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

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “Accept the fact that sometimes you are the pigeon and somedays you are the statue.”

I don’t know if everybody is following this extortion attempt that is going on in Kentucky.  The out of state attorneys that started this attempt to seize the urls of internet gaming sites are making ridiculous claims that internet gaming is hurting Kentucky’s citizens and prevents them from having money for horse racing.

I’m not going to go into all the legal issues but Kentucky is in for a hell of a battle and every legal opinion I’ve heard says they don’t have a chance of winning.  I’m sure all the poker sites have backup domain names in reserve.  The judge has taken 7 days to give a verdict and I certainly hope he gives a just and favorable decision.

I’ve been home from London for a week now and while I’ve recovered physically, I still feel it would be hard to focus enough to play high stakes poker.  I can’t get caught up with my e-mails, snail mail, phone calls, and appointments.  Chip Reese and I used to laugh about the fact we can never get our desk cleaned up.  A real gambler just isn’t programmed to take care of business matters.  It seems like I have to take all my time with different business opportunities, my obligations to DoylesRoom online poker, and worrying about what to do and when to do it.  When I look back ten years at what my life was like and then look at what it is now, I get sick.  There is no life that is as good as being a pro poker player with no other concerns.  I could play when I wanted to and didn’t have to answer to anyone or anything.  You might not get mega rich but a good poker player would always make plenty of money.  I wish I could get a time machine to take me back in time, I would do a lot of things differently.  One thing I know for sure, if I could do that, I would leave myself time to play the game that I love.

I watched the debate between McCain and Obama tonight and it appeared to me that McCain won.  That is in stark contrast to what everybody thought earlier in the campaign.  Obama was supposed to destroy McCain but it looks like McCain was underestimated.  I’m still not sure who I am going to vote for because to tell you the truth, I don’t like to think of either one of them being my president.  I will vote however and if you don’t do the same, don’t complain about the economy, the war, or anything else.  Nevada is a tossup state and a few votes might be the difference.  It looks like Obama has 13 states, McCain 23 with the rest undecided.  Obama has the important electoral lead and is probably going to be our next president.

Barry Greenstein started his own debate about an Omaha 8 or better hand on Poker Road.  It seems I had a different opinion then most of the other pros but i feel they all followed Phil Ivey’s lead of three betting a hand.  I’m a real bottom line guy and I only know I’ve lasted 50 years following my gut feelings.  So until some of these players come to the cash games for a few years, I’ll reserve judgment.

I get more comments about the jokes about Daniel’s golf games.  It’s amazing, all the way to Macau and back to London, lots of people comment how much they like them.

Daniel – Please stop checking your watch all the time.  It’s really a distraction.

Caddy – It’s not a watch – it’s a compass.

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “Remember that great achievements sometimes involve great risks.”

Back from London and feeling like that train ran over me again. My wife wanted to go upstairs and make love.  I told her to choose one or the other, I couldn’t do both.  I don’t think I was completely over my trip to Macau but I felt I had to go to WSOPE.  There were lots of improvements over last year and whoever was responsible for the structure of the games should be complimented.  There was tons of play because the limits went up very slowly.  Also, there was only one casino hosting the event, which made it easier.

I know London is supposed to have great food, I just haven’t found it.  My favorite spot was Subway, which was located next to my hotel.  Of course it is twice as expensive, but so is everything else over there.  I thought I played good because I went deep in all three of the poker tournaments I played in.  One thing I noticed was how much better the Europeans play Hold’em.  The Scandinavian players, and there were 5 of them at my table in the main event, were really impressive.  The last I heard, John Juanda was the only American left.

In the HORSE tournament there were 8 American pros at my table.  Talk about a bad draw!  Chad Brown, Max Pescatori, John Juanda and 4 other pros were waiting on me.  I really don’t mind who is at my table for HORSE because most of the guys have at least one bad game.

I played last year’s WSOP Main Event winner, Annette Obrestad, in a heads-up match for ESPN.  We started with 20,000 dollars each and it was supposed to be two out of three, but I held some lucky cards and beat her the first two.  She seemed to be comfortable and played well.  It was a good thing for poker that she won the 2007 WSOPE.

I just watched the vice presidential candidates and was impressed with both.  Palin was supposed to take a beating but she held her won.  It will be interesting to see who the media thought won.  I read Lee Watkinson’s blog and I’m glad to see another poker player get passionate about politics.  I always have e-mails and discussions with Daniel Negreanu and Eric Seidel.  Of course, I was a George W. Bush man last election, so I’m listening to everyone now.  I still haven’t made up my mind but everyone should get out and vote.

-DB

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “You can win more friends with your ears than with your mouth.”

Another big time poker room is opening in Las Vegas. The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino is opening a plush new poker room this Saturday.  Oscar Goodman, our mayor, and myself are cutting the ribbon at 4:00.  A charity poker tournament follows along with a party at one of their clubs.  Lots of celebrities and poker pros will be there so if you are in town, check it out; I hear the room is very nice.

