The $10,000 Main Event of the 2011 World Series of Poker shuffles up this week, thousands of poker players are expected to take part in the biggest poker tournament in the world, there will be a noticeable missing link at the Rio this year. Doyle Brunson will not be in attendance.
One of only eighteen living members of the Poker Hall of Fame, Brunson announced Monday morning via Twitter that he will be sitting out the No-Limit Hold’em World Championship this year, tweeting, “No main event for me.” In the same tweet, he took a shot at the United States Department of Justice for its actions against online poker, adding, “maybe the DOJ will stake me.”
Brunson’s decision is not being made because of lack of funds. Responding to many of comments, Brunson said, “Tx for all the tweets about my skipping the main event. It’s not about money, I’ve lost a lot of passion for the game since Black Friday.”
Brunson hasn’t had much success in big tournaments in the past few years. He placed 24th in May’s World Poker Tour Championship, 18th in last December’s WPT event that bear’s his name (2010 Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic), 17th in the 2009 WSOP-Europe Main Event, and made the final table in the 2009 WSOP Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo event.
Doyle Brunson has won ten WSOP gold bracelets, tied with Jonny Chan for second all-time. He won his last bracelet in 2005, when he won the $5,000 Short Handed No-Limit Hold’em event. He started his bracelet run by winning five from 1976 through 1978, including back-to-back Main Event championships in 1976 and 1977.
There is no indication, however, that “Texas Dolly” will stop playing cash games. In fact, he responded to a Twitter follower by saying that he was not quitting live poker. All told, Brunson has won over $6 million in his live tournament career, placing him 39th on the all-time money list.
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I am so mad that all of the good players are sitting out! I bet ESPN is sooo mad!