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: “People who try to whittle you down are only trying to reduce you to their size.”

As a rule, I don’t say anything about things people say in interviews.  But I can’t help being deeply offended by the article in CardPlayer where Layne Flack says, “You want to talk about buying a bracelet?  Let’s talk about Doyle’s bracelet when there were 8 people in the tournament.  The critics should look back in history and see where a bracelet has been bought.”

I thought this man was a friend of mine.  Back in the early days of the WSOP, I certainly didn’t even consider that a bracelet would have any value.  I only played in 2 or 3 events a year because Jack Binion expected me to.  I actually didn’t pick up two bracelets in the 70’s-80’s because I already had a couple.  I never won a tournament that had 8 people in it.  There were only 14 entries in a mixed double tournament that Starla Brodie and I won.  If I could find that bracelet, I would sent it to Layne and tell him to stick it where the sun doesn’t shine.

The “bracelet race” has become Harrahs and ESPN’s way of making poker interesting and exciting.  It is a form of competition and I love anything that is competitive, but winning bracelets has never been high on my priority list.  I still play poker because it energizes me and keeps me thinking young.  I like playing real poker for real money and tournament poker for me is a second choice.

It’s Jimmy V week on ESPN.  We need to listen to Jimmy Valvano’s speech as it would put us back to what is important in life.  Jim was dying with cancer and gave an awesome speech when he was presented the Arthur Ashe award.  The Jimmy V foundation raises money for cancer research and we should all support it because 1 out of every 4 persons will have to deal with having cancer in their lifetime.

The Real Deal at the Venetian is moving along well.  This is the slowest time of the year in Vegas and we had a big turnout last night.  Everyone seems to love the show and it’s a lot of fun to do.

Caddie:  Sir, do you know what golf and sex have in common?
Daniel:  Of course, there’s two things you can enjoy even if you are bad at both of them.