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

DOYLEISM OF THE DAY: “There are things you can do in an instant that will give you heartache for life.”

I’ve done a lot of traveling in the last few years and have always prided myself that it doesn’t have very much negative impact on me. But this last trip to London for five days and back has knocked me to my knees. Talk about jet lag!  I’ve literally been in bed over half the time for the past six days. I feel like a truck has run over me. I’ve got all sorts of meetings the next few days so hopefully I’ll feel better soon. And I really look forward to the Super Bowl party every year with my friends. This will be an enjoyable event this year as I made a 100k bet on picking the winner of the championship game. I took the Colts and my opponent took the Patriots. I think I’ll bet 50k on the Saints +4 1/2 and lock up a nice win.  If Indy wins by 4 or less, I’ll win 150K. Nice position to be in huh?

I don’t have much to look forward to after the Super Bowl. The next day I go into a 5 1/2 hour surgery on my teeth and gums. That is going to require a lot of change in my schedule. I’m supposed to play in the Premier League tournament that is being filmed at the M Casino here in Vegas. It is the most widely watched TV show in Europe, with a $100,000 buy in. That would be great exposure for DoylesRoom but there is no way I’ll be 100% recovered from all that dental surgery so I’ll have to cancel.

Then, there is the WPT event at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles. That is one of my favorite tournaments because the side action is always good. Then the Celebrity tournament is right afterwards and is a fun time. I’ve got an invitation to play in a big Poker Stars TV tournament and immediately afterwards is the NBC Heads Up Championship. I’ll have to bow out of all these tournaments because there is no use playing unless you are at your best. The competition has gotten so good you need to feel good physically as well as mentally to have a chance to win.

My gut feeling is just chill out until the WSOP and try to have a big series. Could it be my age is finally catching up to me?

-DB

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “Whatever you give to life, life gives you back.”

All you see on the TV news channels are about the earthquakes in Haiti. It is a real disaster area and America is trying to help and the online poker sites are no exception. DoylesRoom has a weekly bounty tournament and is not only donating all the proceeds, but is matching them. As usual, all new players will have their buy-ins rebated for free plus a chance to win $50,000 by knocking out 3 bounties, $10,000 for 2 and $1,000 for each one. This week’s bounties include myself, Mickey Rourke and other guests are going to be announced soon. The tournament is Wednesday night and starts at 6:30pm Pacific time. Come play with us and help some unfortunate people.

I can’t help noticing where Daniel Negreanu is being accused of “taking a shot” in a recent poker tournament. While the video does look bad for Daniel, everyone who knows him believes it was unintentional and an innocent act. Daniel is one of our best ambassadors and shouldn’t be subjected to undeserved criticism.

I’m glad football season is about over. Besides being very time consuming, it is really aggravating when you lose betting on your favorite teams. Being from Texas, I always pull for the Dallas Cowboys and the fans are in a drought. I hope Dallas gets rid of Tony Romo because he is simply not a top quarterback, especially against quality teams.

I’m off to London for an affiliate convention. The year is just getting started and I’m already breaking my resolution about not traveling as much. But, what do you do when the poker site you represent asks you to go?  I say, “OK DoylesRoom, I’ll be there.”

-DB

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “One generation opens the road upon which another generation travels.”

Home at last! I’ve still got pretty good endurance but 3 1/2 weeks in Europe got the best of me. In the main event at the WSOPE we were down to seventeen players at the dinner break. I was a little short stacked with $200,000 and I could see it was going to be a long night to get to the final table and it would be another long day after it was down to the final nine, so I decided to play very fast and to accumulate a lot of chips or go out. I moved in the first hand after the dinner break and was eliminated.

I had hurt my left hip and left knee somewhere and with my bad right leg I was in a lot of pain. These long hours in the tournaments may be a little too much for me. But as I always say, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”

Congrats to Barry Shulman for winning the tournament. Wouldn’t it be something if his son Jeff, who is at the final table of the WSOP, could win. That would be a record that would never be broken and what a great thing for poker. I read where day 4, which was when I went broke, lasted 15 hours and the final table lasted 17 hours. That would have been tough if I could have been lucky enough to have won.

Betting on the NFL is suicidal. I lose every close game besides wasting my time watching. Gone are the days when you could determine the winners. I’ll spend my spare time playing poker at DoylesRoom.

I’ve got to jump on a plane for Todd’s tournament in Montana this weekend. That’s the last thing I need after 3 1/2 weeks in Europe but I’ve got to support my son. Layne Flack and Gavin Smith were supposed to be there to play but both are now doubtful. So, my daughter Pam, Hoyt Corkins, Todd, Ed Brogden, Ken Hale and myself will be the pros playing. We should have a good time even though the weather is below freezing and there are fires and storms going on right now. The waves got so high on the Flathead Lake it wrecked my dock, my jetski and my pontoon boat. The wind blew 50 to 60 miles per hour for a day and a half. That’ s a scary lake when storms hit.

After watching a TV show featuring a handicapped preacher, I feel pretty bad about complaining about pain, injuries, or anything else. This young man was born with no arms or legs; only two small feet attached to his body. What a dynamic speaker! Just listening to him makes all your problems seem insignificant. He has written a book called, “No Limbs, No Limit.” I can’t wait to read it.

-DB

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.”

I reluctantly left the beautiful city of Budapest and went to Nottingham for the English Open.  I flew into London and took a 2 ½ hour ride in a nice limo to get there.  Nottingham is a quaint small city and the people that held the event were extremely efficient and really took care of us.  Rake The Rake was the sponsor of the Open and there were over 200 entries.  Karim, the owner of Rake The Rake took care of the publicity for Doyles Poker Room.  He was a terrific host.

Phil Hellmuth was there but we didn’t carry the US banner very well and we were both eliminated the first day.  I had eight touring pros at my table and they played extremely well.  Phil left for London but I decided to stay for a couple days more.

We took a ride up to Sherwood Forest looking for Robin Hood and his band but couldn’t find him.  Lots of the business places carried Robin’s name and his folklore tales were told everywhere we went.  One of the most interesting places we visited was the Nottingham Palace where Robin Hood’s adversary, the Sheriff of Nottingham, lived in the olden days.  It was a big castle with underground caves that went for miles under the city.  Also, the oldest pub in England was dug into the rocks around the castle.

Now we are back in London for the WSOP Europe.  This damp, cold weather doesn’t agree with me but we are having a big press party on Wednesday night to announce the signing of the fourth member of the Brunson 10.  I can’t tell you his name but we are in his home country.

After the final event I can’t wait to get back to Las Vegas and see Louise, Pam, and my dogs.  Todd and Anjela got here yesterday so maybe I won’t be so homesick with them here.  Still, I’m ready for some Vegas sunshine!

-DB

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