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 best way to escape from a problem is to solve it.”

What has happened to me?  I’ve done four “Real Deal” shows, two “Poker After Dark”, a TV cash game and every time I look up, someone wants me to do a charity tournament or be on some radio broadcast.  I’m really getting discouraged with all this stuff.  I really enjoy the cash games for TV, but the sit and gos on PAD aren’t my cup of tea.  The structure is too slow and it seems I never hold a hand in them.  I’m going to do my best to start promoting the cash game at the Bellagio.  It seems the economy is reaching down to the poker games along with everything else.

I went the entire spring and summer and never hit a golf ball.  There were some good action golf matches I would have loved to been a part of, but along with all my other commitments, my leg is getting worse and I’m determined to get over to the Jobe Clinic and try to get it fixed.  Trouble is, that is no guarantee for success.

I just read where Michelle Obama is redistributing the wealth by having a $447 lunch at the Hilton Hotel in New York.  She had lobster, caviar and champagne.  I guess she was really hungry!

I went to a site called luckbox.com and watched Vegas history.  It had a video of the late Puggy Pearson talking about the “old days”.  I had a lump in my throat as I watched and remembered when I first came to Vegas.  Puggy was the man in those days and all the games revolved around him.  He was a totally fearless all around player and should be remembered as one of the pioneers of poker as we know it today.  He was a ruthless player who would do anything to win but he never pretended to be anything else.  I miss the guy, I would have loved seeing him and Phil Ivey go at it.

We only have a few days left to get out and vote.  If you don’t vote, you don’t have the right to complain about the economy or anything else.  I’m Doyle Brunson and I approve this message

Caddie: Sir, how are you playing?
Daniel: I’m hitting the woods great, but I’m having a terrible time getting out of them.

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “Criticizing someone else’s garden doesn’t keep the weeds out of your own.”

This 700 billion dollar bailout doesn’t seem to be changing anything.  The stock market keeps going down and banks keep going under.  The culprits are being rewarded at the taxpayer’s expense.  Lehman Brothers went under after awarding 50 billion dollars in options and bonus money to their top executives last year. Why can’t the government step in and reclaim that money?  The banks that tried to be prudent and make good loans are being punished along with the banks that knew they were making terrible loans.  I taught Money and Banking at a University in Texas when I was a graduate student.  I remember in our textbook a quote, “Bankers are someone who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining but wants it back the minute it starts to rain.” Now, nobody has money to loan to the business people that need it.  I don’t know what the government is going to do now.

CNN says that Senator Obama is already measuring the drapes in the White House.  It does look like he is a shoo-in for the presidency even though there is lots of talk about his association with terrorists, him being a Muslim and some folks saying he is the Anti-Christ.  While all these things are taken to the extreme, we shouldn’t ignore that Obama didn’t use good judgment about his professor, his friends and his spiritual advisors.  As far as him being the Anti-Christ, forget that because he doesn’t fit the prophecies.  The Anti-Christ is coming out of the old Roman Empire which includes Iran, Iraq, Germany, Turkey and other countries in the Middle East.  I still haven’t made up my mind who to vote for but I’m tempted to vote for McCain.  After listening to my poker pals about me supporting George W. Bush in a big way and how bad he has been; if Obama turns out to be a lousy president, I can tell them, “I told you so!”  Whatever happens, I hope our country can recover and gain some respect back for all of us.

I went to the Venetian and went through a rehearsal for the “Real Deal”, a show that starts October 21st.  It went very well with Scotty Nguyen and myself playing poker with six members of the audience.  All the rest of the audience can play along with handheld devices that can call or fold.  Prizes are given all through the show to the top scorers.  Merv Adelson is the producer of the show and has a very professional team out of Los Angeles. The pros that will be in these bi-weekly shows are Scotty, Jennifer Harman, Eli Elezra, Todd Brunson, Gavin Smith, Phil Laak, Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu and myself.  Kenna James and Lacey Jones introduce each show and pick the folks out of the audience to play.  We are going to have a lot of fun with this.

I saw where Daniel was bragging about some of the young poker players’ accomplishments.  A lot has been made about the number of entries in the old days and some of the older guys’ records can’t mean as much. Well, a final table is a final table and in the “old days” the field was thinner but tougher.  So when you judge from that, John Moss was at 22 WSOP final tables, won eight with two seconds.  How about this one, Billy Baxter has been at 11 WSOP final tables, won 7 times with one second.  I’ve been at 21 final WSOP tables, won 10 and have two seconds and three thirds.  Some of us dinosaurs could close the deal also.

Caddie: Sir, why do you play so much golf?

Daniel: There is absolutely nothing else to do in Las Vegas.

-DB

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “To ignore the facts does not change the facts.”

I read Daniel’s blog and he is right about he and I having some heated emails back and forth about the upcoming Presidential election. At least we are both concerned about what is happening in the United States. He is 100% for Obama and while I am actually leaning that way myself, I get hot under the collar when anybody is totally adamant about controversial things. It is actually funny, and here is the last email between us until yesterday. Daniel had just called me a naive old man.

Daniel: Obama has accomplished 50 times more than Hillary in the Senate – in much less time. He, from the beginning, was against the war in Iraq – Hillary voted for it. He is by far the candidate that would change the world view of America. The less people that hate America the less enemies you create around the world. He has a lot of work to do cleaning up George W’s mess.

Doyle: I don’t want to continue these discussions because I think you are the naive one when you say things like this. Obama’s record is a disaster and not anywhere close to Hillary, much less 50 times better. You are one hard-headed Canadian and won’t change one idea when you think you are right. At least I look at both sides and say, “Well, maybe.” I guess that is why you are an excellent poker player – you go with your gut. I often wondered where Todd came from. Now I know your parents had another baby boy and slipped him into the Brunson crib because you sound exactly like him.

Isn’t that hilarious? We sound just like two college kids having a bull session. All I know is something had better happen in America in a hurry or we are going to have some hard times. $5 a gallon gasoline is just around the corner.

After going to the dentist and having three teeth filled, I came back home in time to bet on my next door neighbor, Lebron James as his Cleveland team took on the Boston Celtics. I took nine points and went over 179 and never came close on either bet. These NBA playoffs have been a nightmare for me. One thing for sure, I’m not betting against the Lakers anymore. Kobe Bryant is awesome. He may be better than Michael Jordan was and that’s really saying something.

By the way, Daniel, as my son Todd told you, go back to Canada. You aren’t even a USA Citizen! – DB