DOYLEISM OF THE DAY: “Success is peace of mind in knowing you did your best.”

I’ve been getting lots of phone calls asking about my health.  I haven’t been anywhere for a while and its true I haven’t been feeling very good after extensive traveling and other recent events.  But, to my knowledge, there is nothing seriously wrong with me. My bride of 48 years has been having some health problems and I’ve been sticking close to home worrying about her. The only negative thing about my health is I finally have asked myself, “am I really this old?” Of course I know how many years I’ve got behind me but I guess I still think young and about the future. I guess that’s a good thing, anyway, thanks to everyone who called.

It’s been a while since I played any live poker. I play 5-10 NLH at DoylesRoom.com several times a day, but I can’t seem to focus enough for any long sessions. The NBC Heads Up Championship starts this Friday and I’m still debating if I want to play. Granted, I won’t be at my best, but I can put my game on auto-pilot and be competitive in that format. The antes and blinds have to go up very fast and that means whoever wins needs a lot of luck. If I decide not to play, there are lots of players waiting to take my place, but I’m pretty sure I will. It is a fun tournament with no long hours and it will be good to get out of the house. A friend in Texas asked me why he never sees my name on the leaderboard of any recent tournaments. I told him, “I don’t know, could it be because I haven’t played in any of them?”

I think the cash game players, including myself, owe the online pros an apology. I know there are lots of things about the mechanics of online play we don’t know and we shouldn’t criticize the pros that only play online. Maybe the hard truth is cash players are inferior to online players when at the computer and vice versa. I’ve decided there are 4 different kinds of poker players. (1) cash game (2) online (3) tournament (4) all around. Different skills are required for each group. There would probably be a different #1 in each, but if you listed the top 10 in each category, there would be more of the #4 group than any other. So my vote for the best players goes to the all around players. Could it be because I would probably be in that group (LOL)? The bottom line is it’s all poker and poker is the greatest game in the world.

Another question I’ve been pondering during my brief (I hope) exile from the poker scene is how do the old time poker players stack up against today’s best players? As there was no internet or tournaments long ago, you to have to eliminate the specialists in those fields. There wasn’t nearly as many games to choose from so take away the all around players and it leaves the cash game guys. The biggest difference is that the mentality of the two eras are so different. The oldtimers were playing for their living with little or no other income. Many, many times they had their entire net worth in front of them. That makes it a lot harder to make these big bets when you didn’t have much money and didn’t know where you could get any more. These guys were true gamblers. Compare that to today’s great players who have lots of income from today’s poker world. Good luck to the guy that 4 or 5 bet any of the oldtimers trying to make a play on them.

So, for that reason it is almost impossible to make valid comparisons about today and yesteryear. Most of today’s players have good management skills but don’t have the pure gambling mindset of the old guys. There are exceptions. Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan and David Benyamine are some names I think are “throwbacks” to the old time pure gamblers. I think any one of the three would fit right in with the great players of the past.

It makes me think of a Stu Ungar story. Someone brought up the question, “What if there was only one bullet in a six shot revolver, would you spin it and put the gun to your and pull the trigger for 20 million dollars? Everybody agreed that nobody would do that. Stu said, “for 20 million, they could put 5 bullets in the gun and I would do it.” Everyone laughed but I’m not sure Stu was joking.

DoylesRoom has an unusual promotion with our bounty tournament every Wednesday. We have 3 or more bounties each one worth $1,000. Knock out 2, win $10,000, knock out 3, win $50,000. Last week, a player broke 2 bounties and won 10k!  Not bad for a $25 buy-in tournament and if it is your 1st time on DoylesRoom.com, you get the $25 back, I don’t know who comes up with those things.

I hope everyone was as proud of our mayor, Oscar Goodman, as I was. President Obama made a second disparaging remark about Las Vegas in a speech and Oscar refused to meet him on a recent visit to Vegas, unless he apologized. The president didn’t apologize and Oscar was very visible by his absence during our president’s stay. Way to go Oscar!

-DB

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.”

I played day one of the WSOPE where I could get home if I  got knocked out.  I made it through and have 93,000 in chips when the average is 45,000.  I rested through starting day two and we don’t start until 5:30 p.m. today because of a Jewish holiday.

Besides my bad right leg, I’ve managed to hurt my knee and my hip on my left leg.  I hurt all over in this damp cold weather and can’t get any relief from the pain.  I’ve seen everything the hotel has to offer by way of movies in the room, been to three movies outside the hotel, been to Leeds Castle, Hever Castle (the childhood home of Anne Boleyn), been to a portrait gallery, and now the only thing I am anxious to see is the Las Vegas skyline as the plane touches down there.  Then home to see my lovely wife, my daughter, and my two dogs.  Europe is ok, but there is no place like home!

