings.World Series of Poker Earnings
, worldseriesofpoker.com

World Series of Poker bracelets

References

External links

CardPlayer interviewPokerListings.com Player Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brunson, Todd 1969 births American poker players Living people World Series of Poker bracelet winners Texas Tech University alumni Poker Hall of Fame inductees