DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “Winning is not everything – but making the effort to win is.”

Back from Montana! I’ll never complain about hot weather again. It was 3 degrees on the mountain my grandson lives on, along with 8 inches of snow. That cold cut through me like a knife. We had talked about having the Brunson Christmas at my place on the Flathead Lake but they can scratch that!

There are so many deer in upper Montana that you to be super careful not to hit one while driving. I saw 6 bodies on the side of the road on a 20 mile trip. There is all kind of wildlife. My friend has a large pond stocked with fish. He told me the eagles and osprey take 60-70 fish a day out of it. I had better be careful letting Casper run around outside because one of those big eagles could pick him up and fly away with him. I’ll bet Casper would get one good bite of that eagle if that happened.

I was there for the Todd Brunson Montana Challenge poker tournament. The weather was so bad we had less than 100 players but everyone had a good time. I told Todd to have his next on in the summertime. Of course, my daughter Pam was the “Last Brunson Standing.”

No disrespect intended, but these poker shows are awful. Full Tilt’s “Face the Ace” and Poker Stars “Million Dollar Challenge” are so bad, it’s embarrassing. There is no skill involved in either show and I can’t imagine getting an audience that will watch the shows. As I travel around, the High Stakes cash games are the ones all the fans talk about and I agree with them that they are by far the most interesting. Speaking of that, I read where A.J. Benza is being replaced on GSN’s High Stakes Poker show. That’s too bad, I like A.J.’s subtle sense of humor. Vanessa Rousso is named as his likely replacement. I’m pro-Vanessa so I think she will fit in nicely with the old comic Gabe Kaplan.

The golf-poker tournament in Orlando with David Leadbetter has been postponed because of some complications. I’m glad because along with Mike Caro, Daniel Negreanu, Todd Brunson and Dewey Tomko, I was one of the poker instructors. To tell you the truth, I’m traveled out! I look forward to staying home for a while. Harrah’s has asked me to do a few things in conjunction with the WSOP final table that I’m glad to do, but it would have been a tight fit to be back from Orland in time to do them.

My autobiography is supposed to be out November 10th and I’m doing a book signing right after the final table is completed. I’m having a special edition that I’m going to give to the final  nine. Also, at the book signing, or right afterwards, we are having a press conference to announce the signing of the 5th player to the Brunson 10 at DoylesRoom.com  I’m really pleased at the selection of this young man, as I am with the previous four.

I’ve started reading blogs. Again, I find the blogs about poker hands extremely boring. The same thing with the tweets on Twitter; does anyone really care about the hand by hand update of a poker tournament? If it was a real poker game and someone tweeted they had just won a million dollar pot, it would interest me.  But I guess some folks like the updates, that’s why they make chocolate and vanilla – different tastes.

After saying I want to stay home, I’m leaving in the morning for Abilene, Texas. My University is inducting me into their athletic Hall of Fame. After being turned down for 40 years I have mixed feelings, but all my old teammates will be there, so I’m going down and will be on my best behavior.

-DB

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.