There are few people in poker who have survived as long – and through as many incredible and life-threatening incidents – as Doyle Brunson, the Grandaddy of Poker. Here are his top 5 dangerous encounters with the bad guys…
The Aria Casino hit-list
Just last week the Texas legend tweeted about the latest in a long line of scary situations. This time the 85-year old on an ‘Aria hit list’ of poker players allegedly owing someone money…
Phone call at 9:00 last night.A man who claimed to be a detective on Metro said some guy called the Aria poker room saying these guys owe me money and if they don’t pay me I’m gonna kill them. My name was on his list. Detective wanted to come to my house. Would u let him come?
— Doyle Brunson (@TexDolly) 4 December 2018
Needless to say, Brunson was initially a bit skeptical of the detective and his claims. But a bit of checking verified the cop was indeed looking into the hit list…
I did. It was real. Detective was real, I talked to him again, he told me to be careful, and I told him I always am. https://t.co/k3Onb1F13b
— Doyle Brunson (@TexDolly) 5 December 2018
Something strange in the neighborhood
As a Hall of Famer, two-time WSOP main Event champion and a high-profile multi-millionaire poker pro and businessman, Brunson is an obvious target for would-be thieves and ne’er-do-wells. But obvious doesn’t mean easy!
A series of tweets two years ago described a close call he had, although his neighbour was not quite so lucky…
A police officer just left my house. There was a robbery a few doors from my house last night. the robber told the guy he knew he was
— Doyle Brunson (@TexDolly) 12 August 2016
we play? He told the victim his cut was supposed to be 700,000. WARNING…I carry a pistol with me at all times. When I come home I get out
— Doyle Brunson (@TexDolly) 12 August 2016
Further revealing that “When I come home I get out of my car with a gun in my hand”, the feisty old-timer explained: “…I’m 83 years old, have been good with gun all of my life and am not going to be robbed again. 5 times in my life is enough! So any aspirations of trying had better be reconsidered!!!”
$80k in Binion’s poker chips
One of those 5 times was back in 1998 when two masked gunmen robbed him on the doorstep of his then Las Vegas Country Club home.
Brunson and his wife Louise were handcuffed together as the armed robbers threatened to kill him if he didn’t hand over the contents of his safe. Brunson eventually gave them $4000 in cash and $80,000 in Binion’s Horseshoe Casino chips. Having just won $93,000 in the World Series of Poker a few days earlier.
“I was really mad that I had gotten knocked out of the tournament, and maybe I wasn’t as careful on the way home,” he explained and later added: “I just knew that if I didn’t have any money here to give them, they’d be awfully mad”.
Faking a heart attack to get them to leave, Brunson explained that cashing in the chips would prove to be problematic. He even jokingly said: “If they call me, I’ll buy them back at half price”.
The Bellagio robber misses out on $200k
A year later, Brunson was one of the lucky high rollers who avoided an armed robbery at the Bellagio Casino.
Doyle and his fellow nosebleed players were comfortably ensconced in Bobby’s room for the Big Game when the inept robber decided to target the cashier’s cage some 10 yards away instead. The $35k was chickenfeed compared to the $200,000 or so in cash the big boys of poker had between them.
The guy that robbed the cashier cage at the Bellagio should have walked south 10 yards and took our money in Bobby’s Room. He got 35k and we had about 200k in cash waiting to put it on deposit. Waitress said she could have hit the guy as he slowly left.
— Doyle Brunson (@TexDolly) 29 November 2017
CCTV footage of the robber was quickly released by Las Vegas Metro Police. Although, they still did not find the robber to this day.
The Bloodthirsty Highway
Before poker became a mainstream game, the outlaws of the modern Wild West were the main threat to players. Legends such as Doyle and his fellow road gamblers, had to deal with robbery, beatings and even death.
In an interview with Ally Shulman, Brunson remembers a horrific situation in a Fort Worth poker game. “All of a sudden, someone busted the door down blasting a shotgun. The gunman shot off the head of the guy sittin´next to me. I saw the guy´s head falling off and splattering against the wall! It was tough, that´s what it was, tough.”
Brunson’s description of the general poker scene would make most modern pros baulk at the thought of even sitting down to play. “Robbery and murder were ordinary occurrences. That´s where I got my real training.”
“The big money was in the games on what we called the ’Bloodthirsty Highway’, because everybody there was an outlaw of some sort. There were thieves, robbers, murderers, and pimps, who just happened to be the guys who made the poker games really good”.
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