DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “It’s choice, not chance, that determines our destiny.”

The most I had ever paid for a hamburger was $10, which I thought was foolish.  Yesterday, I went to Red Rock Casino to go to a movie with my pal Jack Binion.  We stopped in a gourmet hamburger place in the Red Rock and got a $14.75 burger.  It was a big restaurant but almost completely empty.  The way the economy is right now, this is going to be tough for them to survive.  The first thing people cut out is going out for lunch and dinner.  I personally would rather have a whopper from Burger King, anyway.

The election is finally over and I’m glad.  Martin Luther King said that someday, men would be judged by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin.  Looks like that day has come; with Obama being our first African-American president.  I voted for McCain because of some personal beliefs, but now that America has spoken, Obama is my president and I’ll support him in any way that I can.  I can only hope he will be able to turn our country around.  President Obama is one of the best speakers I’ve ever heard.

I get asked a lot where I get the Doylisms I use to start my blog.  A few of them are from me, but most of them are from things that I have read.  They come from all walks of life and from different folks.  I read a lot when I have time and I’ve taken the thoughts of a lot of authors, all the way from Will Rogers to Winston Churchill.  There is a lot of wisdom in books if we take the time to find it.

I didn’t go to Foxwoods for their WPT tournament.  Besides the fact I’m trying to stop traveling so much, my plate is so full now I don’t have any time.  I have to do a book signing at the Rio that I committed to and also have to appear in their “pro pit”.  The Hall of Fame induction is Sunday and I have to make the introduction speech for my pal Dewey Tomko.  I also have to do two shows for the Real Deal because most of their pros are out of town.  I’m also addressing some issues with Microgaming, DoylesRoom’s software provider.  Everything will work out, but it takes time and effort.

Daniel:  What do I do wrong?

Caddie: Sir, you spend so much time in bunkers, you get mail addressed to Hitler!

-DB

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “Don’t be afraid of pressure. Remember pressure is what turns a lump of coal into a diamond.”

After two days of being back from China, I’m having the worst jet lag of my life.  All I want to do is sleep, but the trip was worth it.

After visiting Hong Kong, Todd and I took a helicopter to Macau.  It was a breathtaking view as we went over the big buildings of Hong Kong and hundreds, maybe thousands, of small islands.  I must have walked more than a mile to get to the heliport and my bad leg was throbbing on the ride.  Jack Binion stayed in Hong Kong on business, but came over the next day to join us. 

After reaching Macau, we went to the Galaxy Hotel and met with our hosts, Tom Hall and Chris Parker.  Our accommodations were great and the book signings and interviews went well.  George Barahona from DoylesRoom  was there and had everything ready.  The APT tournament was a little disappointing because of the number of entries.  Matt Savage was the tournament director and did his usual terrific job.  There were lots of familiar faces including Huck Seed, J.C. Tran, Liz Lieu, John Chan and several more.  I guess the flight over affected me also, because I felt really bad and went out early the 1st day.  I played pitifully and was embarrassed but just didn’t have the energy and discipline it takes to play tournament poker.

After Jack Binion got there, we visited some of the other casinos.  They are much bigger than our Las Vegas ones and there are customers on every table, sometimes standing in line betting on seated player’s hands.  We went to the Venetian, Sands, Wynn and several others.  It seemed as though Sheldon Adelson owns most of the real estate in Macau and he is making megabucks over there.  We went to dinner at the Wynn with my friend from the Philippines, Tim Shirrer and some of his business associates.  The food was great as you would expect from a Steve Wynn hotel and casino.  Again, I had to walk a long ways because the casinos are so huge, you can’t believe them.  Maybe this trip will make me go get this leg fixed.

I was supposed to play in a big cash game but because I felt so bad, Jack and I decided we would leave Todd to play and we would come on home.  So we left and took a turbojet back to the Hong Kong airport.  Our flight was delayed for an hour before takeoff.  That meant we couldn’t make our connection to Vegas from San Francisco.  No problem when you are traveling with a billionaire like Jack Binion, you will have a private G4 waiting at another airport.  Nice way to travel!

Todd is still in Hong Kong because he was late for his flight.  I felt bad about leaving him over there, but he had plenty of friends to hang out with.  I’m not sure how he did in the cash game, but I think he won.  I’m grateful for him being there because he helped promote DoylesRoom online poker tournaments in the interviews.

Everybody thinks Obama is going to bury McCain in the debates.  They should watch the Saddleback forum where each candidate is asked the same question separately.  McCain won hands down and answered each question in a positive manner while Obama beat around the bush a couple of times.

David Benyamine – “You’ve got to be the worst caddy in the world.”
Caddy – “No sir, that would be too much of a coincidence.” 

-DB

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “Face fear straight on. Fierce storms don’t last forever.”

