Wynn Resort’s posh nightclub Blush didn’t seem to be enforcing its “casual chic” dress code this past Thursday when poker players gathered to honor one of their own: Doyle Brunson. Wearing a big cowboy hat (normally a club no-no) and bouncing the occasional admiring young woman on his knee, the 75-year-old Brunson was having a blast telling stories of games past.

The 40th anniversary of the main event of the World Series of Poker would be starting its first day of registration the next morning, and the party was honoring (though he missed one or two over the years) Brunson’s 40th anniversary as a player at the WSOP. Brunson has won the main event twice (the first to do so in consecutive years) and altogether has won an impressive 10 bracelets at WSOP events.

Brunson’s beginnings in poker, he recalls, date back to playing illegal games in the ’60s, but that changed with legal poker in Vegas and his highly influential book “Super System” from 1978 (originally self-published). But it wasn't until television and the Internet that poker’s high profile exploded. Now, the game not only attracts celebrities but also has made players such as Brunson into stars themselves. This year at various WSOP events, he’s routinely rubbed elbows with players such as Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Charles Barkley, Jason Alexander, Herschel Walker, Brad Garrett, Cedric the Entertainer and Jennifer Tilly.

That amazes and amuses Brunson. Although he’s surprised by his own celebrity, he is not surprised by the game’s change in popularity — from crime to spectator sport. “No one thought it would come to this,” he says, as he looks around the plush club. “But America found out what I knew 50 years ago. Poker is the greatest game there is.”

Brunson will always be remembered for being one of its all-time great players. According to Las Vegas gambling expert Anthony Curtis, publisher of the Las Vegas Advisor, Brunson had as much as anyone to do with the changed fortunes of poker. “More than any single figure,” Curtis notes, “Brunson bridged poker’s past to its present. ‘Super System’ was probably the most influential book in constantly attracting new players.” And, as a player, Curtis does not count Brunson out even now. “He’s always commanded the respect of even the newest and brashest on the scene, which is a testimony to the fact that, on top of having seen it all, he’s also extraordinarily skilled. Truth is, if he couldn't play, they'd ignore him.” Yeah, gamblers are cold that way.

But the young players concur with Curtis. “Not only can he still play competitively, he is still among the best in the world,” says Daniel Negreanu, one of the many poker pros at Blush. “And in some senses, he is even better now, because Doyle learns something new every day.” Jennifer Harman, another poker pro, adds: “He still has the poker mind of a 25-year-old. It is amazing.” Regardless of his future winnings, Brunson’s ties to the past will always keep his stature unique. At the Blush party, which was packed with the young and the beautiful as well as some of the best up-and-coming players in the world, Brunson sat next to an unassuming man in a casual sports jacket. Few there seemed to recognize him, while the well-heeled attempted to schmooze Brunson away. But Brunson was content to talk to his old friend (pictured), and ignore the many who were trying to get Brunson’s attention. The less famous man, he turned out to be almost as legendary as Brunson. Jack Binion, who with his late father, Benny Binion, helped create the WSOP.

Though Harrah’s now owns the tournament (which no longer takes places at Binion’s but at the Rio), Binion has seen the best players in poker for decades. “Doyle dominated poker in his day more than anyone could today,” he said. “He is not as good as he used to be, but he is still good enough that these young players better watch out for him.”

Brunson, on the other hand, thinks his days of winning the main event are behind him: “It would be very difficult for me to win now. I have a bull’s-eye on me, and everyone wants to beat me. So, if I am not real lucky, I have to jump too many hurdles.”

Still, each year Brunson forks over the $10,000 fee for the buy-in. “I feel I owe poker to play in the main event. And, I love playing. I am a poker player. That is all I am.”

And, then another admiring woman comes over to sit on his knee and begins to whisper in his ear. Brunson is all smiles. Harman observing the scene says, “Doyle just really knows how to enjoy himself and from when he started until today whatever has changed with poker, he is always having a fun.”

As it turned out, he was right about his chances; 2009 would not be the year he would win his third main event bracelet. At 1:59 p.m. on July 5, Brunson sent out a tweet: “WSOP 2009 is over for me. It’s disappointing, but also a sense of relief. Now back to the real world.”

Photo: Doyle Brunson, left, and Jack Binion. Credit: Sarah Gerke