DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “There are 3 rules for success. 1st, keep going. 2nd, keep going. 3rd, keep going.”

I never dreamed I would get the reaction I got from my last blog about torture, nuclear war, etc.  Not to stir the pot any further but the Geneva Convention our country signed was about conventional war.  Terrorism isn’t war.  Enough said.

I guess I’m getting a lot of my ideas from watching too much TV.  That’s what you do when you have too much time on your hands.  I’m breaking out of my slump next week by going down to Texas for a few days.  I’ll come back for the NBC Heads Up Tournament.  That’s always fun, it’s in Vegas and I’ve already posted my $20,000 buy-in to be sure I can’t back out.  I’ve got to start playing!

During one of my recent exciting days of watching TV, I noticed the State of Pennsylvania put up their Mount Rushmore of Sports.  I’ve been to the real Mt. Rushmore and it is an impressive place that attracts more than 3 million visitors annually.  There are 60 foot high sculptures of the faces of 4 famous presidents carved on a mountainside.  George Washington, Abe Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and Teddy Roosevelt stare down at you from the mountain.

On their mountain, Penn put Joe Paterno, the winningest coach in college football history, Roberto Clemente the Hall of Fame right fielder of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Mario Lemieux the hockey great and Wilt “The Stilt” Chamberlain, who averaged 50 points a game one season for the Philadelphia 76′ers.  They left out some pretty good athletes; including Joe Frazier, Honus Wagner, Mike Schmidt and the golfer who contributed so much to his sport, Arnold Palmer.

Anyway, it inspired me to make my own Mt. Rushmore of Poker Players.  I left out the youngsters.  They can make their own in 20 or 30 years.  There are lots of great oldtimers but it is pretty clear to me who should go up on “Poker Mountain”.  I’m not going to number them, so in no particular order…here goes. Johnny Moss has to be one of the faces because he contributed so much.  Poker would have died out down in Texas without him.  If it had died, poker as we know it today would have never got to Vegas.  After we did get poker to Las Vegas, Walter “Puggy” Pearson was the catalyst for all the action in Vegas for 20 years.  Pug had more animal instinct than anyone I’ve known.  He kept poker going until the WSOP finally got poker recognized, so he definitely has to be up there.  Of course, David “Chip” Reese has to be one of the faces.  Chip was simply the best all-around player I’ve ever known.  He was also one of the greatest ambassadors of poker because of his overall attitude.  He would play anybody, anytime and nobody has a bad thing to say about Chip.  A lot of folks won’t agree with my last choice, Bryan “Sailor” Roberts.  If you weren’t around when he was a young man, you can’t imagine the talent he had.  He played all the games, but was particularly adept at no-limit. I actually think he could have been the greatest player of all time if he had the dedication.  He succumbed to the temptations of the world and never got the accolades he deserved.  With the exception of Chip, today’s players remember these guys when they were old and past their prime.  But believe me, they were tigers!

I know I left out a lot of great oldtimers.  You could make an argument for Ferris, Addington, Straus, Alto, Barnes, Hooks, Ungar, Cloutier and Baldwin.  But, there can be only 4 faces up there, and after all, it is my mountain.

-DB

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “Life is one sweet song. Enjoy the music.”

I hope this football season gets through soon.  I only leave my desk and TV to go play poker when there is a game.  I thought I had the football needle out of my arm but it’s so much fun to bet and watch, I can’t help myself.  Anyway, in the NFL I think Pitt and Carolina will be in the Super Bowl.  And if Florida doesn’t beat Oklahoma by more than 3 points, I may be in the bread line.

It looks like golf may be the favorite gambling game among the poker players.  David Benyamine, Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu are all playing and willing to play for big money if they think the games are close.  David and Patrik are amazing the way they have improved.  A year ago, neither one was much of a golfer but both being ex-tennis players, are great athletes.  Also, they have had good instructors and both guys are going to be able to break 80 before this summer is over.

I saw on the news last night that President elect Obama, who is an avid poker player, may introduce a new bill to legalize internet poker after he takes office.  Our country could certainly use the revenue in taxes that would be raised.  Obama faces the greatest challenge a President could imagine with the economy and terrorist threat.  I know Ivey and Negreanu both met Obama and he knew them by name so he for sure has an interest in poker.

There is a 15-year-old young lady named Margaret Hussman, a niece of a longtime friend, who has untreatable cancer and has less than 90 days to live.  My ex-roomate in college, Ray Hibler, called and asked me to write her an encouraging letter recounting my “terminal” battle with cancer 55 years ago.  Margaret is a poker enthusiast and I’m certainly going to call.  She is trying to spend her remaining days doing something new and enjoyable.  Send Margaret an e-mail at anne@ddgoose.com  I know she will appreciate it.  For all of us, there is no promise for tomorrow.  Happy New Year and lets all have a great 2009!

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “The most valuable gift you can give another is a good example.”

One thing for sure, Anurag Dikshit is appropriately named!  Dikshit was one of the owners of Party Poker and became a multi-billionaire when Party went public.  It looks like he would feel a sense of obligation to online poker, the industry that made him a rich man.  Instead, he folded up like an accordion and plead guilty to breaking some kind of mystery law and is paying a 300 million dollar fine and a possible 2-year jail term.  It certainly created some ill will from the other online poker sites.  I personally can’t imagine what was going through his mind when he made his decision.

