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: “The art of being a good guest is knowing when to leave.”

What a great feeling it must be to be 23 years old and on top of the world.  I had dinner last night with Michael Phelps, the 8 gold medal winner from the Olympics.  What a nice kid!  He had a bunch of his friends from home with him and they were the guests of the Palms Hotel and Casino.  I got a call that he was an avid poker fan and wanted to meet me, Todd, and Hoyt Corkins.  Jennifer Harman and her husband Marco were also there.  Todd and Big Mike, Joe Montana’s manager, eat all the time at the Nine Steakhouse at the Palms.  Chef Barry is a good friend of Todd’s and Mike’s and put out an elegant meal.  We had seafood, salad, steak, chicken, lamb and vegetables.  If you have never eaten there, you should try it.

Phelps and some of his friends wanted books so I took Super System 1 and 2 to them and they asked all kinds of poker questions.  Michael said all he wanted to do in life, was to eat, swim and play poker.  We went up to his suite to hang out for a while.  His suite had a basketball court, swimming pool, workout room, multiple bedrooms and bathrooms.  It must have been 15-20 thousand square feet, the nicest one I’ve ever seen.

After I had a few beers, I faded away at about 3 in the morning.  The party was going strong and I think Michael left two things off what he likes to do.  He should add girls and partying.  Why not?  He deserves to celebrate.  Imagine how hard he has to train to be the best swimmer in the world.  They invited me back for dinner tonight, but I’m going to pass.  Michael is trying to outdrink Todd and he is going to find out what defeat feels like.  I asked Michael’s agent if he would like to come to the opening of The Real Deal at the Venetian.  After I told him it would be in the middle of October, he said he would try to make it.  There’s going to be lots of celebrities along with the 10 pros at the opening.  I’m sure everyone will have a good time.

It looks like I’m going to have to go to the WSOP Europe after all.  There have been lots of things already set up for me and I really want to be there to promote DoylesRoom online poker.  I think I’m supposed to play a heads up match with Annette Obrestad.  I know that she is a good player, but it will be embarrassing to lose to an 18 year old girl.  But if I do, I won’t have any excuse because I have almost completely recovered from the trip to Asia.  The human body is an amazing thing; I thought it would be weeks before I felt good again.

Daniel N. – “How do you like my game?”
Caddy – “Very good sir, but personally, I prefer golf.”

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

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