Doyle Brunson has received a lifetime player card from the Epic Poker League, automatically making him eligible to play in all future Epic Poker tournaments.

Brunson's award was announced today by Federated Sports + Gaming and the Epic Poker League, and is the first of its kind ever to be handed out.

Brunson was chosen for his "decades of success in the game and contributions to making it more popular and accessible," Epic Poker League Commissioner Annie Duke said.

The legendary gambler currently holds a 2-year Category A Epic membership card that makes him eligible to play in the league's events through 2013.

In order to receive the 2-Year Category card players will have to have at least $2 million in lifetime earnings, with a maximum of $1 million coming from any single cash.

The player must also hold at least one major title and have at least six cashes worth at least $300,000 since January 1st, 2008.

Brunson has cashed for more than $6 million throughout his career, including 12 WSOP bracelets and a WPT title.

The 78-year-old Brunson said to be happy with the honor, but revealed that he didn't necessarily plan to actually play in the events.

So far, Brunson has not played in any of the two first Epic Poker League events, and in general he is not fit enough to play a large number of live tournaments, he told the Epic Poker website.

"As I'm getting older, these tournaments are getting too hard to come through. It's probably not worth it to me anymore to really go on the tournament grind, so I don't plan on playing a whole lot of tournaments the rest of my life,"

"I much prefer to play cash games," he said.