DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “There is never a wrong time to do the right thing.”

Just to be clear about my Doylisms, not all of them are original.  People come up to me and say, “I read that somewhere before.”  I read a lot when I have time and jot down sayings that make an impression on me.  There is a wide variety, all the way from Will Rogers to Winston Churchill.  Other Doylisms come from things I’ve heard in conversation and some are original ones that I create.  Anyways, they are lots of fun.

I’m in the middle of a minor domestic dispute with my wife.  Louise is an absolute jewel and needs to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for putting up with me for 47 years.  But sometimes, I’m reminded of an old Texas saying, “There are only two times in a man’s life when he doesn’t understand women.  Before marriage and after marriage.”

There is no high-limit poker right now.  Everybody has gone to the Bahamas for a tournament.  As I have repeatedly said, internet poker and tournaments have ruined live cash games.  I may go to Ireland for the Irish Open, but I’m not going to do much traveling.  Las Vegas and California have enough tournaments for me.  I really like the slowdown structure most of the big tournaments are going to.

If you read my last blog, Margaret Hussman, a 15 year old girl from El Paso who is diagnosed with untreatable cancer, is trying to do fun things for the duration of her life.  She went to New York, took a helicopter tour of the city, went to a musical on Broadway and bought tons of souvenirs.  Send Margaret some words of encouragement to anne@ddgoose.com Maybe, just maybe, the doctors will be wrong and Margaret will make it.

The University I went to in Texas has sent me a letter informing me that I’m to be inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame there.  This came after years and years of my friends and teammates trying to get me inducted.  My name was brought up to the selection committee 10-15 times and was rejected.  Why?  Because I’m a Pro Poker Player and the University is a Baptist college who doesn’t approve of gambling.  I don’t mean to toot my own horn but my credentials as an athlete during my college years certainly qualify me.  I’m in a dilemma if I should accept.

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.

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “Recognize a failure early and go on to the next idea.”

The Bellagio tournament is the greatest!  There is no dinner break and you can be home in bed by 10:00 pm if you choose.  It is really good if you are a little long in the tooth.  I had a decent 1st day and am sitting with $95,000 in chips.  I could have had 50,000 more but I threw away 2 kings preflop.  I was convinced the other player had two aces and couldn’t believe when he showed two jacks after I passed.  That is the fifth time I have passed two kings preflop in tournaments.  I think this was the first time I’ve been wrong.  Oh well, who knows, he might have caught a jack and really crippled me.

I’ve seen and heard about these great tables in tournaments, but this is the first one I’ve been at in a long long time.  If I could have held a few hands I would have won a mountain of chips.  Eli Elezra was the only player I knew at my table and three players were real action guys.  It makes it a lot more fun when you know you are going to get played with every time you come into a pot.  However, all three of the action guys got broke and were replaced with tough players, so I was glad when the day was over.

I don’t think I mentioned that I busted my butt when I was in London for the WSOPE.  I tripped over a cord that went to a TV camera and crashed right on a concrete floor.  I cut my arm pretty badly and an infection set in that is giving me problems.  That is the first fall I’ve taken since I started using a crutch.

I heard my picture was on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.  There was an article about the seizure of 141 domain names in Kentucky and DoylesRoom was one of them.  Actually, just about every poker site was included and the judge ruled that the state could take the names.  I doubt if the decision stands when the case goes to the appeals courts.

The Real Deal opens tonight.  I can’t wait!

Caddie: “Sir, you look like you are in pain – what’s wrong?”
Daniel: “I just hit two of my best balls…….I stepped on a rake!”

DB

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “Don’t be afraid of pressure. Remember pressure is what turns a lump of coal into a diamond.”

After two days of being back from China, I’m having the worst jet lag of my life.  All I want to do is sleep, but the trip was worth it.

After visiting Hong Kong, Todd and I took a helicopter to Macau.  It was a breathtaking view as we went over the big buildings of Hong Kong and hundreds, maybe thousands, of small islands.  I must have walked more than a mile to get to the heliport and my bad leg was throbbing on the ride.  Jack Binion stayed in Hong Kong on business, but came over the next day to join us. 

After reaching Macau, we went to the Galaxy Hotel and met with our hosts, Tom Hall and Chris Parker.  Our accommodations were great and the book signings and interviews went well.  George Barahona from DoylesRoom  was there and had everything ready.  The APT tournament was a little disappointing because of the number of entries.  Matt Savage was the tournament director and did his usual terrific job.  There were lots of familiar faces including Huck Seed, J.C. Tran, Liz Lieu, John Chan and several more.  I guess the flight over affected me also, because I felt really bad and went out early the 1st day.  I played pitifully and was embarrassed but just didn’t have the energy and discipline it takes to play tournament poker.

After Jack Binion got there, we visited some of the other casinos.  They are much bigger than our Las Vegas ones and there are customers on every table, sometimes standing in line betting on seated player’s hands.  We went to the Venetian, Sands, Wynn and several others.  It seemed as though Sheldon Adelson owns most of the real estate in Macau and he is making megabucks over there.  We went to dinner at the Wynn with my friend from the Philippines, Tim Shirrer and some of his business associates.  The food was great as you would expect from a Steve Wynn hotel and casino.  Again, I had to walk a long ways because the casinos are so huge, you can’t believe them.  Maybe this trip will make me go get this leg fixed.

I was supposed to play in a big cash game but because I felt so bad, Jack and I decided we would leave Todd to play and we would come on home.  So we left and took a turbojet back to the Hong Kong airport.  Our flight was delayed for an hour before takeoff.  That meant we couldn’t make our connection to Vegas from San Francisco.  No problem when you are traveling with a billionaire like Jack Binion, you will have a private G4 waiting at another airport.  Nice way to travel!

Todd is still in Hong Kong because he was late for his flight.  I felt bad about leaving him over there, but he had plenty of friends to hang out with.  I’m not sure how he did in the cash game, but I think he won.  I’m grateful for him being there because he helped promote DoylesRoom online poker tournaments in the interviews.

Everybody thinks Obama is going to bury McCain in the debates.  They should watch the Saddleback forum where each candidate is asked the same question separately.  McCain won hands down and answered each question in a positive manner while Obama beat around the bush a couple of times.

David Benyamine – “You’ve got to be the worst caddy in the world.”
Caddy – “No sir, that would be too much of a coincidence.” 

-DB

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “When things go wrong, don’t go wrong with them.”

The WSOP is winding down and I’m glad because I am physically and mentally exhausted.  I knew it was time to back off when I tried to start my car with my house key and tried to get into my house with my car key!  That’s not a good sign and I’m not only ducking the last few tournaments, I’m not playing in some very good cash games.

You talk about records!  Forget about how many cashes you have or how many bracelets.  Some day someone will break these records but I set one which will never be broken.  I’ve lost two scooters in the last three World Series of Poker.  Try and break that record!  I parked my scooter, which was one week old, outside the VIP room at the Rio and when I came out, it was gone.  Of course, I left the keys in it, but what kind of sicko steals a handicapped scooter?  Year before last during the WSOP I had dinner at the Bellagio, got my car out of valet, and went to my suite at the Rio.  When I parked, I noticed my scooter was not on the lift.  I have no idea where I lost it but I think it fell off the back of my car when I didn’t secure it properly.  Of course, the bottle of wine I had had with dinner had absolutely nothing to do with it.

I have to go to the Doylesroom party tonight.  I’m going to try to get home early because I have three days of book signings and interviews coming up. However I know how these things go when you get to these parties.  One thing for sure, I’m leaving my scooter at home tonight!

-DB

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