Doyle’s WSOP Bracelets, Earned or Bought?
Written by Roger S | Monday, December 15th, 2008
Doyle has sparked rumors through the years, many of them revolve around women. Now, some are talking about his WSOP braclets. They are asking the question: “Did he win or buy those bracelets?”
There are two Doyle Brunsons in the news. One is the legend himself and the other is a poker tournament that bears his name.
Doyle Brunson has faced many accusations in his life. Most of them are weird and wacky. Wicked Chops Poker accuses him regularly of banging girls one-third his age. Lately he was accused of introducing the young and innocent Phelps to a certain kind of lady friend. So Brunson ought to be prepared for anything thrown at him. But the latest accusation was so extraordinary that it must have caught even the unflappable legend off guard. At the beginning was a discussion on some of the proposed changes for WSOP 2009. One of the changes suggested was doing away with re-buy events because they could induce the buying of a bracelet. Daniel Negreanu, who once finished 3rd in an event after 43 re-buys endorsed that re-buys should be scrapped. It was then Layne Flack stepped in with his accusation. He said that a pro did not need re-buys to buy a bracelet. He added that Doyle Brunson had once bought a bracelet when there were eight people in the tournament, implying that Brunson had bought off the other seven. Flack incidentally is the winner of the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Rebuy event at WSOP 2008.
Brunson has won 10 WSOP bracelets and so many other prizes that he is really beyond caring and beyond counting. And he never flaunts his bracelets or the fact that he has won so many. In his blog he replied to Flack’s retort saying, “…winning bracelets has never been high on my priority list. I still play poker because it energizes me and keeps me thinking young. I like playing real poker for real money and tournament poker for me is a second choice.” What appears to have really hurt Brunson is not the accusation that he bought a bracelet but the accusation that he had to play a tournament with only eight players in order to win. He replied in his characteristic acerbic style, “I never won a tournament that had 8 people in it. There were only 14 entries in a mixed double tournament that Starla Brodie and I won. If I could find that bracelet, I would sent it to Layne and tell him to stick it where the sun doesn’t shine.” That speaks for how much, or more correctly how little, Brunson values the trinkets.
The World Poker Tour Doyle Brunson Five Diamond Poker Classic is on at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. It ties up nicely with the earlier story in another way as well. The leader at the end of Day 1A is none other than Phil Hellmuth. Hellmuth is the only person who has won more WSOP bracelets than Brunson and does not lose a single opportunity to flaunt them. Though Hellmuth has won 11 WSOP bracelets he is yet to win a WPT event, so may be this is a lucky time for him.
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· Written by Roger S · Filed Under Poker Gossip · Comments Off
