DOYLEISM OF THE DAY: “You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.”

Little did I know when I chased a pop fly in a baseball game over a half a century ago what problems it would cause me. I ran into a steel post and broke two of my front teeth.  The dentistry wasn’t very good in that time, particularly in small towns. The local dentist pulled both teeth, putting in a bridge attached to other teeth. Because of the damage done by that, I’ve had to go through a total mouth reconstruction. That is 25-30 hours in the dentist chair. The good news is, after a few weeks of suffering, all the different procedures make your mouth and teeth as good as new. It’s extremely expensive and it looks like my land-based poker is over until the WSOP. I’m already having withdrawal pains so DoylesRoom will be seeing me online for the next 3 months.

My daughter Pam called my attention to a blog written for Cardplayer by Dusty Schmidt and the comments that were posted. The comments were insane and some of them are downright comical. The one I like best was that I cheated Andy Beal and was threatened by Andy and had to return 16 million dollars. Do people actually hear these kind of stories or do they make them up? Did Andy say he would kill me if I didn’t give him all that money? Do you supposed he would have intimidated me more than Tony Spilotro did when he tried to get me into his cheating schemes? The next time I see Andy, we will have a good laugh about this little gem.

As far as the other negative stuff about the old time cheating, I spent two long years defending myself about that. I don’t intend to go through it again. For the record, I never had any involvement in cheating in poker from any era. This is America, believe me or not, I really don’t care any longer. It does look like there would be some evidence somewhere besides wild stories.

My thanks to Dusty for the nice things he said about me. I didn’t really know everybody thinks these young guys are so much better poker players than me. I do know I’ve survived through several generations of new superstars. Most of them are gone now. Send this new bunch down to Bobby’s Room and let’s find out if they are really so great.

There were also some positive comments and I appreciate them. Texas Road Gambler (I’m pretty sure I know who he is) really makes good points. If I ever go to court, I would like for him to be my attorney, Cardplayer doesn’t allow comments at the bottom of my blog. I wish they would, I can stand some criticism. Seems like it would be fun to read what poker players think.

-DB

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “May the work that you have be the play that you love.”

There is finally some poker action in Bobby’s Room at the Bellagio.  We have lowered the stakes and more players are coming in. It’s really dumb to play so high no one except the ultra rich guys can play. I was completely exhausted when I got through traveling but after playing poker for 4 straight days, I feel great again. It is really amazing how playing helps me. I guess I’m a junkie after all these years.

DoylesRoom.com is putting on a “Twitter Followers Freeroll”  because I’ve got over 100,000 followers on Twitter. The winner gets a weekend in Vegas, dinner with me and partying with the young DoylesRoom pros. I guess they decided I couldn’t handle the partying and they may be right. The tournament is on this Sunday at 6pm Eastern time. I’ll tweet the password at 4pm Eastern the same day because our tournaments hold a few thousand players at a time. You have to have an account at DoylesRoom along with the password to play.

Cardoza publishing has already ordered the second printing of my autobiography because of the unexpected number of advance sells. It is going to hit the bookstores Nov. 10th and I’ve still got mixed feelings about writing this book.

I appreciate all the tweets, emails and phone calls expressing concerns over my toy poodle Casper. Casper jumped off a desk and knocked both his hips out of socket and Louise has to carry him everywhere because he can’t walk.  I should say couldn’t walk because he is able to walk on level ground now, he just can’t jump or put any weight on his back legs. Casper is tough and I expect him to last a lot longer as he is only 13 years old.

I’m back in retirement on pro football. I bet on Minn +6 points when Pitt made 2 defensive touchdowns in the last 5 minutes to beat me. I had Miami +6 against N.O. Saints and was ahead 24-3 at the half and lost. Then, I had Houston -3 and was ahead 21-0 at the half and managed to tie that one 24-21. I’m sure I’m going to get lots of sympathy, all poker players are unlucky when betting on sports.

-DB

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “Take risks. Tomorrow you may not be able to do what you can today.”

When I played poker every day for seven straight weeks, I felt strong as a lion. Now after 3 days of not playing, I feel like a truck just ran over me. I bet a psychiatrist would have a field day trying to analyze poker players. Maybe we are addicted and we actually have withdrawal symptoms when we have no action. Of course the last three plays I made at Bobby’s Room, I lost 600K, 700K and 600K again. And yes, I was that much winner. I broke out almost exactly even. I’m sure those losses contributed to the blah feeling I’m now experiencing.

I just re-read the paragraph I just wrote and went to laughing. If you can’t handle the ups & downs, you better not get into the poker business. After 50 years of playing professionally, I should know that better than anyone. The sun is still going to come up in the east in the morning and a new day will begin. Hopefully, it will be a good one.

It’s almost time to vote for the 2009 inductees into the Poker Hall Of Fame and I’m unsure of who my choices will be. I’m leaning toward the older guys with my first choice being Mike Sexton. We have to pick two and I’m thinking hard about my other vote. Phil Ivey is the best player on the list, but he is only 33 years old. Chip Reese is the youngest player to be inducted at the age of 40. Phil is great, but he still isn’t Chip. Give Phil a few more years and he will certainly be elected. I’ll be cheering for him and Jeff Shulman in November at the WSOP final table.

