Doyle Brunson – Living Legend

I have used the Legends of Poker championship event as a guide when talking about the growth of poker over the past two years. It has been the first event on the World Poker Tour each year, and one can compare its performance to the exact same event from the year before. The WPT has already had a few events this year, but the Mirage is new to the WPT and The Aviation Club in France has changed its dates from the inaugural season. The point is, the championship event at The Bicycle Casino has grown dramatically the past two years, and that trend has been seen in all other events during the year, as well.

The no-limit hold'em championship at the Bike remained at a $5,000 buy-in instead of increasing to $10,000 like most of the WPT tournaments. The event that had 309 players last year had 667 players this year. Thus, it again more than doubled in attendance from the previous year.

Another development in poker has been the increase in young players dominating the tournament circuit. Anytime you turn on televised poker, there is some new player under the age of 40 celebrating a win … even if it is only after winning one hand. That won't be the case, however, when you watch the 2004 Legends of Poker championship on the WPT in a few months. That's because 71-year-old poker legend Doyle Brunson showed why many think he is the greatest player of all time. Not only did he win the event and almost $1.2 million, but he wiped out the final table faster than any other WPT final table to date. Doyle beat Lee Watkinson heads up, and Lee isn't a slouch, having won about $1.5 million in the last six months on the tournament circuit, including a second-place finish in the last WPT event at the Mirage. Others at the final table were Pete Lawson, Grant Helling, Joe Awada, and Tom Lee. Good job, guys!

We at Card Player are always adding new features to the magazine and are trying to make it more interesting for readers. We changed our look beginning last issue and hope you enjoy it. Also, Thomas "Thunder" Keller, winner of the $5,000 no-limit hold'em event at the World Series of Poker, has joined the Card Player team, and you can read his first column in this issue.

Finally, Cardplayer.com has added a new feature – a forum on the site where anyone can post his opinions about anything relating to poker. Check it out.