Doyle Brunson Blog

I’ve done a lot of traveling in the last few years and have always prided myself that it doesn’t have very much negative impact on me. But this last trip to London for five days and back has knocked me to my knees. Talk about jet lag! I’ve literally been in bed over half the time for the past six days. I feel like a truck has run over me. I’ve got all sorts of meetings the next few days so hopefully I’ll feel better soon. And I really look forward to the Super Bowl party every year with my friends. This will be an enjoyable event this year as I made a 100k bet on picking the winner of the championship game. I took the Colts and my opponent took the Patriots. I think I’ll bet 50k on the Saints +4 1/2 and lock up a nice win. If Indy wins by 4 or less, I’ll win 150K. Nice position to be in huh?

I don’t have much to look forward to after the Super Bowl. The next day I go into a 5 1/2 hour surgery on my teeth and gums. That is going to require a lot of change in my schedule. I’m supposed to play in the Premier League tournament that is being filmed at the M Casino here in Vegas. It is the most widely watched TV show in Europe, with a $100,000 buy in. That would be great exposure for DoylesRoom but there is no way I’ll be 100% recovered from all that dental surgery so I’ll have to cancel.

Then, there is the WPT event at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles. That is one of my favorite tournaments because the side action is always good. Then the Celebrity tournament is right afterwards and is a fun time. I’ve got an invitation to play in a big PokerStars TV tournament and immediately afterwards is the NBC Heads Up Championship. I’ll have to bow out of all these tournaments because there is no use playing unless you are at your best. The competition has gotten so good you need to feel good physically as well as mentally to have a chance to win.

My gut feeling is just chill out until the WSOP and try to have a big series. Could it be my age is finally catching up to me?

-DB

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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

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I’m sitting at my desk at 8:30 at night wondering if I should go to bed, watch a movie and go to sleep.

Good Googa Mooga! What in the world has happened? Poker games are getting to be scarce in Vegas and all the players are going to tournaments in other cities and even other countries. It’s my opinion that these tournaments may be the end of the high and medium stake poker games. Back in the 80’s, 90’s and the early years of 2000, there were games everywhere. If there wasn’t a game going, Chip Reese, Pug Pearson and myself would sit down and start games that would fill up and run for days. Now between tournaments and the internet, you could shoot a cannon through the high limit sections of Vegas cardrooms and not hit anyone.

Thank goodness for NFL football and the college bowl games. With no poker games going, they fill the time in nicely. I always bet the underdogs in the college bowls and I had a banner year as the underdogs won by a 3-1 margin. The NFL is a little trickier and you have to be lucky to pick the winners.

The Brunson family has a tradition of making Kentucky Colonel Bourbon candy for the holidays. We haven’t done it for a couple of years, so our family, Todd and his wife Anjela and my daughter Pam joined Louise and I to start making the candy again. We made the best tasting candy you ever ate. It was so good I made another batch the next day that was even better. Maybe I’ll join the Food Network on TV.

I took some of my candy down to my doctor and he showed me the results of my last checkup. I’m one lucky guy! All my blood levels were in the normal range and on an echocardiogram they made, everything about my heart was perfect. I know it sounds crazy, but I’ve always felt that a poker player’s heart pumps so hard it keeps your arteries clean. After all the chit I’ve been through, mine are completely clear. You probably shouldn’t quote me on that . On the flip side of that, seems like we are losing a lot of poker players in the past few years. We lost Amir Vahedi a few days ago with complications from his diabetes. Amir was in the Iranian army before coming to America and becoming one of the more popular poker players. Amir represented DoylesRoom.com for a year and always did anything that was asked of him. He did everything with an infectious laugh that made everybody love him. I hope they put a box of his trademark cigars in his coffin because I know how much he liked them. RIP my friend.

-DB

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Congratulations to Chris Moorman for being PocketFives #1 worldwide player at the end of 2009. Chris is one of the first 5 chosen to be in the Brunson 10. We have some five young men representing DoylesRoom.com and we are expecting lots of good things from them. We are going to find the remaining 5 spots that are open sometime in 2010. Then we will choose two women to make it the Brunson 10/2 in honor of my name hand.

As always in the case of a New Year, many resolutions are passed. I’m determined to lose 20 pounds and get swimming back in my life. I’m also going to monitor my poker playing as I closed out 2009 on a losing streak. I feel good and I would hate to have to step down from the high limit games. Time will tell if I was playing badly or just unlucky.

The New Year is also a time for reflection. I don’t remember who it was that said you should love God, Family and your country in that order. Whoever said it sure had it right and I thank God everyday for my health and long life. I’m also fortunate enough to have found my wife of 48 years. What a terrific woman she is! How anyone could put up with me for that long never ceases to amaze me. She just told me last week she realized long ago that I was a free spirit and she was going to devote her life to our home and children. I’ve never been able to figure her out and every time I think I have, something happens and I know I don’t have a clue about women, particularly Louise.

I am deeply concerned for our country as it seems we have lost all the values our forefathers gave us. I think what this country needs is more unemployed politicians and then let’s set some standards our representatives have to meet before they can even run for office. I’ve seen some of the statistics about our Congress that blows me away. DWI’s, drug abuse, felonies and numerous other bad things are the background of most of our national leaders.

