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: “Today is the youngest I’ll ever be again.”

WOW!  What great weather we are having in Vegas.  I can’t remember days like we are having this January.  There is almost no wind and 75 degree days.  It’s a golfer’s paradise.  Even I have been to the golf course the past 3 days.  It’s really discouraging when I try to play as I used to, but with my bad leg plus getting older and older, I can’t do it.  When I see how good some of the young guys play, it makes it worse to me not being able to perform.  David Benyamine has made more progress in the last year than anyone I’ve ever seen.  He is going to be really good in a couple of years.

Some clown who produces the, “Blend Celebrity Bucket List”, put the 100 most likely celebs to die in 2009.  Guess who he had at #16?  That’s right, me.  To start with, I don’t consider myself a celebrity, so I don’t qualify.  But, if I did, I sure don’t have any plans for kicking the bucket anytime soon and surely not in 2009.  He should check on my family genes, both sides lived up into their 90’s.  He should talk to my doctor and get my blood pressure results, my 140 reading on my cholesterol and the raves my cardiologist gives me on my EKG’s.  He said obesity would cause my death.  He should have seen me 5 years ago when I was 130 lbs heavier.  Anyway, he said it was a 10% chance I would die.  I would like to lay 10-1 for any amount if anybody knows this joker.

In my Margaret Hussman watch, the 15 year old girl with untreatable cancer, she is in the hospital but is fighting a courageous fight against pneumonia.  What a trooper she is, send her an encouraging e-mail to anne@ddgoose.com

Thanks for all the advice everyone has given me about accepting my induction into my university’s Athletic Hall of Fame.  I will accept and attend the award ceremony in October.  I can’t let all my friends and ex-teammates down because they really pushed the selection committee. One thing I want them know, I’m a professional poker player and proud of it!

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “The best vitamin for making friends…B1.”

My record for two lost scooters at the WSOP has to be revised.  Security at the Rio found it on the 18th floor the last day of the tournament.  It was unharmed but I had already bought a top of the line Pride Maxima and couldn’t return it; so I have three scooters now, so if anyone needs one let me know!

I’ve decided I am a sicko, degenerate gambler.  After being worn out from the WSOP I proceeded to go play in the Bellagio $15,000 tournament.  I made it through the first day but went out on the second day.  There were some really good side cash games and I played in those also; pretty stupid for a 74 year-old man who saw his hand trembling for the first time in his life.  One good thing is that I won in the cash games but I‘ve gotta get out of here and rest up before I do any more serious playing.

My son, Todd, is in tenth place with less than fifty players left at the Bellagio.  I sure would like to see him take down that $1,600,000 first place prize.  He is a fine player and is overdue for a win.  At least the playing hours are good.  You quit playing about 9:00 at night and can go home for a good night’s sleep.  I wish all the tournaments were like that; I would play in a lot more of them.

The action in a ten handed first day table is pretty slow so I picked up a book called The Zen Book to read between hands.  I know it is a book about Buddha but I’m not sure what their beliefs are.  I think they think Buddha is a god, but I’m not sure.  I have strong Christian beliefs so I’m not looking for any new religion but I’ve heard a lot about Zen so I read it.  I was really impressed by the wisdom that was in that book.  Most of the religions in the world have some good beliefs that have been written.  The main lesson I got out of the book was to be content with yourself.  I’m afraid I’ve always pushed myself at whatever I’ve done.

It looks like there are going to e about 40 ex-basketball players with their wives that are coming to Montana for our college reunion.  That is pretty good for a bunch of guys that played together over fifty years ago.  Most of them are teachers and preachers but all of them are really good guys and we have stayed in touch all these years.  I’m looking forward to seeing them. – DB

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “When you retire there is only one great event left in your life and I’m not ready for that yet!”

