DOYLEISM OF THE DAY: “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”

I’ve never sat around the house doing nothing constructive. Since the 1st of the year, I sit at my desk all day with no plans for travel or even looking for cash games. I work on projects that I’ve been postponing for years, play online at DoylesRoom.com, read, watch TV and DVD’s. I read blogs, go to twitter several times a day, and spend a lot of time reflecting on past and future events. It is a pretty boring life but you do pick up new insights about lots of things.

For example, I guess I never really understood that people regard me as one of the ancient and old-time players. Really!  I don’t do a lot of time studying spreadsheets and trying to figure out my opponents patterns, etc. That stuff may work online against players you are unfamiliar with but I still believe poker is a “people game”. If you can look a player in the eye, you can learn more in a fraction of a second than a month’s worth of analyzing his play on paper. I’m not saying the paperwork has no value, but for Pete’s sake, don’t these genius youngsters understand the changing gears concept of poker? I may have certain trends in my play that can be monitored but I challenge anyone to figure out what I’m going to do in a poker game. How can they when I don’t know myself what I’m going to do until I do it? I’m always aware of certain things I do while playing a pot and I try to vary different things. That is an “old fashioned” thing called tells.

Speaking of tells, all the top poker players develop what we call mini-tells on every player we play with. How? By the way a newcomer handles his chips, his table talk, plus physical tells that almost everyone has. The older pros are aware of this and try to change several times in each session how they bet, etc. Even the great players sometimes are unaware of some things. For example, Stu Ungar did something that was 100% accurate. When we were playing lowball draw, it is common to pretend to look and then bet out. Stu would sometimes look at his card and bluff knowing for sure what he had. He would always make a point of being sure I saw him looking back so it would eliminate my thinking it was a “dark semi bluff”. That was golden and over the years I’ve picked up things like that on almost all the players I’ve played with. The tells have to be in the right situation always, but my point is, how do you learn things like that online?

I feel I’m rambling quite a bit now but when you are doing nothing day after day, your mind gets active. Anyway, I’ve never pretended to be a bonafide online poker player so I might not know or understand some of the more complex problems. When I hear people talking about tracking devices, statkeeping software, etc. I just think WTF. So maybe it is a different world when you play online and perhaps I’m a dinosaur and don’t understand the ins and outs.  But poker to me is a group of players sitting down and trying to figure out how to get the opponent’s chips.

I might as well keep rambling while I’m at it. After I read blogs, forums and different poker discussions, I see where I’m perceived to be a “nit” at the poker table now. Old style, new style, doesn’t make any difference. The object of the game is to win your opponent’s chips. It’s not to make “star” plays and try to entertain an audience. I thought I was doing ok when I won 15 straight times in the TV cash games. But that doesn’t please the poker critics who want to watch spectacular plays, big pots, etc. If you want to watch poker on TV objectively, you have to realize that the way the other players play dictate the way you should play. So yes, I sit back and wait for the young guys to make mistakes. And they always do. Call me crazy, but I only see 5 or 6 players that I can think are fundamentally sound. You can get away with it sometimes but if you don’t observe some simple fundamentals, they are going to bite you in the ass. There must really be a big difference in the online play because most of the youngsters from the internet don’t have a clue. One of these days I might just twist off and show these kids how Doyle Brunson used to play. Actually, that would be stupid because right now, it’s hard to lose when these young guys are trying to make their star plays.

Being an ex-basketball player, I think a good analogy is basketball at every level. Today against yesterday. The players are certainly different, but in a physical sense. Today’s players are bigger, stronger and can do things no player in my era could do. But the object of the game is the same. You try to score and keep the other team from scoring. Bottom line, you try to win. Poker isn’t a physical thing and the main thing is to win more chips than you lose. So it’s pretty difficult for me to say today’s players are better than the old-time players. You can only judge the quality by who wins and who has the staying power. Lots of room for debate here.

-DB

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”

In the words of Marlon Brando when he was playing the Godfather, “How did we ever come to this?”  Good Googa Mooga, I never saw anything like the different comments about my “challenge” to play anyone the poker game of my choice.  I saw David Sklansky at Bobby’s Room last night and he told me that the games I’m going to list are not fair.

So what, I’m not trying to be fair, I am what I am, and what I am is a poker professional who loves to play and wants to win.  I believe I can win with this list of games to choose from.  I’m not trying to win any accolades, praise or titles, I’m not trying to compete with Durr’s challenge.  I’m not going to play PLO with him and I don’t think he will be playing my games.  I really like the post one guy put up on a forum.  He put a distance race in his games…LOL.  If it was 55 years ago when I was the best miler in Texas, I would try him.

Let’s have a quick review of how this got started. Patrik Antonius said in an interview, that CardPlayer printed, that he would play me any game for any amount.  The reason he said that, was that he had read I said I would swim a river to play with him.  I have always respected Patrik’s game and I didn’t say that, but he challenged me and it peeved me because I’ve played the high limits now for 53 years and I’m almost certain I know more games than him or almost anyone.  I think Patrik was talking about H.O.R.S.E. plus one or two other games.  If that was the case, I would have let it drop because that would be a tough game.  But that’s not what he said so here is my list:

1) I’ll start with lowball, my favorite.