Talk is cheap….except when Congress does it!

-DB

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I’m always glad to see Christmas come and then glad to see it leave. It is a time for family holidays. Our family does an overkill on the gift giving. Our Christmas tree is overloaded with presents and even overflows our living room. Actually, we have just about everything we want, so I don’t know where or why we give so much. The Christmas dinner is always a treat!

I need a break from poker. I’ve been on a terrible losing streak. I broke my own rule. I’ve always said if you lose four or five times in a row, you should always take a break. But, the games look good and I couldn’t stop, and I’ve paid the price by losing seven out of the last eight plays. I won’t get close to another poker table until 2010.

If anyone is a Nostradamus fan, the History Channel has a program on DVD called, The New Book of Nostradamus. It seems a book that nobody knew existed was found containing more of his predictions.

The Vatican in Rome supposedly had the book in a secret vault because Nostradamus predicted the fall of the Catholic Church. Previously in his Quatrains, Nostradamus predicted things like Napoleon, Hitler, 9-11, the death of the Kennedy brothers and many more events that took place after his death in the late 1500’s. It’s really scary when in both his Quatrains and the recently found new book, he predicts the earth will end in 2012. Something to do with the alignment of the planets and today’s astronomers agree there is reason to be concerned. Oh well, nothing we can do about it.

As the year winds down, I can’t help reflecting on the past. The thing that bothers me the most is the foolish things I did when I was young and the fact I can’t go back and do them again. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good, and when it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

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Today is Pearl Harbor Day. I remember it well when as an 8-year-old farmboy, my parents called me in to listen to the news on our old radio. War is such a terrible thing, we sometimes forget how costly it is in money and lives. I remember reading how we lost more American lives in Gettysburg than we lost in the entire Vietnam War. The Civil War was really dumb.

I’m not sure if I have the swine flu or not, but I certainly have some kind of bug. I’ve been taking flu shots for 20 years and have never had the flu since I started taking them. So this must be some kind of a different strain but I don’t have fever which goes along with the swine stuff. I’ll kick it in a few days, my immune system has always been strong.

I had a fundraiser for Congressman Pete King from New York at my home this past week. The Congressman is the strongest Republican supporter of the Barney Frank bill asking that online poker be legalized. All the interested poker players should Google Pete King and make a contribution to his campaign fund. We need all the help we can get in Washington.

It’s great to be home sleeping in my own bed. I’ve traveled so much this past year I’ve forgotten what a great family (and dogs) I’ve got. I’m going to do my best to curtail my traveling next year (even though I just made my airline reservations to London in January).

The tournament at the Bellagio is getting lots of players. Deservedly so, because I love the structure of the different tourneys. The slow structure makes for better players to be at the final tables which makes the TV shows better watching. And make no mistake about it, television is the main reason poker has done so well the past few years.

I keep getting Holiday cards from friends everywhere. That’s great, I appreciate them, but at the Brunson house it’s “Merry Christmas” and “Happy New Year”. Remember, Christmas celebrates Jesus Christ’s birthday!

-DB

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I enjoy reading other poker player’s blogs. I like reading the thoughts of the younger guys and their problems because I’ve been through just about all of what they say. So when I read Daniel Negreanu’s blog about the fact that he was unsure of what he wanted to do with his life. I thought to myself it’s too late for that little buddy. You are a poker player and it’s too late in life to do anything else. I went through the same struggles and then one day woke up that nobody has as good a life as poker players. I particularly like Lee Watkinson’s blog as he says what he thinks. Everybody likes Lee’s controversial remarks as evidenced by all the comments at the bottom of his page. Enjoy being poker players guys.

December is right around the corner and that month has lots of bad memories for me, but also some great Christmas times. Chip Reese and Benny Binion both died in December along with a host of high school and college friends. Also, Dec. 7th is when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor where my Dad’s brother was killed. I’ve lived through lots of wars, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm and the latest wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and I lost family and friends in the 1st three. We still have our freedom and have a lot to be thankful as Thanksgiving approaches for all the sacrifices our military forces have made.

I look like I’ve been in a fight. The dermatologist took off nine spots on my face. He froze eight and removed a skin cancer off my lip. Now I can enjoy the fun stuff this week. I go to the dentist for some implants and later I get a colonoscopy. Can’t wait!

Time marches on. That’s something every poker player has to be aware of. I try to monitor my play regularly because of my age. I’m lucky to still be hanging in there but as I’ve always said, poker players tend to lose at least part of their game after reaching the age of 50. Even though I won 16 straight in TV cash games, I seem to have reverted to a defensive style of play that I’m not comfortable with. Even though the way your opponent plays dictates the way you play, I’ve found myself not following my instincts as I’ve always done. The truth is some of these “pros” play so bad in these games it’s hard to lose. More importantly, it seems I’m almost breaking even in the big cash games at the Bellagio.

Are today’s players better than the old timers? Nah, different but not better. I’ve always advised people to play at the level you can win at. I’m not sure I can move down and play in the smaller games. I’m going to give myself plenty of time, but if I don’t win in 2010, I’m gonna do it.