I visited 2+2 again and read some of the posts in the gossip section. There is a lot of good stuff but it is very time consuming so I won’t be a regular reader. I couldn’t help but notice the speculation about me and how long I am expected to live. It seems 85 was the under-over betting range. I’m willing to bet a lot of money I live longer than that if anybody really wants to bet on it. On second thought, I better not bet too much or my opponent might send Tony Soprano after me

The Western Channel on DSS is doing a twenty-four hour ‘Maverick celebration’ based on the TV series about the life and times of a poker playing family with the last name Maverick. The main characters were James Garner as Bret Maverick, Jack Kelley as Bart Maverick, and Roger Moore as Beau Maverick. This series was parallel with my own poker playing as it started in 1956 – my first year as a Pro. It was the first production that showed poker as a respectable profession because most folks looked at professional poker players as second class citizens. I did a lengthy interview about my remembrances of Maverick and the Starz Network is going to use it in promos and between episodes. They also interviewed Hoyt Corkins, Dewey Tomko, Todd Brunson, and Mike Caro along with a few others. I loved watching Maverick and I had no trouble talking about it.

I went to the golf course today and I tried to hit a few practice balls. After hitting thirty shots I had to quit because I was already getting sore. My golf career may be over unless I get my leg fixed soon. Mike Sexton and Dewey Tomko were there but I couldn’t make any games because I’m so bad.

It’s time for the WSOP and I can’t wait to see the changes they made in the tournament. I read Daniel’s blog and it sounds like the changes they have made are really good. For someone who says he is a vegan, Daniel was talking about some pretty unhealthy food that is at the WSOP. Pizza, Krispy Kreme, and candy close to the playing area sound tempting.

There are still no games in Bobby’s Room at the Bellagio. Internet poker has ruined the high limit games. The only time these players leave the internet is when someone they perceive to be a fish shows up. Then there is a mad dash to get a seat. I feel there should be a new set of rules that favors the everyday players over the internet players. -DB

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “If you need help, ask God. If you don’t, thank God!”

In my last blog, I was extremely upset about a big loss in a poker game. Today I got some news that put things back in perspective for me. Forty-six years ago five doctors gave me three months or less to live from melanoma cancer. After going to M.D. Anderson, a wonderful cancer hospital in Houston, Texas, a gray haired doctor named Jay operated on me and after eight hours of surgery, he gave me a clean bill of health, reporting all the cancer had disappeared. They called it a spontaneous remission but I’ve always suspected that Dr. Jay had something to do with it. I guess The Man upstairs decided it wasn’t time for me to go. Whatever it was, I am obviously extremely grateful.

Dr. Jay died this week after dedicating his entire life to public service in a cancer hospital. He was by all accounts a brilliant surgeon and doctor who never made over $80,000 a year. It’s pretty humbling when you look at a man like that and then you consider your own life. R.I.P. Dr. Jay.

If you are a western buff, the Western Channel on Direct TV is having a twenty-four hour marathon honoring the TV series Maverick. James Garner played Brett Maverick and was a gambler who made his living playing poker. They have asked me to do an interview about my remembrance of Maverick and use the interview as a promo and between episodes. I am certainly going to do it because that was one of my favorite TV shows. I also have met James Garner when he and I, along with Gus Hansen, were inducted into the “Walk of Fame” at the Commerce Casino. James had some health issues but was a real trooper and gentleman.

Tournament poker has spread everywhere; now it is in Russia. The Russian government has sanctioned a tournament at Zavidova just outside of Moscow. They are adding $150K to the prize pool and it is scheduled for August 15th. They have offered me quite a deal to go play, including meeting the Russian President. Unfortunately, I can not go because of my basketball reunion and I believe Extreme Poker is due to start on the 15th at the Venetian Hotel here in Vegas.

I watched Shannon Elizabeth get kicked off Dancing With The Stars a few nights ago. Dumb judges! I thought she did great and looked great. I hope the poker community supported her. There are some great dancers on that show. I never thought I would watch something like Dancing, but it is pretty cool. I bet Phil Ivey $20K that Kristi, the ice skater, would be the champion. It looks like it is between her and Jason Taylor, the Miami Dolphin’s football player. I don’t know if Jason can dance or not because I can’t take my eyes off his partner. She is the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen. Oops! Besides Louise, I mean

Back to the thought that I started this blog with…let us not forget what is really important in life. Remember, with money you can buy a clock – but not time! – DB

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