Born August 10, 1933 in Texas, Doyle Brunson is something of a living legend to poker players everywhere - the burly cowboy hat wearing Texan is nicknamed the Godfather of Poker, and is the first person to ever have won $1 millions dollars from poker games alone. A talented athlete when he was young, Brunson had his hopes of becoming a basketball player dashed when he crushed his leg moving sheetrock at a summer job. After a long and painful recovery, Brunson had found a new passion - Five Card Draw, and Seven Card Stud. After winning over a month's salary in just under three hours - not bad for his first time - Brunson quit his job and became a professional poker player. Traveling throughout the US with a number of different partners and friends, Brunson eventually settled in Las Vegas despite having lost all of his six-figure fortune on his first trip there.

Brunson has written a handful of highly regarded books on poker, and in fact sometimes comments that he's taking money out of his own pockets by being so informative about playing the game. And he's also passed on his skills to son Todd and daughter Pamela - both professional players. The father-son team became the first to win the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in 2007, and Pamela played in the 2007 and 2009 World Series, outlasting her brother and father both times.

Now nearing 90, Brunson is still active on the circuit, and cleaning up. It is said that he's earned nearly $3 million at the WSOP alone.