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Doyle Brunson

Doyle F. Brunson (born August 10, 1933) is an American poker player who has played professionally for over 50 years. He is a two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion, a Poker Hall of Fame inductee, and the author of several books on poker.

Brunson was the first player to earn $1 million in poker tournaments and has won ten WSOP bracelets throughout his career, tied with Johnny Chan and Phil Ivey for second all-time, behind Phil Hellmuth's fourteen. He is also one of only four players to have won the Main Event at the World Series of Poker multiple times, which he did in 1976 and 1977. He is also one of only two players, along with Bill Boyd, to have won WSOP tournaments in four consecutive years. In addition, he is the first of five players to win both the WSOP Main Event and a World Poker Tour title. In January 2006, Bluff Magazine voted Brunson the most influential force in the world of poker.

Early life

Brunson was born in Longworth, Fisher County, Texas, one of three children. He was part of the All-State Texas basketball team. In the 1950 Texas Interscholastic Track Meet and won the one-mile event with a time of 4:43. Despite receiving offers from many colleges, he attended Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas.

Scotty Nguyen

Thuận B. "Scotty" Nguyễn (born October 28, 1962) is a Vietnamese American professional poker player who is a five-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, most notably as the winner of the 1998 World Series of Poker Main Event and the 2008 WSOP $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. World Championship. He is the first and currently only player to win both the WSOP Main Event and $50,000 Players' Championship.

Early life

Scotty Nguyen was born in Nha Trang, Vietnam. Because of the conflict in Vietnam, his mother sent him out of the country, first to Taiwan. He came to the United States at the age of 14 after finding a sponsor in Orange County, California. He was expelled from school for spending too much time in underground poker games. Nguyen attended dealer school at the age of 21 and was employed at Harrah’s poker room. There he made about $150 a night and lost most of it playing $3–$6 stud. He described himself as a "fish" but wanted to gamble regardless.

His luck improved in 1985 when he was invited to Lake Tahoe to deal in a no-limit Hold’em tournament. He dealt all day and played cash games all night with the meager bankroll he brought with him. He built his bankroll to $7,000 and felt he was invincible. He returned to Las Vegas and gambled his bankroll up to $1 million. His name spread around Vegas and soon he began playing poker with Johnny Chan, Puggy Pearson, and David Grey. He purchased a Chevrolet Camaro for $17,000, a Corvette for $21,000 and a condominium for $60,000 all in cash. He lived in Caesars Palace and was winning $50,000 to $900,000 a night.

Gabe Kaplan

Gabriel W. "Gabe" Kaplan (born March 31, 1945) is an American comedian, actor, poker commentator, and professional poker player.

Kaplan was born in Brooklyn, New York. He is best known for his role as Gabe Kotter in the 1970s sitcom, Welcome Back, Kotter. More recently he has become known as a poker player, and as co-host and joint commentator for the series High Stakes Poker on GSN.

Acting career

As a kid, Kaplan had aspirations of being a Major League Baseball player. However, he was unable to make the roster of a minor league team and decided to pursue other interests. He began working as a bellman at a hotel in Lakewood, New Jersey. Touring comedians would sometimes perform at the hotel, and Kaplan began to work toward his own career as a stand-up comedian. Gabe honed his standup routine in 1964 in places such as the Cafe Tel Aviv at 250 West 72nd Street, New York City.

Kaplan's comedy was successful, and he toured the country with his act based on his childhood experiences in Brooklyn. He appeared five times on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson from May 1973 to December 1974. During this period he also recorded the comedy album Holes and Mello-Rolls, which included long routines about his high-school days, among other topics; the sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter, whose central characters he helped Eric Cohen and Alan Sacks create and whose core format he helped them to develop, was in part based on his comedy act. In the sitcom, Kaplan played Gabe Kotter, who returns as a teacher to the dysfunctional high school where he had been a student. The series ran from 1975-79, and Kaplan bought a home in Palm Springs, California with his earnings. "Up your nose with a rubber hose!" became an unlikely catchphrase from the show; it became so popular that a comedy record by Kaplan, "Up Your Nose" was released by Elektra Records. The record (co-written and -produced by Kaplan) dented the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1977, peaking at #93.