Any lowball game I choose can be played with 3 different lows, the best hands being 7-5-4-3-2, A-2-3-4-5, A-2,3,4,6.

• 5 Card Draw, Limit or No Limit.
• 7 Card Razz, Limit or Pot Limit.
• 6 Card Razz, Limit or Pot Limit.
• 7 Card Razz, shuck one & draw if you want.  Limit or Pot Limit.
• 6 Card Razz, same as 7 Card shuck.

2) 5 Card draw High, Limit or Pot Limit.

3) Hi Low split, 7 card no qualify, Limit or Pot Limit.

• Eight or better,  7 cards, Limit or Pot Limit.
• Ten or better, 2-7 low, Limit or Pot Limit.
• Six card eight or better, Limit or Pot Limit.
• Six card ten or better, 2-7 low, Limit or Pot Limit.

4) STUD

• 7 Card stud, Limit or Pot Limit.
• 6 Card stud, Limit or Pot Limit.
• 5 Card stud, NL or Pot Limit.

5) Badugi

3 choices of low, Limit or Pot Limit

6) Omaha 8 or Better Limit or Pot Limit

• Omaha 10 or better 2-7 low, Limit or Pot Limit
• Poppyha.  We played this game with George the Greek for months.  FUN Game.  4 hole cards, only two cards on the flop, then the turn, then the river.  Tricky game!

7) Hold ‘Em, Limit, NL, Or Pot Limit.

• Greek Hold’Em – Must play both hole cards – Limit, NL, or Pot Limit.

OK, there they are.  At Sklansky’s suggestion, I refined the list a little.  I’ve played every game listed, in a Las Vegas Casino for high stakes.  If someone wants to play, come to Bobby’s Room at the Bellagio.  We’ll play, have fun and if someone beats me, I’ll shake their hand and tell them good game!

I also heard I defended Russ Hamilton in the UB scandal.  I remember saying, “yeah Russ is innocent”, on High Stakes Poker, but it was a tongue-in-cheek remark.  I don’t know if he is guilty or not, but the evidence does look bad.  However, I’ve heard all sorts of stories about poker players, including myself, that were out and out lies.  So, I’ll wait until all the evidence is in before I make any positive statement about Russ.

The producer of Two and a Half Men, the popular TV show starring Charlie Sheen, watches High Stakes Poker.  He heard me say I really like his show so he sent me Season 3 and Season 4 on DVD.  Thanks Mr. Lorre. Actually, I already had them so I loaned them to David Benyamine. That’s ironic because the High Stakes announcer, Gabe Kaplan, asked why I was looking at David when I mentioned Two and a Half Men.

-DB

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “Whether a man winds up with a nest egg or a goose egg depends on what kind of chick he marries.”

I called a friend of mine and asked him to come to Bobby’s Room and start a two-thousand/four-thousand limit poker game. There were two out-of-town high rollers wanting to play. “I can’t, my wife wants to go see a movie,” my friend told me. I understand a man who has to get along with his family but if you are a professional poker player as my friend was, you have to play when the opportunity presents itself. I’ve been with the same woman for forty-five years and she has never tried to keep me from going to play. She understands that is my job and to pay the bills I have to be away a lot. In the early years back in Texas, I was gone from home over half the time. We had two small babies and Louise was a registered working pharmacist. When Todd was born in 1969 she quit work for good which meant I had to stay on the road a lot. So my advice to all aspiring poker pros is to choose your mate wisely.

I’ve never watched poker shows. I think because they make me look like an old, fat, bald-headed cripple. Oh, wait a minute, that’s what I am isn’t it

I accidentally tuned in on High Stakes Poker on GSN and I was absolutely fascinated by what I saw. This show isn’t a tournament; it is a real cash game where the players can buy more chips when they want and quit when they want. Also, the ante and blinds never go up. I sometimes wonder how I came off a cotton farm in Texas to where I am today. After watching that show every night for the past month, I can understand it. Most of these so-called poker stars can’t play a lick! It is almost embarrassing to watch how badly they play. There are a few that I would call winning players but the bad players far outnumber them. Tournaments don’t really teach you fundamental concepts and that is all most of them do – never playing what I call real poker. I think I have played eleven times since HSP started and have yet to have a losing session.

Another thing I don’t understand is the behavior of some of the players. In my opinion, many of them make fools of themselves by their conduct. The viewing public seems to like it though so I guess that justifies it in their mind. I never use two Doylisms in one blog but one comes to mind…..it seems that Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow, and “Sheiky” fit this one perfectly. “They are self-made men. And they love their creator”.

I have to add one more as I am in a sadistic mood tonight…..“It is better to be silent and thought of as a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.” –DB