Poker games in Texas were a lot harder to come by in the mid-1900s than they are today. At the time, most of the action in the country could be found on the Texas Circuit, which “consisted of thirty or forty towns around Texas and the South where poker games were held regularly,” according to poker legend and Texas native Doyle Brunson.
Brunson is one of many now-Poker Hall of Famers who got their start on the Texas Circuit, grinding out games in small towns throughout Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, New Mexico, Alabama and other southern states.