If you want something to get your attention early in the morning, try getting a call from your dermatologist saying “Come back in, we’ve found a melanoma on your left arm.” After what I went though 48 years ago with a melanoma, I was instantly awake and calling M.D. Anderson cancer hospital in Houston, Texas. It took 4 days to get my appointment with the head of the melanoma department but I never considered going anywhere else.

After arriving in Houston I drove to the medical center to see if things were as remembered it. I was astounded to see blocks and blocks of medical buildings and the hospital I had my first surgery in 48 years ago was completely gone. I was glad because I remember thinking that building had looked like a giant headstone in a graveyard.

After two days of ultrasounds tests, blood work, x rays, etc I went into surgery that lasted three hours. I have an eight inch scar where they excised flesh. I’m afraid Cameron Diaz won’t make anymore movies with me now. The doctors also took three lymph nodes under my left armpit to determine if the cancer had spread. The doctors confirmed they had removed all of the cancer from my arm but it would take a week to get the biopsy report on the lymph nodes. So, I decided to be optimistic and come back to Vegas after one day rest. I feel reasonable well but awaiting the test results is pretty stressful.

There were thousands of cancer patients in the M.D Anderson Medical Center. I was struck by the attitude and obvious determination of the patients. Even in the more severe cases you could see the resolve to beat this deadly disease. Something like this helps get your priorities straight. Someone caught a two outer at the river against you? Big deal, just be thankful if you have your health.

One pretty neat thing happened in my first examination. A doctor came into the room laughing and said “you came into this hospital almost 50 years ago and had a life expectancy of 3-6 months!” He showed me an old chart from 1962 that said Mr. Brunson’s cancer had disappeared with no explanation. It was a “spontaneous remission”  which we have only seen a few times. That brought back lots of old memories and thank God my “spontaneous remission” happened.

Whoopee! I just got the call from the hospital that the surgery had removed all the cancer from my arm and it hadn’t spread. They said come back in 6 months for a check-up which I’ll certainly do. I ducked one more bullet and I’m grateful again.

Now I have to arrange my poker schedule. I was supposed to play in Poker Stars Big Game but I certainly wasn’t up to it. Now, I am supposed to play the NBC Heads Up Championship the 4th of next month. If I don’t feel good, I’m going to pass on that one also. Winning bracelets and poker tournaments aren’t as important to me as they were a few weeks ago.
Thank you God!

-DB

If you remember that bet I had with Mack Rawden. A newsletter publisher, the bet was settled to this week. Mack published a most likely to die in 2010 list and I was on his list. I called him, laid him 10-1 for a $1,000 I would make it to 2011. Obviously, I won the bet and he sent a check to Jen Harman’s no Kill animal shelter. Thanks Mack, I’m glad I won.

I’ve heard of identity theft and I do not know if this qualifies but someone got my account number at my bank. They proceeded to write 135 checks in a little over a month for thousands of dollars. Pretty scary stuff, my private banker  said that was the most fraud he had even seen on one account, You should never keep very much money in your checking account.

When I came back from Costa Rica last week I noticed my passport was about to expire, I called the number in Los Angeles and the lady told me I had to absolutely come to L.A to renew it. I thought that was strange so I went to the internet and found a site that will renew it by mail. I don’t know why the woman told me I had to come to LA but I suppose I should try to contact her supervisor. That is a brutal mistake to make.

I didn’t realize that my saying I might move to CA because there was more poker there would cause so much talk. My move was pure speculation and probably won’t happen, I was just thinking. My life has been full of poker for over 50 years and I still enjoy the competition. I don’t feel like sitting in a rocker out by the pool waiting for the Grim Reaper to come knock on my door. It seems to me that when people completely retire they die much quicker than someone who still has goals and interest in life. I’m planning on winning more bracelets in the WSOP and perhaps winning a few more tournaments besides that. I know, I’m at least going to keep trying.

The Billy Walters segment about gambling on 60 Minutes is getting a lot of press. I watched it and laughed all the way though it, Billy lived 4 doors down from me and was Chip Reese’s next door neighbor on the Las Vegas Country Club in the early 80’s. The segment was very good and made Billy look very rich and successful, which he is today. But back in the 80’s times were tough for all gamblers and Billy was no exception. 60 Minutes talked about the good times and didn’t mention the bad, I’ll never forget when the police raided his house, put his sweet wife Susan in handcuffs and leg irons, and took them both to jail. I’ve got to give Billy credit he took sport betting to another level and left the tough times behind him.

I read on the internet about a bunch of youngsters that stole a vase with the ashes of a dead man inside. They took the vase to a nightclub and snorted the ashes as if it was cocaine. That may be the sickest thing I have ever heard.

DB-

Finally got back from Costa Rica a few days ago. Every time I visit that country, I am more and more impressed. Just the sheer beauty is enough to make the trip worthwhile but the more modern parts make it even better. The shops are nice and the food is on a par with most major cities. Factor in the beach is a short distance from San Jose and the fishing is terrific makes it a good destination.

Las Vegas is becoming more and more a not very desirable place for a poker pro to live. There are simply isn’t very many high limit games anywhere. What’s with the economy, the world wide tournaments, and the internet poker, the outlook for live cash games are bleak. Poker is on the verge of making a very significant change and in my opinion very bad change.

