DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “Man is a creature made at the end of a week’s work when God was tired.”

Congratulations to Joe Cada for winning the WSOP final table. Joe is the youngest player to win and I met him at the party in the ESPN Zone. He seemed to be a very likable 21 year old and I believe he will do his best to promote poker. I hear the new poker term is when you lose with AK vs. AQ will be you got “moon’ed”. Of course they will be referencing the hand Darvin Moon knocked Phil Ivey out with.

“Go die under a deck of cards” is what Joan Rivers told me to do. Unknowingly, a Miami radio station scheduled Joan and myself for interviews the same day. One of the announcers on the show had read my blog where I said f someone gave Joan Rivers a penny for her intelligence, she would have to give a refund. I was trashing Mrs. Rivers for her comments about poker players on the TV show, “The Apprentice”. Joan was mad at Annie Duke, who was winning the game hands down, but included the entire poker world, calling us “trash, gangsters and morons”. So until Joan apologizes to all the poker world, I’ll continue to insult her at every opportunity. She also bragged about having an IQ of 135, Annie Duke must have one of 270 because she was twice as smart as Joan on the TV show.

I guess my autobiography hit the bookstores yesterday. I had telephone calls from radio stations across America for interviews but I’m going to curtail those, also.

Things are finally winding down now where I can get some much needed rest. Since I got food poisoning 10 days ago, I’ve been groggy. I play in the HSP this Friday and then it’s clear sailing on my schedule. I’m going for 17 straight wins on TV cash games. I wonder if Friday the 13th is a bad omen? Nah, I don’t believe in that stuff. Still…..

-DB

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “He who buries his talent is making a grave mistake.”

Well, I thought I would be pulling for Phil Ivey and Jeff Shulman at the WSOP final table. But when Daniel wanted to bet Ivey over Moon, I had to take Moon who has 5 times the chips of Ivey. It is a must-win bet so probably we won’t have action. Sorry Phil, I won’t be rooting for you now. Business is business.

The game is going every night at Bobby’s Room. It’s really great to get up and know there will be somewhere to go. I’ve been breaking almost even every night and I was worrying that I might be playing bad. I try to analyze the hands I play every night before I go to sleep and I couldn’t see that I was doing anything wrong. Finally, I made a nice win last night so maybe there is still some gas in my tank.

I try to slow down, but things just keep piling up on me. I have to do an interview with the Associated Press, meet ESPN for my thoughts on the WSOP final table (what thoughts), go to dinner with the winner of the Vegas Experience from DoylesRoom.com and then the CEO and marketing staff are coming in for all kinds of meetings. The Hall of Fame dinner is also this week and I’m supposed to do the “shuffle up and deal” for the final table, followed by a book signing. My dentist is waiting with some implants that are overdue and my wife tells me that I should move to the Bellagio because I never spend any time with her. Oh well, nobody ever said life was easy.

This Twitter business is getting out of hand. My followers are going up close to 3,000 a day. Don’t know why but with 115,000 following, I’ve starting blocking all the negative and name calling tweeters. I’ve got enough problems without folks taking their frustrations out on me.

I just finished another interview with a national magazine. They asked me what I attributed my success and longevity to. I had never thought about it but I came up with a pretty good answer. I told them I never let self-made limitations happen. I’ve always pushed the envelope in everything I do. Actually, that’s pretty profound, I surprise myself sometimes!

-DB

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “Reputation is a bubble which bursts when a man tries to blow it up for himself.”

I’m getting lots of calls and emails about the Poker Hall of Fame induction in November and my opinion of the candidates. For those of you who don’t know this, this is the first year that the public votes for who they think should be nominated. Then the top 10 players from their vote are sent to the 15 living members of the HOF and to 15 media people. We each have 2 votes so here are my thoughts. Remember, these are my thoughts. If you don’t agree with me, please don’t start a civil war about it.

The criteria for selection is:
(1) Must have played against top competition.
(2) Played for high stakes.
(3) Played consistently well, gaining respect of their peers.
(4) Stood the test of time.
(5) Contributed to the overall growth and success of poker with positive and lasting results.

Here are the players in alphabetical order and my opinions about each one.

(1) Tom Dwan – It’s really an honor for Tom to be a nominee at the age of 22. Obviously, he can’t meet the criteria that are listed. I think he is a fine player and barring something unforeseen, his picture will be on the wall someday.

(2) Barry Greenstein – Barry meets all the requirements. I think he was a much better choice when he was a cash game player only. He is in my top 3 or 4 choices.

(3) Dan Harrington – “Action Dan” as he is known would be a good representative of the poker world.  He has a lot of interests outside poker, which will go against him.

(4) Phil Ivey – This is where I’ll get a lot of heat, because I think the Halls of Fame for any sport is for players whose careers have more to look back at than look forward to. Phil isn’t even at the height of his career yet but is a 100% cinch to be inducted soon. I’ve got a feeling I’m going to lose this argument which is OK if I do.

(5) Tom McEvoy – Tom is a long time ambassador of poker and is one of the old guys that I favor. I understand that playing for high stakes is different for everybody. You have to be a little bit crazy to play the stakes some of us play for, but Tom has put his time in at the tables.

(6) Men Nguyen – I’ve admired Men’s work ethic for years. Nobody has played and supported tournaments as much as Men. He has several player of the year awards as proof of that.

(7) Scotty Nguyen – Anybody that is called “The Prince of Poker” has to be a viable candidate. He is one of the best all-around players and he certainly meets the criteria well.

