“My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the World. I hope you will join with me as we try to change it.” … quote from Barack Obama.

What is with these politicians? Obama has gone from a huge favorite to be our next President to perhaps not even getting the Democratic nomination. Don’t the speech writers examine the words before the candidates say them? Along with Obama’s Pastor, Reverend Wright, sayings like this have really damaged Obama. I have a lot of concerns about this election and I’m not sure at this point who to vote for.

Hillary Clinton has made a lot of mistakes, also. They say she misspoke about a few things, but they were out and out lies! My favorite joke about Hillary is about the man who went to Heaven. St. Peter welcomed the man through the Pearly Gates and the new Saint noticed some clocks on the wall. When he asked St. Peter what they were he was told they were lie clocks. Every time a person lies his or her clock would move five minutes. St. Peter said: “That clock never moved; it was Mother Theresa’s. She never told a lie. The next one is Abe Lincoln’s. He told only two lies in his entire life.” The new guy said, “That’s nice. Where is Hillary’s clock?” St. Peter said, “Jesus has it in his office. He is using it for a ceiling fan.”

If the Democrats don’t get something resolved, the Party is going to be so divided John McCain will win the election. This is going to be the most interesting election in my lifetime. Daniel Negreanu and I were exchanging emails about the candidates until I finally gave up because he won’t alter his position that Obama would be what this country needs. I would be interested to know if he has changed his thinking after the past few weeks. I’ll give him a call. It might be time to make a bet with him.

For some reason it looks like DoylesRoom attracts the country western stars that play on the internet. Just a few weeks after Blake Shelton and his band asked us to come to their concert on Fremont Street I got another invite from Dierks Bentley who is a really hot country-western singer to come to the Red Rock Casino and Hotel for his concert. Todd, Hoyt Corkins, Ken Hale, and Anjela and her friend came along with me and Dierks stopped his autograph session to come over and greet us and he wanted to take some pictures with us. He said he enjoyed playing at DoylesRoom and was a big fan of online poker. He said the players at our site were easier than any place else he had tried. Of course, we already knew that because we don’t have very many Pros. I was really amazed at Red Rock. They have a huge facility and it is really nice. The place was packed and Dierks and his people really put on a good show. I looked for Phil Hellmuth and Clonie Gowen but couldn’t find them. - DB

In my last blog, I was extremely upset about a big loss in a poker game. Today I got some news that put things back in perspective for me. Forty-six years ago five doctors gave me three months or less to live from melanoma cancer. After going to M.D. Anderson, a wonderful cancer hospital in Houston, Texas, a gray haired doctor named Jay operated on me and after eight hours of surgery, he gave me a clean bill of health, reporting all the cancer had disappeared. They called it a spontaneous remission but I’ve always suspected that Dr. Jay had something to do with it. I guess The Man upstairs decided it wasn’t time for me to go. Whatever it was, I am obviously extremely grateful.

Dr. Jay died this week after dedicating his entire life to public service in a cancer hospital. He was by all accounts a brilliant surgeon and doctor who never made over $80,000 a year. It’s pretty humbling when you look at a man like that and then you consider your own life. R.I.P. Dr. Jay.

If you are a western buff, the Western Channel on Direct TV is having a twenty-four hour marathon honoring the TV series Maverick. James Garner played Brett Maverick and was a gambler who made his living playing poker. They have asked me to do an interview about my remembrance of Maverick and use the interview as a promo and between episodes. I am certainly going to do it because that was one of my favorite TV shows. I also have met James Garner when he and I, along with Gus Hansen, were inducted into the “Walk of Fame” at the Commerce Casino. James had some health issues but was a real trooper and gentleman.

Tournament poker has spread everywhere; now it is in Russia. The Russian government has sanctioned a tournament at Zavidova just outside of Moscow. They are adding $150K to the prize pool and it is scheduled for August 15th. They have offered me quite a deal to go play, including meeting the Russian President. Unfortunately, I can not go because of my basketball reunion and I believe Extreme Poker is due to start on the 15th at the Venetian Hotel here in Vegas.

I watched Shannon Elizabeth get kicked off Dancing With The Stars a few nights ago. Dumb judges! I thought she did great and looked great. I hope the poker community supported her. There are some great dancers on that show. I never thought I would watch something like Dancing, but it is pretty cool. I bet Phil Ivey $20K that Kristi, the ice skater, would be the champion. It looks like it is between her and Jason Taylor, the Miami Dolphin’s football player. I don’t know if Jason can dance or not because I can’t take my eyes off his partner. She is the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen. Oops! Besides Louise, I mean

Back to the thought that I started this blog with…let us not forget what is really important in life. Remember, with money you can buy a clock – but not time! - DB

Every time I think I am going on a vacation something stops me! I was minding my own business, paying bills and taking care of day-to-day stuff I was behind on. My phone rang and a friend of mine called and said Sammy Farha, Gus Hanson, David Benyamine, and some amateur had been playing in Bobby’s Room for 36 hours. I made a mad dash for my car, broke every traffic law getting to the Bellagio, and proceeded to play ten hours and lose over $400,000. That wiped out my eight game winning streak and put me in a bad, bad mood. The games were 2-7 Triple Draw, Omaha Hi-Lo, and Pot Limit Omaha, and I was tortured all night long. Finally, at 12:30 a.m. I just picked my chips up and spent a restless almost sleepless night in my bed. I know a professional poker player has to handle a lot of pressure and things don’t usually bother me, but sheer frustration took over in this game. Welcome to my world!

Right before I quit, Patrik Antonius came in and began playing. I didn’t know he was in town and I didn’t have a chance to talk to him but I know his friends read my blog. Now would be a good time to warm up for our “Doyle Sez” match with a 4-8 thousand game. I’m a hot sucker and ready to play! Maybe I had better drink a glass of wine, go to bed, and cool off J

60 Minutes called and wants to interview me on the passing of the UIGEA bill. I hope it doesn’t get me into trouble because I am going to speak my piece about it. Will it get me into trouble with the DOJ? Hopefully not. They know everything about everything anyway.

Anyway, my face and name are on a online poker site so I’m pretty sure they know me. America needs to know about this bill and this seems like a good platform to get on my soap box. It seems like we are picking up a lot of support on legalizing internet poker.

I finalized the plans for my college basketball team reunion. We are going to get together the first part of August at my place in Montana. This is probably the last time we will ever get together because a lot of these friends are older than I am. Any player that played at my University in Texas from 1950 to 1955 is invited. There were 25 guys that we contacted for our last reunion here in Vegas four years ago. Twenty-two of them came and we had a great time. This time, seventeen have committed to come. Three teammates died since then and two of them can’t come down because of health problems.

An interesting note…there hasn’t been a single divorce from any teammate. That is some record and as I told Louise, “When us Texans make a commitment, we mean it.”

As an afterthought, if Gus Hanson and Patrik Antonius stick their heads out of the same window at the same time, would they be arrested for mooning? J - DB