-DB

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Congratulations to Joe Cada for winning the WSOP final table. Joe is the youngest player to win and I met him at the party in the ESPN Zone. He seemed to be a very likable 21 year old and I believe he will do his best to promote poker. I hear the new poker term is when you lose with AK vs. AQ will be you got “moon’ed”. Of course they will be referencing the hand Darvin Moon knocked Phil Ivey out with.

“Go die under a deck of cards” is what Joan Rivers told me to do. Unknowingly, a Miami radio station scheduled Joan and myself for interviews the same day. One of the announcers on the show had read my blog where I said f someone gave Joan Rivers a penny for her intelligence, she would have to give a refund. I was trashing Mrs. Rivers for her comments about poker players on the TV show, “The Apprentice”. Joan was mad at Annie Duke, who was winning the game hands down, but included the entire poker world, calling us “trash, gangsters and morons”. So until Joan apologizes to all the poker world, I’ll continue to insult her at every opportunity. She also bragged about having an IQ of 135, Annie Duke must have one of 270 because she was twice as smart as Joan on the TV show.

I guess my autobiography hit the bookstores yesterday. I had telephone calls from radio stations across America for interviews but I’m going to curtail those, also.

Things are finally winding down now where I can get some much needed rest. Since I got food poisoning 10 days ago, I’ve been groggy. I play in the HSP this Friday and then it’s clear sailing on my schedule. I’m going for 17 straight wins on TV cash games. I wonder if Friday the 13th is a bad omen? Nah, I don’t believe in that stuff. Still…..

-DB

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Well, I thought I would be pulling for Phil Ivey and Jeff Shulman at the WSOP final table. But when Daniel wanted to bet Ivey over Moon, I had to take Moon who has 5 times the chips of Ivey. It is a must-win bet so probably we won’t have action. Sorry Phil, I won’t be rooting for you now. Business is business.

The game is going every night at Bobby’s Room. It’s really great to get up and know there will be somewhere to go. I’ve been breaking almost even every night and I was worrying that I might be playing bad. I try to analyze the hands I play every night before I go to sleep and I couldn’t see that I was doing anything wrong. Finally, I made a nice win last night so maybe there is still some gas in my tank.

I try to slow down, but things just keep piling up on me. I have to do an interview with the Associated Press, meet ESPN for my thoughts on the WSOP final table (what thoughts), go to dinner with the winner of the Vegas Experience from DoylesRoom.com and then the CEO and marketing staff are coming in for all kinds of meetings. The Hall of Fame dinner is also this week and I’m supposed to do the “shuffle up and deal” for the final table, followed by a book signing. My dentist is waiting with some implants that are overdue and my wife tells me that I should move to the Bellagio because I never spend any time with her. Oh well, nobody ever said life was easy.

This Twitter business is getting out of hand. My followers are going up close to 3,000 a day. Don’t know why but with 115,000 following, I’ve starting blocking all the negative and name calling tweeters. I’ve got enough problems without folks taking their frustrations out on me.

I just finished another interview with a national magazine. They asked me what I attributed my success and longevity to. I had never thought about it but I came up with a pretty good answer. I told them I never let self-made limitations happen. I’ve always pushed the envelope in everything I do. Actually, that’s pretty profound, I surprise myself sometimes!

-DB

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There is finally some poker action in Bobby’s Room at the Bellagio. We have lowered the stakes and more players are coming in. It’s really dumb to play so high no one except the ultra rich guys can play. I was completely exhausted when I got through traveling but after playing poker for 4 straight days, I feel great again. It is really amazing how playing helps me. I guess I’m a junkie after all these years.

DoylesRoom.com is putting on a “Twitter Followers Freeroll” because I’ve got over 100,000 followers on Twitter. The winner gets a weekend in Vegas, dinner with me and partying with the young DoylesRoom pros. I guess they decided I couldn’t handle the partying and they may be right. The tournament is on this Sunday at 6pm Eastern time. I’ll tweet the password at 4pm Eastern the same day because our tournaments hold a few thousand players at a time. You have to have an account at DoylesRoom along with the password to play.

Cardoza publishing has already ordered the second printing of my autobiography because of the unexpected number of advance sells. It is going to hit the bookstores Nov. 10th and I’ve still got mixed feelings about writing this book.

I appreciate all the tweets, emails and phone calls expressing concerns over my toy poodle Casper. Casper jumped off a desk and knocked both his hips out of socket and Louise has to carry him everywhere because he can’t walk. I should say couldn’t walk because he is able to walk on level ground now, he just can’t jump or put any weight on his back legs. Casper is tough and I expect him to last a lot longer as he is only 13 years old.

I’m back in retirement on pro football. I bet on Minn +6 points when Pitt made 2 defensive touchdowns in the last 5 minutes to beat me. I had Miami +6 against N.O. Saints and was ahead 24-3 at the half and lost. Then, I had Houston -3 and was ahead 21-0 at the half and managed to tie that one 24-21. I’m sure I’m going to get lots of sympathy, all poker players are unlucky when betting on sports.

-DB

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