Poker news | May 13, 2022
Doyle Brunson’s Feature-Length Biopic Heads to The Silver Screen
By RTR Jamie
The story of poker legend Doyle Brunson is heading to the big screen, Radar Pictures have announced.
"There have been many gambling and poker scripts sent to me,” Justin Smith, Radar Pictures Producer said. “None of them has intrigued me as much as Doyle’s story. There’s no better life story than Doyle’s that I know of. Having played the biggest poker games with Doyle myself, I’m extremely honored to be in a unique position to be able to help tell his story and capture the environment accurately from an insider perspective."
Brunson retired from poker in 2018, leaving a huge print in the poker world.
He started off by playing illegal poker games on Exchange street in Fort Worth with a friend. They began to travel around states in the south to play bigger games and poker tournaments, that's where he met poker greats Amarillo Slim and Sailor Roberts.
Brunson began travelling around the states with a couple of other players, gambling, playing golf and doing “just about anything”, according to Brunson. They eventually made their way to Las Vegas, this is where they decided to part ways.
Brunson made his first World Series of Poker appearance in 1970 where he would play the likes of poker player Stu Ungar and Bobby Baldwin, and he played almost every year from then.
It wasn’t until 1976 that Brunson won a WSOP bracelet, overall he won 10 bracelets and made it to 26 final tables, winning 2 WSOP Main Events. It is not very likely that Brunson will win anymore WSOP bracelets now he is retired, unfortunately he will not be able to overtake Phil Hellmuth who holds 16 bracelets and it doesnt like he will be stopping anytime soon either!
Brunson is tied for second place in the all-time WSOP winner’s list with Phil Ivey and Johnny Chan.
Brunson was later investigated by the SEC after he announced that he wanted to purchase the World Poker Tour.
I won't go into too much detail about Bruson’s life, enough spoilers!
Although, if you are wondering where he is now, he announced in 2021 over twitter that he would be spending as much time as he can with his wife and she is not in great health at the moment, he wants to ‘stay with her for the duration of either her life or mine’.
Doyle Brunson's biopic will of course be another feature-length poker movie, along with the likes of Rounders, The Cincinnati Kid and Molly’s Game.
“I met Doyle for the first time when he was 88,” said media mogul Ted Field. "From the twinkle in his eye, I was immediately aware that even at that age, with his razor-sharp mind he could still be formidable in any proposition he might undertake. If Doyle wants to bet with you, look out. His improbable life story needs to be told with all its rollercoaster ups and downs and we at Radar feel privileged to have the chance to do it justice.“