Over the weekend, Dani “ansky451” Stern, star of the G4 online poker reality series “2 Months, $2 Million,” signed with DoylesRoom to become the newest member of the Brunson 10. Poker News Daily sat down with site namesake Doyle Brunson to learn more.
Poker News Daily: Tell us why you selected Stern to become the fifth member of the Brunson 10.
Brunson: Everything I heard about him was nice. He’s pretty levelheaded and he’s not one to showboat. He seems like a nice young man, so he seemed like a good addition. Also, he’s a good player.
PND: You told the assembled media that the Brunson 10 will soon be complemented by two female players to commemorate your 10-2 hand. That’s a great idea! When will you make the next selections?
Brunson: It wasn’t the plan to start with, but I came up with that idea. We’ll get two girls next year sometime.
PND: What feedback have you received from your autobiography, “The Godfather of Poker,” which was released on November 10th?
Brunson: I’ve only seen one review and it was really flattering. I know that my author (Mike Cochran) is a very good writer. He’s won numerous awards over 40 years with the Associated Press and he did a good job. I’m happy with it overall.
PND: You had mentioned that you stopped writing the book six times because you weren’t comfortable making certain aspects of your life public. What are some examples of what readers can expect when they check out the book?
Brunson: My early years and some of the things I went through. In the last 20 or 30 years, it’s been pretty obvious what I’ve done, but there were some pretty trying times back in the early days. I saw a lot of violence and I didn’t know how people would receive that.
PND: You mentioned in the book that your father didn’t tell your family that he was a poker player. Talk about the moment you found out.
Brunson: I went home for Christmas one time and we accidentally started a poker game. He made a couple of plays and I asked how he could do those. He said he’s been seeing those plays for 40 years and I told him I didn’t even know he played. My dad never said much about anything, but maybe it’s in the genes.
PND: Have you thought about what life would have been like had you not had that accident and instead played for the Minneapolis Lakers?
Brunson: I know for sure what would have happened. I was a little ahead of my time and think I would have made the pros. I would have played my career out, married my college sweetheart, and been teaching somewhere.
PND: Which life would you have rather had?
Brunson: They both have their merits. Obviously, I have to say this one.
PND: Tell us about the future of DoylesRoom given your ever-growing stable of Brunson 10 members.
Brunson: We’re just trying to get promotions going that nobody else can give. We have what we call the Vegas Experience, where they’re giving prizes to winners of events to come spend the weekend in Vegas. I’ll have dinner with them and my son and daughter will take them around to some of the night spots. We’ll try to show them the life outside of the Strip.
PND: Give us a blonde joke, which have become the theme of your Twitter account.
Brunson: Why did the blonde stare at the refrigerator? Because the orange juice had concentrate.
