Doyle Brunson is the Godfather 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 five have been headhunted: Chris “moorman1” Moorman, Alec “traheho” Torelli, Dani “ansky” Stern, Zachary “CrazyZachary” Clark and Amit “amak316” Makhija.
The first three players picked were Makhija, Torelli, and Clark. Twenty-two year-old Torelli, 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 multi-table tournament (MTT) skills and he did not disappoint. Besides finishing in 26th place in the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic for a cool $28,569, he also made the top 10 in several other important poker 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 signs of slowing down. In 2009, he cashed in nearly 50 online poker 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 Moorman, a young British player to be reckoned with on the online felts. Moorman had a spectacular 2009, ranking fourth in both CardPlayer’s and Bluff’s Online Player of the Year rankings for consistent five-figure wins. Moorman was also honored with the number spot in the PocketFives.com Yearly leaderboard for 2009. Brunson was spot on 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 for the half-complete Brunson 10 was Stern. One of the stars of the G4 online poker 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 Stern brought in the single largest cash of the team, when his final table skills in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) $40,000 buy-in commemorative event in 2009 netted him $548,315.
Brunson is still searching for the remaining five members of the Brunson 10 and will choose two more players after those. He explains: “We are going to find the remaining five 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.