The World Series of Poker has announced that a celebration of life honoring Doyle Brunson will be held on Sunday, July 2 at the Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas, one of the venues currently co-hosting the ongoing 2023 WSOP. The celebration will be held at noon in the Horseshoe's Jubilee Theater.
The iconic "Texas Dolly" passed away on May 14 following a brief illness. The 10-time WSOP bracelet winner and legendary high-stakes cash-game player left an indelible footprint across all of poker throughout his seven decades at the tables, and he was a shaping force in what poker has evolved into today.
The upcoming celebration of life in Brunson's honor is being organized by his management company, Poker Royalty, in conjunction with the WSOP, the World Poker Tour, and PokerGO, the poker-content streaming service. The WPT and PokerGO have also offered ongoing tributes to Brunson's poker life in recent weeks.
The doors of the Jubilee Theater will open to the public at 11:30 am on July 2, on a first-come, first-seated basis. The Jubilee Theater is located on the main floor of the Horseshoe casino, at the opposite end of the casino floor from the hallway that leads to the ballrooms where WSOP events are being contested. The Jubilee Theater is quite close to the new WSOP cash-game poker room that opened earlier this year at the western end of the Horseshoe Las Vegas casino floor.
The celebration of life honoring Brunson continues throughout the 2023 WSOP. Brunson was honored with a moment of silence as the WSOP began. A special banner in his honor, similar to the Main Event and Player of the Year winners banners that appear throughout the Horseshoe and Paris ballroom areas, has been on prominent display throughout the series in the main hallway leading to the Horseshoe's main WSOP tournament rooms.
The July 2 celebration will feature personal tributes from several prominent poker personalities who knew Brunson well. Those scheduled to share memories include Jack Binion, Lyle Berman, Dewey Tomko, Billy Baxter, Eric Drache, Phil Hellmuth, and Daniel Negreanu.
Feature image source: Jayne Furman/PokerPhotoArchive
