DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “Whatever you give to life, life gives you back.”

All you see on the TV news channels are about the earthquakes in Haiti. It is a real disaster area and America is trying to help and the online poker sites are no exception. DoylesRoom has a weekly bounty tournament and is not only donating all the proceeds, but is matching them. As usual, all new players will have their buy-ins rebated for free plus a chance to win $50,000 by knocking out 3 bounties, $10,000 for 2 and $1,000 for each one. This week’s bounties include myself, Mickey Rourke and other guests are going to be announced soon. The tournament is Wednesday night and starts at 6:30pm Pacific time. Come play with us and help some unfortunate people.

I can’t help noticing where Daniel Negreanu is being accused of “taking a shot” in a recent poker tournament. While the video does look bad for Daniel, everyone who knows him believes it was unintentional and an innocent act. Daniel is one of our best ambassadors and shouldn’t be subjected to undeserved criticism.

I’m glad football season is about over. Besides being very time consuming, it is really aggravating when you lose betting on your favorite teams. Being from Texas, I always pull for the Dallas Cowboys and the fans are in a drought. I hope Dallas gets rid of Tony Romo because he is simply not a top quarterback, especially against quality teams.

I’m off to London for an affiliate convention. The year is just getting started and I’m already breaking my resolution about not traveling as much. But, what do you do when the poker site you represent asks you to go?  I say, “OK DoylesRoom, I’ll be there.”

-DB

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “Arguments are a poor chisel to carve out solutions.”

After a week long trip to Texas for my induction in the Athletic Hall of Fame at my alma mater, Hardin Simmons University, I’m back home and it’s going to take a nuclear bomb to get me out of Vegas until next year. I had a great time visiting with old classmates, some of whom I hadn’t seen in over 50 yeas. There were about 15 of my ex-teammates who attended and I was on my best behavior and never mentioned the many times the school had rejected me because of my profession. But I understand and would like to let bygones be bygones.

The most notable thing about Texas is that the recession hasn’t affected it very much. The farms are white with a good cotton crop, the oil wells are pumping and the biggest saviour of all are the wind farms. The wind towers are amazing with each one generating enough electricity for 35-40 homes. There are thousands of the giant generators as far as you can see as you drive along the interstate highways. It makes you wonder why these wind farms aren’t all across the USA. It only takes a 6 mile per hour wind to turn them. If we had enough of them, we would be out of the bondage the Middle East has us in.

I went out to the little town of Longworth where I grew up. It is almost a ghost town with maybe 10 families living there. The old Brunson house is long gone but there is a trailer parked on the lot and the man living there invited us in to look around. Some of the things are still there, the old chicken coops, the barn where we had our cows and an old root cellar I helped dig in 1949. I enjoy going back every decade or so because it makes me realize you can’t go back, you have to go forward with your life.

Congrats to Mike Sexton on being selected for the poker Hall of Fame. It is a well-deserved honor and Harrah’s has some great plans for his induction. The time is getting close for the WSOP Final Table, also. I wish all of the guys good luck but I’m pulling for Ivey and Schulman. I’m sure it will be a lot of fun for everyone.

Avery Cardoza, my publisher, called me today and my autobiography has come in. It will be in the bookstores Nov. 10th and I’ve got mixed feelings about having done this book. Everyone seems to like it so maybe it will be o.k. The author of the book, Mike Cochran, was at the presentation dinner at my University and we had a nice visit. It is absolutely amazing how fast time can go, it seems like yesterday I was in school. I also saw Ann, my college fiance who looks much better than I do. She probably didn’t have as tough a life as me. I certainly hope not!

-DB

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “Winning is not everything – but making the effort to win is.”

Back from Montana! I’ll never complain about hot weather again. It was 3 degrees on the mountain my grandson lives on, along with 8 inches of snow. That cold cut through me like a knife. We had talked about having the Brunson Christmas at my place on the Flathead Lake but they can scratch that!

There are so many deer in upper Montana that you to be super careful not to hit one while driving. I saw 6 bodies on the side of the road on a 20 mile trip. There is all kind of wildlife. My friend has a large pond stocked with fish. He told me the eagles and osprey take 60-70 fish a day out of it. I had better be careful letting Casper run around outside because one of those big eagles could pick him up and fly away with him. I’ll bet Casper would get one good bite of that eagle if that happened.

I was there for the Todd Brunson Montana Challenge poker tournament. The weather was so bad we had less than 100 players but everyone had a good time. I told Todd to have his next on in the summertime. Of course, my daughter Pam was the “Last Brunson Standing.”

No disrespect intended, but these poker shows are awful. Full Tilt’s “Face the Ace” and Poker Stars “Million Dollar Challenge” are so bad, it’s embarrassing. There is no skill involved in either show and I can’t imagine getting an audience that will watch the shows. As I travel around, the High Stakes cash games are the ones all the fans talk about and I agree with them that they are by far the most interesting. Speaking of that, I read where A.J. Benza is being replaced on GSN’s High Stakes Poker show. That’s too bad, I like A.J.’s subtle sense of humor. Vanessa Rousso is named as his likely replacement. I’m pro-Vanessa so I think she will fit in nicely with the old comic Gabe Kaplan.