The Brunson family had a great Christmas, but as usual, everyone had way too many gifts.  My wife and I gave specific instructions to our children and relatives to not give us any presents.  We threatened to give any gifts that were given to us to the Salvation Army.  At least we slowed down the gifts, but there were stacks of presents for the rest of the family.  I got one present I’m not giving away, the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th seasons of “Two and a Half Men”.  That show cracks me up.

I’ve already got a “football headache”.  Even Casper won’t stay in the same room with me when the games are going.  I can’t believe how dumb some of the football coaches are.  They need to have a gambler on their staff to advise them.  After all the pro games and bowl games I’ll be lucky if Louise doesn’t throw me out of the house.

Speaking of my dog Casper, he charges the front door every time the bell rings.  He sleeps on my desk and jumps off when he hears someone at the door.  He has dislocated a front leg and a back leg landing on the hard floor.  I’ve got to put some padding on the floor where that won’t happen again.

We had another cash game on High Stakes Poker.  Again, I can’t talk about it but I will say I’ll be going for my 15th straight win on the TV cash games next time I play.  I read somewhere that I play too tight in the games.  Hello!  I thought the object was to win the money, not put on a show to please the viewers.

Daniel:  Did I hear a Mexican golfer got shot yesterday?
Caddy:  Yes sir, They call it a hole in Juan.

DOYLISM OF THE DAY:”No is one of the few words that can never be misunderstood.”

Another one of my longtime friends passed a few days ago.  Sammy Baugh, arguably the greatest quarterback in football history, died at age 94.  Baugh was the last surviving member of the inaugural Pro Football Hall of Fame.  If you are too young to remember “Slinging Sammy”, he played for the Washington Redskins for 15 years.  One season, he led the league in passing, defensive interceptions and punting.  He still owns the NFL single season punting record with a 51.4 yards per kick.

Baugh was the football coach at my University when I was in school.  I saw him in practice one day punt the ball from the 50 yard line out of bounds inside the seven yard line 6 times in a row.  Sammy and I had a lot in common as we grew up 20 miles apart and went to the same high school.  He was a fine man and wanted to be remembered as a great rancher instead of a great football player.

I’ve lived in Las Vegas since 1973 and I have never seen as much snow as we had this week.  Most people were complaining, but I actually liked it because I’ve never been around much snow.  There were lots of “fender benders” because Nevada drivers aren’t used to driving on slick streets.  I saw a terrible accident on Tropicana as a kid on a motorcycle got hit and I’m afraid it was a fatal collision.  I hate motorcycles and would never allow any of my children to ride them.

I played in the first filming of GSN’s High Stakes Poker last night.  I really enjoy playing in these cash games and had a 12 game winning streak going into the game.  We had a good lineup with Eli Elezra, Phil Laak, Tom “Durr” Dwan, Mike Baxter, Alan Meltzer, Dario Minieri and David Peat.  We can’t give any details but I will tell you, I play again tomorrow night and I’ll be going for win #14 in my cash games.

Congratulations to Chino Rheem for winning the Doyle Brunson Classic Championship at the Bellagio.  It comes on top of a final table finish at the WSOP for Chino.

Caddy:  Sir, you aren’t addressing the ball properly.
Daniel:  I’ve been polite to the damn thing long enough.

Back Home and Back to Work

I made it back from Costa Rica after a very satisfactory trip. DoylesRoom is progressing nicely and all our milestones have been met. Our biggest problem is getting critical mass late in the day because all the Europeans go to bed and we don’t have as many players as we would like. But, on the other hand, until 2:00 Pacific the games are plentiful and are very soft with lots of action. I’m really impressed. We have big plans for 2008.

I got to finally go deep sea fishing on the west coast of Costa Rica. I had been told this was the best fishing in the world and now I believe it. About an hour out of port we caught three beautiful Marlin. They weren’t record size but they were by far the biggest things I have ever caught. The weather was perfect and I didn’t get the least bit seasick. I can’t wait to get back and take a longer fishing trip.

It looks like the next High Stakes Entertainment Golf Tournament will be somewhere in the Bahamas. Dewey Tomko and I will pick the players we want to invite to play. Probably there will be a few of the same players who played in the first ESPN televised tournament. Phil Ivey, who won the first two man best ball, is going to play if his schedule permits. Phil is such an action guy he will be a lot of fun to be in the Islands with. ESPN got rave reviews from the first HSE Tournament and they want a long term contract. I hope so because these things are a lot of fun. I just hope my leg holds up so I can continue to play.

I just finished watching the San Diego/Indianapolis playoff game and it was one of the best games I ever watched (and I have watched plenty!). San Diego won by four points and gets the dubious honor of going to play New England on their home field. I think the Patriots are the best football team of all time. The Giants and Cowboys are all tied up 7-7 but Dallas looks too strong for the Giants. I hope I am wrong because I bet on New York plus seven points! -DB

Next Page »