DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “The One thing you can give and still keep is…your word.”

Looks like everything is winding down now in the poker world.  The WSOP is over for now and the Bellagio WPT is over.  Most of the cash game players are leaving town and so I am finally going to get to Montana for a much needed rest.  I guess I will drive for two days where I can take my dogs; plus loading the Escalade down with stuff I’m going to need.  I’ve hired a house sitter to take care of things while I am gone.

Congratulations to the WPT winners.  I was pulling for David Benyamine to win but his second place finish along with Ralph Perry’s fourth place upholds ‘The Big Game’s’ honor.  I saw when David lost a couple of tough hands in the heads-up.  I’m sure Mike Watson is a worthy champion even though I haven’t played with him that I can remember.

I see where the WPT has been signed on by Fox Sports Network.  That is probably a good move for them even though I have some personal problems with the Network.  They went back on their word on an issue a few years back.  I didn’t understand it at the time and still don’t.  Their excuse was ‘business is business’.  Most folks don’t put the same value on keeping their word as I do.  I might not play in any more WPT tournaments but that would probably be stupid on my part.  I remember the old saying, “Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.”

If you haven’t played online poker at DoylesRoom you haven’t lived.  We have a rabbit cam that flashes what the next card would have been after you or your opponent folds; just another way to torture yourself and second guess what you should have done.  Just go to options and check ‘show rabbit cam cards’ and you will see how much fun it is to see what would have happened.  Just another improvement on what I believe is the best poker software in the poker sites.

I’m pretty sure we are going to have another golf tournament on ESPN in early October.  High Stakes Entertainment secured a golf course near Orlando, Florida for the event.  That is a good choice because the players can bring their families for a nice vacation.  There are many theme parks, including Disney World, nearby.  There has to be at least a Two Million Dollar prize pool so it will be interesting to say the least.

My autobiography has been put on hold for another year.  My publisher didn’t think the book was ready yet.  It wasn’t my decision but I feel badly for my co-author, Mike Cochran, who has put a lot of time and effort into getting the book written.  Mike is an old friend from way back in college but there is really nothing I can do about it.  Actually it will be easier on me to wait because my plate is full for the next few months and I couldn’t promote the book like they want me to.

I’ve been watching the Maverick Marathon I tivoed during the WSOP.   The Starz Network had a 24 hour showing from the Western Channel on DSS.  They had a lot of poker players giving their remembrances of the series starring James Garner and Jack Kelley.  They had more shots of me than anyone else because I was the only one old enough to remember when Maverick first came on in 1957.  Scotty Nguyen, Hoyt Corkins, Mike Caro, Vanessa Russo, and T. J. Cloutier all had spots on the promos.  What I don’t understand is not one person has ever mentioned seeing it on T.V.  So many folks come up and say, “I watch you on T.V. all the time.”  Could it be that I am the only cowboy left? 

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “Poker is War. People pretend it is a game”.

This has been a busy week. Two years ago, Mike Cochran and I spent three months writing my autobiography. Mike was an award-winning writer for the Associated Press for over forty years. He was also a college classmate fifty-four years ago and has written five books, two of which have been made into TV movies. Mike had an interesting career with the AP covering all the major crimes that were committed in Texas. He was in The Space Center in Houston when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon. He was a pall bearer at Lee Harvey Oswald’s funeral. He had written several articles on poker and on me for the AP. He was also a close friend, so he was an easy choice to be my writer. I decided after we finished the book it was going to be a lot of trouble for me to promote it the way the publisher wanted me to. I don’t have time for the things I want to do now but everybody has convinced me I should update it and get Mike back out. So Mike spent the week and while we didn’t finish the job he has plenty of material to work on until I get back from the Irish Open later this month. I still have reservations about releasing this book but it is too late now.

The NBC Heads Up Tournament started yesterday with the pairing drawings party. It is always a fun event even though I passed playing in it last year because my disgust of the passing of the UIGEA bill by the Senate. I had a long interview with NBC before my first match and I really sounded off about the underhanded way the UIGEA was passed. I also told them how I had predicted that this passage would sink the Republicans in the upcoming elections. I was right. The Democrats won the Senate and believe me we will have a Democratic President.

I felt like a walking billboard for DoylesRoom with a band on my hat and a patch on my shirt. I think the online poker sites have overdone it with all the logos. But, we have to compete. We have eight members of Team Brunson: Me, Todd Brunson, Chad Brown, Gabe Kaplan, T.J. Cloutier, Sam Grizzle, Eli Elezra, and Shannon Elizabeth. Shannon, by the way, is a stunningly beautiful woman.

I drew Sammy Farha for my first match at the NBC Tournament. I didn’t like my draw because Sammy is going to make anyone gamble very quickly. I know all the ‘small ball’ players won’t agree with me but I refuse to let anyone chop me out in a tournament. In a cash game you can wait for a hand to punish a guy with but in a tournament where you can’t get more chips, it is a different story. Sammy makes oversized raises before the flop and then keeps betting, forcing his opponent to hold a hand he can call or raise with. If you miss the flop three or four times in a row, a third of your chips are gone and you are at a huge disadvantage when the blinds go up. So I decided to reverse things and come over the top every opportunity. I could tell Sammy was surprised when I re-raised him the first five times he raised. My strategy worked because when he finally called my all-in raise, he had lost one-half of his $20,000 buy in. I was in a hand with a K-Q against his A-Q but I caught a King and won a very fast match. Eric Lindgren beat Eli and I play him tomorrow. I expect a very different game with Eric – DB