Just as we get ready to head for Macau, we got word our Singapore Airlines flight is 8-9 hours late.  That means spending the night in San Francisco and throwing all my interviews, book signing and the rest of the schedule out of whack.  The APT tournament will be ok because it is days away.  I wonder if the typhoon that is hitting Hong Kong had anything to do with this delay.  After all the stuff I’ve been through in my life, I don’t want it to end in an airplane crash in China.

Lakeside, Montana has a dummy they dress up in a policeman’s uniform.  Then they take a regular police car and park it on the main street in a different place each day.  They put the dummy behind the wheel and it slows traffic like you won’t believe.  I got suspicious and went over to inspect the car.  Sure enough, there was the dummy driver.  When I picked up two of my ex-basketball buddies, we drove down the main street.  I swerved over toward the dummy policeman, honked my horn, called him a dumb a-hole, shot him the finger and drove away.  My friends started yelling at me, calling me crazy and said they were going to throw us under the jail.  I didn’t tell them for a few minutes and we had a big laugh about it.

I’ve been watching the news all afternoon and it looks like Joe Biden is going to be Obama’s running mate.  I think it is a bad choice because Biden is hot headed and might screw up royally.  I think Hillary would have cinched the election if he had picked her.  But, what do I know; I was a George W. man.  If McCain picks Romney as his running mate, all the gamblers had better vote for Obama.

Congratulations to Mike and Karen Sexton, they had a baby boy.  Ty Michael Sexton was born yesterday and weighed in at 8 lbs 6 ounces.  Karen and baby are doing great.  We need another Mike Sexton in the world and we finally got him.

Daniel N. – “I would move heaven and earth to break 90 on this course.”

Caddy – “Try heaven, you’ve already moved most of the earth.”

-DB

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “Failure is caused more by lack of determination than lack of talent.”

The worst day of the year is usually when you get knocked out of the Main Event.  This year for me it was a relief to get it over with.  I spent three days signing books and autographs on the stage of the Expo.  It was 4-5 hours and I felt totally exhausted when it was over.  I’ve never felt like not playing any form of poker as I did when I sat down for the first hand.  I guess we live and learn and I’ll never work like that before a poker game again.  I was embarrassed by the way I played but there isn’t much you can do with no enthusiasm.  Poker is so much mental but you can’t go back, only forward.

I’m trying to get enough energy to get to Montana and try to regroup.  Maybe this is just part of getting old but I’ve always laughed at people when they said they were tired.  I guess I was blessed with great endurance but it is catching up to me now.

Well, that’s enough whimpering about me.  When I look at the leaders in the WSOP I only recognize a few names.  I’m pulling for all the pros that are left but it is going to be extremely difficult.  It was good to see the number of entries didn’t go down and if the internet sites ever get going again, there is no telling where the WSOP will go.

My daughter, Pam, didn’t get to play at the WSOP because she had to have a stomach hernia repaired.  It’s too bad because she was really looking forward to it.  To make matters worse, her little toy poodle has a life threatening illness that the doctors can’t pin point.  I feel terrible for her because I know she is a real dog lover as I am.

The title of “The Last Brunson Standing” goes to Todd’s wife, Anjela, who made it to the second day with over 40,000 in chips.  Besides being a pretty good poker player, I think she is one of the best looking women poker players.  I am going down tomorrow to cheer her on.  Someone has to hold up the family name.  Todd and I certainly didn’t.

Country Western singer Andy Griggs who is representing DoylesRoom did himself proud by making it to the second day with over 60,000 in chips.  Andy sang the National Anthem one day and a song off his new album, “It’s All About The Money” the next day.  Andy hasn’t played much poker so I’ll be there to root for him along with Anjela. – DB

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “When things go wrong, don’t go wrong with them.”

The WSOP is winding down and I’m glad because I am physically and mentally exhausted.  I knew it was time to back off when I tried to start my car with my house key and tried to get into my house with my car key!  That’s not a good sign and I’m not only ducking the last few tournaments, I’m not playing in some very good cash games.

You talk about records!  Forget about how many cashes you have or how many bracelets.  Some day someone will break these records but I set one which will never be broken.  I’ve lost two scooters in the last three World Series of Poker.  Try and break that record!  I parked my scooter, which was one week old, outside the VIP room at the Rio and when I came out, it was gone.  Of course, I left the keys in it, but what kind of sicko steals a handicapped scooter?  Year before last during the WSOP I had dinner at the Bellagio, got my car out of valet, and went to my suite at the Rio.  When I parked, I noticed my scooter was not on the lift.  I have no idea where I lost it but I think it fell off the back of my car when I didn’t secure it properly.  Of course, the bottle of wine I had had with dinner had absolutely nothing to do with it.

I have to go to the Doylesroom party tonight.  I’m going to try to get home early because I have three days of book signings and interviews coming up. However I know how these things go when you get to these parties.  One thing for sure, I’m leaving my scooter at home tonight!

-DB

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