Brunson won over $13.5 million in a two-day span in a heads-up, $50,000-$100,000 limit hold-em game, as chronicled in the 2005 book, The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King.

In 2006, Brunson competed in the Poker Superstars 3 Grand Final against Antonio Esfandiari and defeated him by winning the first three matches in a best three out of five heads-up format. In the third round, he was down to 170,000 chips against 3,830,000 chips owned by Esfandiari and eventually won by getting more than five double ups. Brunson took home the $400,000 first prize

In 2006, Brunson competed in the Poker Superstars 2 quarter-finalists freeroll and took home the $500,000 first prize after defeating Ted Forrest in the final heads-up confrontation.

In 2009, Brunson made a guest appearance on one of the final episodes of the series Stargate Atlantis (#519 “Vegas”), during a poker game set in Las Vegas.