(8) Daniel Negreanu – What can I say here? go back and read what I said about Phil Ivey and pretend it’s here. Daniel is my choice to outlast any of the “young guns” people keep talking about Daniel and Phil both meet all 5 criteria.

(9) Eric Seidel – Eric is definitely one of my top choices. I think he is the consummate gambler. Besides being a great player, he has the best all-around disposition of anyone. He reminds me of Chip Reese, which is the highest compliment I can pay anyone.

(10) Mike Sexton – In my opinion, here is the #1 choice. Mike paid his dues at the table for years, gambled as high as his bankroll allowed and meets all the requirements for induction. Mostly, go back and read #5 in the criteria. Nobody and I mean nobody has contributed more to the success of poker than Mike Sexton. If he isn’t one of the people selected, something is wrong. I know of 3 votes from the living members at the HOF that Mike will get. Binion and Crandell Addington both assure me Mike will be their 1st choice, also.

So there you have it. It would be impossible to make a bad choice from this list of players. It will be interesting, to say the least, who the two inductees will be. Kudos to Harrah’s for changing the process!

-DB

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “Take risks. Tomorrow you may not be able to do what you can today.”

When I played poker every day for seven straight weeks, I felt strong as a lion. Now after 3 days of not playing, I feel like a truck just ran over me. I bet a psychiatrist would have a field day trying to analyze poker players. Maybe we are addicted and we actually have withdrawal symptoms when we have no action. Of course the last three plays I made at Bobby’s Room, I lost 600K, 700K and 600K again. And yes, I was that much winner. I broke out almost exactly even. I’m sure those losses contributed to the blah feeling I’m now experiencing.

I just re-read the paragraph I just wrote and went to laughing. If you can’t handle the ups & downs, you better not get into the poker business. After 50 years of playing professionally, I should know that better than anyone. The sun is still going to come up in the east in the morning and a new day will begin. Hopefully, it will be a good one.

It’s almost time to vote for the 2009 inductees into the Poker Hall Of Fame and I’m unsure of who my choices will be. I’m leaning toward the older guys with my first choice being Mike Sexton. We have to pick two and I’m thinking hard about my other vote. Phil Ivey is the best player on the list, but he is only 33 years old. Chip Reese is the youngest player to be inducted at the age of 40. Phil is great, but he still isn’t Chip. Give Phil a few more years and he will certainly be elected. I’ll be cheering for him and Jeff Shulman in November at the WSOP final table.

I’m doing my best to get my work done for updating SS/2 along with editing my autobiography. I got a lot done but it’s really tough to sit at a desk all day long. My hat is off to the folks that do stuff like this for a living.

After going down to take care of the ticket I got in my new Escalade, I tried to figure out all the gadgets on it. After finding where the windshield wipers were, how to work the Onstar and how to turn the lift package off, I gave up. I think time has passed me by.

I had a great dinner last night at my son Todd’s house. Todd can really cook and goes to a lot of trouble to be sure it’s good. He should get a job as a chef somewhere. Jack Binion and his wife were there and we got to telling stories about the old days and really had lots of laughs. Everyone there said we should write a book about the Jack Struass, Jimmy Chagra, Sailor Roberts and Benny Binion tales we told.

I’ll tell you one of the Chagra stories. Jimmy Chagra was a big time dope dealer 30 years ago. He also allegedly hired Charles Harrelson (Woody’s dad) to kill a federal judge. Jimmy loved to gamble with us playing poker and golf, but he got sent to prison. He got out after 30 years and walked into Bobby’s Room at the Bellagio. He was watching us play and sweet little Jennifer Harman was loser. She turned around, cursed him and made him move. Then she lost another hand, called the floorman and demanded he be removed from the room. After he left, I told Jennifer who and what he was. She said she didn’t care if he was Al Capone, she didn’t want him watching anymore. That confirmed what I already knew. Don’t spit into the wind, don’t fool with Superman’s cape and don’t fool with Jennifer when she is losing

-DB

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on!”

The 2009 WSOP is history except for the November 9. Each player at the final table gets over a million, all the way to the 1st place 9 million. Jeff Shulman and Phil Ivey are the only names I recognize and I’m going to be there to cheer them on. I’m a fan of the Shulman family. Jeff and Barry are both fine poker players (Jeff is the best ) and Barry’s wife is a respected attorney. I’m a little unsure how I feel about Jeff’s remark that he would throw the bracelet in the garbage can if he won it. I understand his concerns and agree with most of them, but to throw away the bracelet? Pretty strong statement!

The poker games are out of control at the Bellagio. I’ve never seen games where so much money is won and lost each night. I’ve only played in the game twice because it is PLO, which I consider my worst game. I won both times but have been content to play in the “baby games”, 2-4k and 4-8k mixed games. The Chinese Poker has been even bigger. We played $15,000 a point last night, 4 handed and 2 waiting. I had a 2.1 million dollar swing in less than an hour. Now that is gambling!

I get asked how in the world do you handle the ups and downs. The first thing you have to learn is how to endure disappointments. Sometimes I feel like a salmon swimming upstream to spawn. I always try to remember what my personal hero, Jim Valvano, said.

Valvano was the coach when North Carolina State beat Houston for the NCAA Championship. A few years later he contracted terminal cancer and gave an unforgettable speech on national TV. I remember he said, “This cancer can kill my body, but it can’t kill my spirit. Always remember, don’t give up, don’t ever give up.”

I try to do just that.

-DB

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