DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “To break a bad habit, drop it.”

The cash games are over for now.  All the players that were here for the WPT Championship have left and the locals are tired and worn out. My decision to not play in the poker tournament was justified by my wins in the cash games.  I would have had to win the championship to equal my cash game wins. I needed it because I’ve been in a funk the last month.  It will probably be the WSOP before the cash games get good again.

I played Phil Ivey a few hours of “Doyle Sez”.  I beat him, but in all fairness, I held all the cards. We played 6 card Razz with the best low being a 7-5-4-3-2. I played that a lot 30-40 years ago and it’s a tricky game. To Phil’s credit, he caught on pretty fast but I’ve got some more games for him if he wants to continue. We had lots of fun, even though we were playing for big money.

I’ve started a new health kick. I eat local honey mixed with cinnamon.  It is supposed to be good for arthritis, fatigue, heart problems, bladder infections and colds, plus it strengthens the immune system.  Four tablespoons of honey to every tablespoon of cinnamon can be mixed into tea or eaten as a jam on toast. Tastes pretty good and I have a friend that said it worked miracles on him. I’ll let you know if it helps me.

My best friend from my childhood through college is having heart bypass surgery. It seems everyone my age is having health problems. It makes me realize how lucky I am to be healthy and no major problems. I’ve even learned how to prevent sagging. You just eat until the wrinkles fill out

-DB

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “A bad decision is when you know what to do and you don’t do it.”

I guess I owe an explanation as to why I didn’t play in the WPT Championship at the Bellagio. It’s my favorite tournament of the year but i didn’t feel up to it.  No, I’m not sick, as evidenced by the fact I’ve been playing 10-12 hours a day in the cash games.  But after attending two funerals last week, along with my wife being out of town for six weeks, I just felt like I wouldn’t have the discipline or patience to sit through a long tournament.  At least in the cash games you can quit when you need to be somewhere else.

I never realized how much I depend on my wife to take care of the pets, run the house, pay the bills, keep food in the house, etc. Louise has allergy problems which led into asthma, which triggered a heart condition known as A-Fib. Her doctor told her she had to stay out of town until the pollen level subsides. I know there is lots of pollen in the air because I’ve been sneezing all month and I usually don’t have a problem. I sure hope Louise gets home soon.

I never expected to become part of the Twitter craze, but DoylesRoom started my page www.twitter.com/texdolly and now I’m posting on it.  I don’t think my old-fashioned cell phone will work so I have to do it from my computer each day.  What will they think of next!

I headed over to my CPA to get my taxes done and ran into a traffic jam.  Hundreds of people were blocking the streets having what they called a “tea party”.  I think they were protesting the current financial crisis our nation is going through, but some of the signs were ridiculous.  “Impeach Obama”, “What comes after trillions”, “Stop spending our money” and other statements blaming our president.  For Pete’s sake, let’s give the guy a chance to straighten this mess up.  I got a lot of heat for voting for McCain, but I knew when I cast a late vote, John didn’t have a chance to win. I was just being loyal to the Republican Party.  But now that the nation has spoken that they wanted Obama, we should all support him.

-DB

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “If you are flexible, it’s hard to get bent out of shape.”

Congratulations to David Chiu for winning the WPT Championship. I made a bet on David when the final table began because I have played some poker tournaments with David. He is one of the premier players in the game and also one of the nicest guys. Thanks David!

Finally, we have some time off. I plan on going to the Flathead Lake in Montana and relaxing for a couple of weeks. It seems like I haven’t had a vacation since David Benyamine wore a size medium. I may drive, even if it is a long way, because I have to get my dogs up there.
I just watched the NBC Heads Up Championship. It’s a good tournament, but like most tournaments, it moves just too fast and it becomes a crap shoot. I really liked the DoylesRoom commercials. – DB

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: “Poker players don’t suffer from insanity. We enjoy it!”

Well, I am out of the WPT Championship Event at Bellagio after three days of playing as hard as I could. I feel as if I made only one major mistake – I played a pot with David Sklansky where I had pocket queens against pocket kings. Actually, I won this pot when a queen came on the flop but I should have played the hand differently. I finished around 150^th in the tournament. I beat out about 400 players, wasted three days, and it only cost me $25,000. The cash games were plentiful and there was $5 million lost in Bobby’s Room where I play. I feel I could have won my share of that money had I not been involved in the tournament. So, should cash game players not play in the tournaments? I leave it to the mathematicians to say if it is right or wrong. I am probably going to play less and less in the smaller tournaments.

Speaking of math, I was on the Poker After Dark TV set and they were having a six person tournament featuring the top poker players that had the reputation of being adept at mathematics. The players were David Sklansky, Jimmy Warren, Bill Chen, Andy Bloch, Chris Ferguson, and Brandon Adams. The TV announcer really put me on the spot when she asked if I would rather play against these intellectual guys or street smart players. I certainly didn’t want to offend anyone so I came up with this answer: “I’ve played against all of these men at the table and they are all great players. In a tournament format, they are as good as anyone, but in a cash game for high stakes I’ll take the street guys.” When asked, “Why?” I replied…”You have to have a screw loose to play for ultra high stakes and these guys are too logical to risk everything they have on the turn of a card.” Pretty good answer, huh? I can’t reveal who won but it was a deserving champion.

I went to the golf course was really disappointed. My leg is getting worse and worse and desperately needs an operation but I don’t have the time to do it. So please don’t call me a welcher, Patrik, but I have to amend my golf challenge. The tees have to be ‘where Doyle sez’ just like our poker match. I’ll have to start up 100 yards or less each hole because I just can’t turn on the ball. I have to hit it with my arms but hopefully my putter will bring me in. I am sure Patrik’s nerves are much steadier than mine so this will probably suit him. Speaking of Poker….I’m in Bobby’s Room every day so if Patrik would like to warm up on some of the games I am going to choose, I am available anytime J – DB