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After receiving hundreds of track scholarship offers from around the country, Brunson decided to attend Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene to stay close to his family – a value he places above all else. At HSU, Brunson was named MVP of his conference in basketball and ranked second in the state in the mile. The Minneapolis Lakers were interested in drafting the young college junior until he severely broke his leg and was on crutches for two years. With hopes of professional ball all but lost, Brunson returned to college and got his Master's in Administrative Education. In order to pay his tuition, he got involved in various card games. At first, he hit the college circuit, finding games whenever possible. After college, he took a job at the Burroughs Corporation selling bookkeeping equipment. The first day on the job, Brunson got invited to play in a seven-card stud game. He won more money in three hours than he could earn in a month selling – the nuances of the game just came easy to him. A few weeks later, he quit his job and started playing poker full time. He became a "rounder" at all the small poker games in Texas, which became known as Doyle Brunson territory.  Doyle Brunson's Super System: A Course in Power Poker is the bible of poker. Back then playing poker was dangerous and wild. One time when Brunson was involved in a backroom game, a degenerate burst through the door and put two shotgun shells into the chest of the guy sitting next to him. Few have the occupational perquisite of the acrid smell of gunpowder and fear of death on a daily basis. A lot of the big money games were played in pool halls and nightclubs on the north side of Fort Worth known as bloodthirsty highway. Not only were you worried about the law breaking down your door and dragging you off to jail, you had to be looking over your shoulder every time you left a game. People were robbed and gunned down in the middle of the streets all the time. These were the circumstances under which Brunson learned to play. Where he learned to survive. This was Texas poker in the 50s and 60s. If you were going to survive, you had no choice but to be disciplined. Every night, every game, you were surrounded by the dark underbelly of society. Booze, women, thieves looking to slit your throat at the first sign of weakness, all pushing the agenda of corruption. To be an elite player, you have to keep your mind clean. You have to be right in your life or at the first signs of pressure all your troubles will spill out on the table like a gutted sow. And make no mistake about, gambling thousands of dollars a hand will turn the coolest cucumber into a sweaty ball of nerves. Every bill you need to pay, every gift for your wife, your children's education, it all swims through your mind and pours out your eyes if you are not absolutely focused. That's why Brunson plays so aggressively. He plays every pot like it's his and only his. No one's going to take it from him – he's going take it from you. If you challenge him, you better have the balls to stand up and fight because he sure as hell isn't going to back down. Brunson's life experience drives him to be the best. An unrelenting force from within that wouldn't let him quit no matter what the odds, no matter what life put in his path. After every game, he and Amarillo Slim – another poker great of that generation – would go back to their motel and talk poker strategy. They'd work strategies manually for thousands upon thousands of hands…over and over again until it just became ingrained in their bodies and in their minds. Eventually, Brunson, Amarillo Slim and Sailor Roberts – yet another legend of the game – formed a business relationship. The goals – build a big enough bankroll and take that to Vegas. This would be their chance to climb out from underneath the oppressive hold illegal gambling had over them. This was a chance to create some legitimacy in their lives.
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