RIP Danny Robison and Starla Brodie!

The poker world lost two great poker players this past week. Many of you who are relatively new to poker may not be familiar with the names Danny Robison and Starla Brodie, but dinosaurs like me remember them fondly.

Danny was one of the best seven-card stud players in the world. He was also one of the nicest guys you would ever meet at the poker table. Danny stuck up for other players and for poker dealers if they were being abused. My favorite story about Danny was told to me by Jan Fisher and goes as follows: During a poker cruise in the ‘80s, Danny overheard Jan telling another dealer that she had lost her tip money so she wouldn’t be able to go on an excursion the next day. Danny pulled Jan aside and asked her what she had been playing when she “lost” the money. Jan explained that she hadn’t played poker with it; she had lost the envelope the money was in somewhere on the ship. Danny pulled $100 out of his pocket and gave it to her asking if it would cover what she had lost. Jan didn’t want to take the money, but Danny insisted. Two days later, Jan discovered the envelope in her cabin and found Danny so she could return his $100. He didn’t want to take it but she insisted. This is a perfect example of what a great, kind man Danny was. He was entertaining to play with and you didn’t mind losing to him because he kept it fun.

Just tonight, I heard the news that Starla Brodie had passed away. Starla was one of the first women I met in Las Vegas in the late ‘70s. She was a role model to me and inspired me to enter the WSOP in 1980, which subsequently led to my moving to Las Vegas a few weeks later to play poker professionally.

Starla was a two-time WSOP champion and made six final table appearances. With Doyle Brunson as her partner, she won the WSOP mixed doubles event in 1979. (The WSOP had a mixed doubles event from 1979-1983. It had a no-limit format in 1979 and 1980 and then switched to seven-card stud.) Starla won her other bracelet in 1995 in the ladies seven-card stud event.

There weren’t a lot of women playing poker when I first started. Starla welcomed me and others into the poker world and made us feel comfortable. I wish I had properly thanked her while she was alive.

RIP Danny and Starla!

linda Johnsom
Card Player Cruises