Doyle Brunson’s Elite Team Struck Gold in 2009

Doyle Brunson is the grandfather of poker and one of the greatest living legends in the game, but to represent his poker site he is carefully choosing a team of 10 poker pros under the age of 25, which will be known as The Brunson 10. So far only 5 have been headhunted: Chris Moorman, Alec Torelli, Dani Stern, Zach Clark and Amit Makhija, and their results for 2009 showed that Brunson was spot-on when selecting them.

The first three players picked were Makhija, Torelli and Clark. 22-year old Torelli, well known as a consistent cash game winner and dedicated triathlete, held his ground in 2009 with nearly $800,000 in live tournament winnings. Makhija, a University of Minnesota graduate, was chosen for the Brunson 10 for his MTT skills and he did not disappoint: besides finishing in 26th place in the Doyle Brunson 5 Diamond World Poker Classic for a cool $28,569, he also made the top 10 in several other important tournaments. Clark is the nephew of the late Chip Reese, and he certainly has poker in his blood: at the young age of 24 he has nearly $2 million in career earnings and shows no sign of slowing down. In 2009 he cashed in nearly 50 online poker and casino tournaments, and made the top 10 in 15 of them – exceptionally consistent results for such a young player.

Next to be recruited for The Brunson 10 was Chris Moorman, a young British player to be reckoned with on the online felts. Moorman had a spectacular 2009, ranking 4th in both CardPlayer’s and Bluff’s Online Player of the Year rankings for a year of consistent 5-figure wins, as well as being honored with the #1 spot in the PocketFives yearly ranking. Doyle Brunson was not wrong when he said about recruiting Moorman: “Moorman reminds me a lot of me, except for the British accent. He’s a poker natural, a legend in the making, and that’s why I’ve handpicked him to be the next member of The Brunson 10.”

The last member recruited so far for the half-complete Brunson 10 was Dani “Ansky” Stern. One of the stars of the G4TV reality series “Two Months, Two Million”, Stern was showered with praise by Brunson when he entered the elite team: “I’ve seen Ansky play on TV, I’ve seen him play online, and I’ve seen him talk poker like someone who’s been playing for decades. Dani ‘Ansky’ Stern is the future of this game and I’m proud to have him on my team.” Doyle will be even prouder now that Ansky brought in the single largest cash of the team, when his final table skills in the WSOP netted him $548,315.

Doyle Brunson is still searching for the remaining 5 members of The Brunson 10, and then he will choose two more players after those. Yet the team is not to be called the Brunson 12. Doyle explains: “We are going to find the remaining 5 spots that are open sometime in 2010. Then we will choose two women to make it the Brunson 10/2 in honor of my name hand.” Judging by last year’s results, the Brunson 10-2 is set to be the crème de la crème of poker in 2010.