It’s hard to believe, but McCain has taken the lead in the presidential race.  They rolled the dice when they chose Governor Palin to run for Vice President and they threw a seven because she really turned things around for the Republicans.  It’s hard not to be in McCain’s camp after listening to his life story.  He really is an American hero.  I’m not sure either presidential candidate is the right person to lead our country over the next few years.  I wish Hillary was still in the mix because that would mean Bill would be around and he proved he could lead us.

I’ve been getting a lot of inquiries about Scotty’s behavior when he won the HORSE tournament at the WSOP.  I don’t really know what to say about it, except it was a very bad display of poker etiquette.  Scotty is a good friend of mine, and I can only excuse his behavior by saying he had too much to drink.  Who among us hasn’t at one time or another?  The tournament director should have stepped in, cut off the alcohol and given Scotty a one-time warning, followed by a severe penalty if the warning wasn’t observed.  Scotty is usually very gracious and obliging and a good ambassador for poker.  Let’s give him another chance!

There is also a lot of buzz about John Phan taking too much time to act on his hand during tournament play.  I’ve played with John several times and I think he does take an excessive amount of time.  Players are always allowed to call the clock on a slow player, but most don’t like to do that.  I would like to see a turbo tournament where you have to act on your hand in 20 seconds or you get a penalty.  I can’t remember anyone calling the clock on me in my poker career.  I always decide quickly what I am going to do.  Can’t argue with success though, John Phan is having the best year of anyone.

I’m still thinking about my trip to Asia.  Everyone says it is easier to go to Europe than Asia with the jet lag.  I’m leaving for London the 20th, so I’ll be able to tell you if that is true or not.  Macau is the most densely populated city in the world but I thought it would have been Hong Kong.  Lots of Chinese folks over there.

I played in a charity tournament while I was in Macau.  There were a lot of Asian celebrities.  I sat next to Tila Tequila, a Vietnamese-American model from Houston, Texas.  She is famous for having 3.5 million friends on MySpace along with her modeling and singing career.

The biggest bluff I ran while I was there was when I told her if I was 40 years younger I would kidnap her.  She replied, “Oh, I love older men.”  I had to fold and throw my hand away.

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “Don’t be afraid of pressure. Remember pressure is what turns a lump of coal into a diamond.”

After two days of being back from China, I’m having the worst jet lag of my life.  All I want to do is sleep, but the trip was worth it.

After visiting Hong Kong, Todd and I took a helicopter to Macau.  It was a breathtaking view as we went over the big buildings of Hong Kong and hundreds, maybe thousands, of small islands.  I must have walked more than a mile to get to the heliport and my bad leg was throbbing on the ride.  Jack Binion stayed in Hong Kong on business, but came over the next day to join us. 

After reaching Macau, we went to the Galaxy Hotel and met with our hosts, Tom Hall and Chris Parker.  Our accommodations were great and the book signings and interviews went well.  George Barahona from DoylesRoom  was there and had everything ready.  The APT tournament was a little disappointing because of the number of entries.  Matt Savage was the tournament director and did his usual terrific job.  There were lots of familiar faces including Huck Seed, J.C. Tran, Liz Lieu, John Chan and several more.  I guess the flight over affected me also, because I felt really bad and went out early the 1st day.  I played pitifully and was embarrassed but just didn’t have the energy and discipline it takes to play tournament poker.

After Jack Binion got there, we visited some of the other casinos.  They are much bigger than our Las Vegas ones and there are customers on every table, sometimes standing in line betting on seated player’s hands.  We went to the Venetian, Sands, Wynn and several others.  It seemed as though Sheldon Adelson owns most of the real estate in Macau and he is making megabucks over there.  We went to dinner at the Wynn with my friend from the Philippines, Tim Shirrer and some of his business associates.  The food was great as you would expect from a Steve Wynn hotel and casino.  Again, I had to walk a long ways because the casinos are so huge, you can’t believe them.  Maybe this trip will make me go get this leg fixed.

I was supposed to play in a big cash game but because I felt so bad, Jack and I decided we would leave Todd to play and we would come on home.  So we left and took a turbojet back to the Hong Kong airport.  Our flight was delayed for an hour before takeoff.  That meant we couldn’t make our connection to Vegas from San Francisco.  No problem when you are traveling with a billionaire like Jack Binion, you will have a private G4 waiting at another airport.  Nice way to travel!

Todd is still in Hong Kong because he was late for his flight.  I felt bad about leaving him over there, but he had plenty of friends to hang out with.  I’m not sure how he did in the cash game, but I think he won.  I’m grateful for him being there because he helped promote DoylesRoom online poker tournaments in the interviews.

Everybody thinks Obama is going to bury McCain in the debates.  They should watch the Saddleback forum where each candidate is asked the same question separately.  McCain won hands down and answered each question in a positive manner while Obama beat around the bush a couple of times.

David Benyamine – “You’ve got to be the worst caddy in the world.”
Caddy – “No sir, that would be too much of a coincidence.” 

-DB

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