I’m doing my best to get my work done for updating SS/2 along with editing my autobiography. I got a lot done but it’s really tough to sit at a desk all day long. My hat is off to the folks that do stuff like this for a living.

After going down to take care of the ticket I got in my new Escalade, I tried to figure out all the gadgets on it. After finding where the windshield wipers were, how to work the Onstar and how to turn the lift package off, I gave up. I think time has passed me by.

I had a great dinner last night at my son Todd’s house. Todd can really cook and goes to a lot of trouble to be sure it’s good. He should get a job as a chef somewhere. Jack Binion and his wife were there and we got to telling stories about the old days and really had lots of laughs. Everyone there said we should write a book about the Jack Struass, Jimmy Chagra, Sailor Roberts and Benny Binion tales we told.

I’ll tell you one of the Chagra stories. Jimmy Chagra was a big time dope dealer 30 years ago. He also allegedly hired Charles Harrelson (Woody’s dad) to kill a federal judge. Jimmy loved to gamble with us playing poker and golf, but he got sent to prison. He got out after 30 years and walked into Bobby’s Room at the Bellagio. He was watching us play and sweet little Jennifer Harman was loser. She turned around, cursed him and made him move. Then she lost another hand, called the floorman and demanded he be removed from the room. After he left, I told Jennifer who and what he was. She said she didn’t care if he was Al Capone, she didn’t want him watching anymore. That confirmed what I already knew. Don’t spit into the wind, don’t fool with Superman’s cape and don’t fool with Jennifer when she is losing

-DB

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “There are lots of ways to go forward, but only one way to stand still.”

A few months ago, I had dinner with some prospective investors in High Stakes Entertainment. They were also poker players and wanted to go to the high-stakes poker room at the Bellagio to play poker. When we got to Bobby’s Room, there weren’t enough high limit players to start a game. A nice looking kid in his early 20’s walked by and someone said there’s that guy that just won two tournaments, back to back. So I ran outside and asked the young man if he was interested in playing with some tourists. He said he wasn’t comfortable playing so high so I took half his action and he made a nice win for us. That’s how I met Alec Torelli and he impressed me with his play.

DoylesRoom has taken a new direction with signing up young internet players to represent the site. When I saw Alec’s name on the list of prospects, I immediately called the marketing director and told him to be sure to sign Alec, which he did. Alec justified our confidence by making the final table at the Bellagio Cup V. Congrats Alec, we expect big things from you in the future.

The action at Bobby’s Room is beginning to wind down. The Finnish players are still here for 2 more days and there has never been a nicer group to play with. I think all 3 of them are winner so I’m sure they will be back. Unfortunately, the biggest games have been PLO and I’ve played in just a few but come out small winner. The Chinese Poker games have been great and is one of my better games because Chip Reese and I played countless hours battling each other!

I miss Chip!!

-DB

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “Poker don’t make the world go round, but it makes the ride worthwhile.”

Every year about this time, some sicko feels the need to spread the news that I died. Doug Dalton was the first to call and I had several calls after that. I was tweeting on twitter and Howard Lederer spread the word that if I was dead, someone was twittering on my account. When I do die, hopefully years from now, everybody will have to check to see if it’s true.

Speaking of Twittering, I told Louise, who has been in Hawaii for two months, asked what I was doing. When I told her I was tweeting on my twitter she thought it was a sexual innuendo. I laughed at her and she told me the same thing my sister told me. “Doyle, I think you are going crazy.” Actually, I’ve always suspected I might be a little crazy, so they could be right.

Looks like the guys are playing golf every day. Daniel tweeted me that Ivey, Patrick, E-Dog and him were out every day. Man, am I jealous. The most fun I’ve ever had is when 15-20 guys gather at a good golf course and everybody tries to play high and make fair games. With the WSOP so close there is no reason to try to join them because everyone will be in the poker room next week. It looks like if Eli Elezra and I don’t start the poker games at Bobby’s Room, they don’t get started. I’ll never understand why players are reluctant to sit down and start, the games almost always fill up.

Mike Caro and I are doing 6 seminars during the WSOP.  They are on May 30/31, June 13/14 and June 27/28. Mike does all the hard work with his bullet points and presentation. He is the best at these things, he really does a good job. I do a 20 minute Q&A at the end of each one which is really pretty easy.  Everyone should come if they can make it.

I signed on with Poker Royalty yesterday. Poker Royalty represents quite a few poker players in making deals for their endorsements, etc. I’ve heard nothing but good things about them. I’m a terrible businessman and deal maker so I’m glad to be able to turn over all that stuff to them. As I recall, they have a suite right outside the tournament area that will be handy for bathroom breaks. That will be cool because it’s hard to get to the bathroom during the WSOP. All the fans want pictures and autographs and you seem like a jerk if you don’t talk to them.

It’s been weeks since I’ve played poker. If it hadn’t been for the NBA playoffs, I would really be climbing up the wall. Louise has been gone for 2 months now due to her allergy problems and I’ve been babysitting Cutie and Casper. I haven’t even been to the golf course. I’ll say one thing, because of this I’ve got a fire in my belly I haven’t felt for years. I’m really anxious to get to the poker table and I’m going to see if there are any wins left in this old man. I’m going to win a bracelet this year!

-DB

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