The golf-poker tournament in Orlando with David Leadbetter has been postponed because of some complications. I’m glad because along with Mike Caro, Daniel Negreanu, Todd Brunson and Dewey Tomko, I was one of the poker instructors. To tell you the truth, I’m traveled out! I look forward to staying home for a while. Harrah’s has asked me to do a few things in conjunction with the WSOP final table that I’m glad to do, but it would have been a tight fit to be back from Orland in time to do them.

My autobiography is supposed to be out November 10th and I’m doing a book signing right after the final table is completed. I’m having a special edition that I’m going to give to the final  nine. Also, at the book signing, or right afterwards, we are having a press conference to announce the signing of the 5th player to the Brunson 10 at DoylesRoom.com  I’m really pleased at the selection of this young man, as I am with the previous four.

I’ve started reading blogs. Again, I find the blogs about poker hands extremely boring. The same thing with the tweets on Twitter; does anyone really care about the hand by hand update of a poker tournament? If it was a real poker game and someone tweeted they had just won a million dollar pot, it would interest me.  But I guess some folks like the updates, that’s why they make chocolate and vanilla – different tastes.

After saying I want to stay home, I’m leaving in the morning for Abilene, Texas. My University is inducting me into their athletic Hall of Fame. After being turned down for 40 years I have mixed feelings, but all my old teammates will be there, so I’m going down and will be on my best behavior.

-DB

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “The only person you are with your entire life is yourself. Be alive while you are alive!”

I can’t believe the interest the Brunson 10 is getting. For the ones who aren’t familiar with this, DoylesRoom is in the process of selecting 10 of the most qualified online poker players to sign up and represent us. The requirements are pretty simple. Not only do the members of the 10 have to be good players, they have to be well mannered and personable. I’m not ready to pass the torch quite yet, but these guys will be the future of DoylesRoom. We have signed three of the 10 already: Amit Makhija, Alec Torelli and Zach Clark. Two more will be signed this month and two more in October. They need three remaining players to finish the 10. If any of you young internet players are interested, join the already long list of prospects at DoylesRoom. Contact will@dbpn.com. These players don’t want to be just another pro at the bigger sites. With DoylesRoom, they will get better exposure. I can’t wait to meet all of them.

The Brunson house has four new pets. A stray cat had kittens up on our rock waterfall and they have made their home in the bushes and trees surrounding the pool. In spite of ourselves, Louise and I are growing attached to them and put food up on the rocks. We can’t make house pets out of them because Casper, my toy poodle, has a fit everytime he sees them and chases them off. It’s too bad, the cats are cute and we love animals.

I’ve been working on my autobiography for the last week. We started this book five years ago, then stopped. At my family’s urging, we finished it and it will be in the stores the first week of November. I still have my reservations about putting this out.

This will be my last blog for 3-4 weeks. I’m going to Budapest for an affiliate convention then to Nottingham, then to Birmingham, then London. I guess I’ll play the WSOP Europe while I’m there plus the Caesar’s Cup and English Open. I come back to Vegas in early Oct. and go to Montana for Todd’s tournament. Then in the middle of Oct., I go to Abilene, Texas where my University is inducting me into their athletic Hall of Fame. It’s about time, after snubbing me for 40 years because I chose to be a gambler. I guess times do change. Then, in early November I go to Orlando for the High Stakes Entertainment poker-golf school. You should go if possible. Check it out on www.pokergolfacademy.com.

Here I am, three-quarters of a century old and traveling the world like some kid. I’ve always suspected I might be a little crazy and this confirms it. When I get back from Orlando, the farthest I’m going is the city limits of Las Vegas. Uh-oh, maybe Montana.

-DB

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “When it comes to poker players, there is a fine line between genius and insanity.”

I thought Casper, my toy poodle, had settled down because he was getting older. But when I pulled into a gas station, one of the attendants made the mistake of reaching in the car to pet him. Bam, Casper got his 44th bite victim. If that wasn’t enough, the other attendant laughed at him and said “dogs never bite me, they love me.” Despite my warning, he reached in to play with him and Casper got #45. Two in one day! Casper weights 7 pounds and couldn’t whip a good Texas jackrabbit, but he is absolutely fearless. I try to watch him, but he lulls everybody to sleep by being so nice.

I’m almost back to normal after my dental surgery. The bleeding has stopped and most of the swelling is gone. Now I have to wait several months until my gums heal to get my implants. I sure hope it will be worth it. I didn’t want to wear a bridge the rest of my life.

The WSOP is having an event called, “Table of Champions”. It will be for all the living winners of the main event. There will be two controversial players for that game. Russ Hamilton is caught between a rock and a hard place. Russ is accused of being the mastermind behind the cheating scandal at UB. The evidence looks like Russ is guilty but I’ve learned to wait for the verdict to be handed down. If Russ shows up, he is going to take lots of abuse from angry poker players, and if he doesn’t show, every will say, “See there, he is admitting he is guilty.” My guess is he will be there.

Amarillo Slim is the other person that is under scrutiny. He was indicted for some vague thing that happened with his granddaughter. Slim might have said or done something that was inappropriate, but to call him a pedophile or child molester is ridiculous. I spent 10 years traveling and playing poker with Slim and I never saw one thing that I thought was wrong in that area. Poker owes Slim a lot and he should be recognized for that. I don’t know how many years I’ve got left, but I would like to bet double or nothing Slim Preston is no “child molester”.

-DB

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