I’ve always liked Phil Helmuth and have defended his tantrums because that is Phil being Phil, but these grand entrances he makes are too much!  He came to my table dressed as Julius Caesar along with trumpets and scantily clad girls.  It embarrassed me just being there.  I would have liked to applied for the role of Brutus.  I am a poker purist and stuff like that detracts too much from what a great game poker is.

In my opinion Harrah’s should change the WSOPE venue every year.  London is just too expensive for the beginning pros to play.  The Empire Casino is where we play now and it needs to be bigger.  The tournament would draw many more players if it was in a different European city each year.

I am very sorry to hear Bob Stupak passed.  Regardless of his shortcomings, Bob was an important part of Las Vegas history.  My condolences to his family.

-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

Budapest

I don’t know what I expected Budapest to be, but it was entirely different.  The city is absolutely gorgeous with the Danube River flowing right through the center.  Budapest is two cities – Buda and Pest, the oldest being Pest.  There are ten or more beautiful bridges across the Danube and most of them are breathtaking.  During World War II the Germans bombed all the bridges but they have been restored.  The people were nice and seemed to be genuinely very friendly.

When I went to Manila and Macau I was surprised that so many people knew who I was; but it seemed that in Hungary not only did lots of folks know me, it seemed everyone had a translated SuperSystem and wanted an autograph.  Ok, I finally get it.  Poker players are rock stars!  LOL The truth is we are a bunch of lucky people that came along at the right time.  I don’t see any reason to think we are celebs.  I just hope everybody remembers who they are and where they came from.  I guess this is just the power of television.

I was surprised again in Budapest when a 1960 Cadillac convertible picked us up at the airport, courtesy of the Doyle Brunson Poker Klub.  I remember  a couple of years ago some poker players from Hungary had asked permission to use the name but I had forgotten about it.  The Klub had a party for us with a small tournament, gave us 24-hour car service, took us on a helicopter tour and a river cruise.  The Klub was one of the nicest ones in Budapest and the management team went the extra mile to be sure our stay was an enjoyable one.  It was!

We also went to Buda Castle to a wine tasting festival and afterwards to an old-style Hungarian restaurant for a great meal.  Then we went to a night club called Bed and Beach where we ran into friends Sigmund from Finland and Karim from RaketheRake.  I thought the XS at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas was big but this was acres and acres of people dancing.

This was one of my most memorable trips and I just wish my family could have been with me.  Hopefully next year!

-DB

Doyle Brunson Gains Momentum for 11th Bracelet Win after Strong Weekend Finish

Greatest poker legend of all time proves that talent never fades with strong 7th place finish in million-dollar event at WSOP

San Jose, Costa Rica – June 22, 2009 – Doyle Brunson has his eye focused on bracelet number 11 at the World Series of Poker and if this weekend’s performance is any indication of what’s next for Brunson, there’s an extremely good chance he’ll scoop it up in no time.

The poker legend just finished strong in Event #37 in Las Vegas, proving that championship talent never fades. The $10,000 buy-in Seven-Card Stud High-Low Split featured 164 players and a total prize pool of $1,541,600. Brunson, who finished 7th in the tournament, earned $62,234.

Brunson wasn’t the only DoylesRoom.com player to finish strong in the tournament. Mike Wattell, who was seen wearing DoylesRoom patches in the event, finished 3rd for $176,605.

The 2009 World Series of Poker is now underway at the Rio Al-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Brunson is planning to play in a number of events, including the Main Event, which gets underway on July 3rd, 2009. Online poker players can follow Doyle Brunson’s progress through his social networking pages, all of which are accessible at DoylesRoom.com.

About DoylesRoom.com:
Online since 2004, DoylesRoom (www.DoylesRoom.com) is the only online poker site to proudly bear the legendary Doyle Brunson name. The newest addition to the Cake Poker Network, DoylesRoom offers its players access to unequaled poker promotions, fast action, and countless opportunities to play with Doyle Brunson and other legends of the game. Poker players from North America and around the world can compete for the biggest stakes on the web or sharpen their poker skills while playing Texas Hold‘em and other popular games for free. With free poker software, lessons, tournaments, nonstop Sit-and-Go tournaments and ring games available at all limits, DoylesRoom is the preeminent poker destination for real live game play—online or anywhere.

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