I’m considering moving to California; at least there are a few mid level games that are played regularly.  I am glad the college bowl games are over. This is the 1^st year in a long time where the favorite covered the spread. I guess the line makers finally figured out that the underdogs had been winning the side for a long time, now maybe the guys that make the numbers will notice that a big percentage of the N.F.L games are going  over the projected total points scored each game.

I made a very large bet on who would win the Super Bowl; I had Indy, New Orleans and New England. My opponent had N.Y Giants, Pitt and N.Y Jets.  I really liked my bet and they the Saints and Colts both got  knocked out in the 1^st round and now the Jets are leading the Pats as I write this. Gulp!

I’ve had lots of personal problems the last couple of months and I hope 2011 is going to change things. I’m still in the process of making my New year resolutions. Anyway a belated Happy New year to Everyone.

-DB

The WPT tournament is over with Antonio Esfandiari coming out on top. He played well the entire tournament and is a worthy champion. I made it to the last two tables but was completely card dead the last day. Oh well, I played harder than I have in a long time.

I got a nice compliment on the Brunson 10 from Jeff Schulman from Card Player. We were in valet picking our cars after the second day and he asked “where did you get those kids? They are really good.”  I’ve got to agree with Jeff, they are all great players and on top of that they are great guys. They have totally impressed me!

After I busted out of the Tournament I went to the cash games in  Bobby’s Room and played 11 more hours. The dealer asked me how and why do I still play like that. The answer is simply, I love poker and I hope to play until I pass on. I try to slow down and can’t seems like I have just one speed, fast forwards.

The internet poker bill is getting lots of attention. After the Las Vegas Sun reported Harry Reid told them the bill was dead, it has resurfaced and is going to be voted on shortly. A big sticky point is the 15 month ban on anyone who takes U.S. players won’t be granted a license. We will have to wait and see but at least it raises awareness of the possibility of regulated internet poker.

-DB

Pam, Todd and Anjela and myself were in Punta Cana when we got the news. We were having a great time in a great resort. What a big place, over 130 acres of 2,800 rooms, 13 swimming pools, eight restaurants and 10 or 12 bars. It was an all inclusive resort and there were lots of poker players there including Hoyt Corkins and five members of the Brunson 10. The tournament had 200 entries and should be a major tournament next year.

Thanksgiving has come and gone and I’m glad it’s over. I always overeat and feel miserable. The family was together and that was good because we are still hurting and it was nice to have everyone’s support. Every Thanksgiving I remember what Benny Binion used to say “I’m thankful Chili’s a dime a bowl and I love Chili.”

The Doyle Brunson WPT Poker event is starting at the Bellagio and I guess I’ll start playing poker this next week. It seems I feel better when I stay busy so I’ll give it my best shot.

I keep hearing that internet poker is the favorite to get legalization this year. If so, the government has lots of work to do on regulations, etc but I feel it would be a good move. Lots of taxes for a hurting USA.

-DB

It is hard to get back in the swing of thing after the death of my only sister, Lavada Hale. Lavada was 79 years old and had lost her eyesight due to glaucoma and related eye diseases. She couldn’t stand the thought of living out her years in a world of darkness so she took her own life. She was such a strong person all her life and I never dreamed she was so depressed she could commit suicide. It was a tough time for our family but we are a tough family and I was proud of everybody the way they handled this tragedy. Thanks to everyone for their calls, tweets and prayers. RIP Lavada.

Pam, Todd and Anjela and myself were in Punta Cana when we got the news. We were having a great time in a great resort. What a big place, over 130 acres of 2,800 rooms, 13 swimming pools, eight restaurants and 10 or 12 bars. It was an all inclusive resort and there were lots of poker players there including Hoyt Corkins and five members of the Brunson 10. The tournament had 200 entries and should be a major tournament next year.

Thanksgiving has come and gone and I’m glad it’s over. I always overeat and feel miserable. The family was together and that was good because we are still hurting and it was nice to have everyone’s support. Every Thanksgiving I remember what Benny Binion used to say “I’m thankful Chili’s a dime a bowl and I love Chili.”

The Doyle Brunson WPT Poker event is starting at the Bellagio and I guess I’ll start playing poker this next week. It seems I feel better when I stay busy so I’ll give it my best shot.

I keep hearing that internet poker is the favorite to get legalization this year. If so, the government has lots of work to do on regulations, etc but I feel it would be a good move. Lots of taxes for a hurting USA.

-DB

I hope everybody voted this last week. As expected, the Republicans won the House of Representatives and did major damage to the Democrats’ hopes. Harry Reid won his senate seat and I’m not sure how I feel about it. Harry was personally responsible for me getting my gaming license 40 years ago when he was the head of the Gaming Commission so I feel an obligation toward him. On the other hand, except that he is supposedly pro poker, I’m a little disappointed in his past of approving some controversial bills.

I can’t believe the tax situation. I know it is our only way to support our nation but as Thomas Jefferson said, “Democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give it to those who won’t work.”

Three more days and I head for Punta Cana for the poker tournament DoylesRoom is hoping to sponsor next year. The Dominican Republic is under heavy rains and windy right now from the hurricanes but the weather should clear up before we get there. It should be a fun trip with Gambling 911’s Jenny Woo throwing a party. She is a legend among party goers and I’m almost afraid to go at my age. Fortunately, my daughter Pam and daughter-in-law Anjela will be along to supervise things.

My son Todd just lost his last blue heeler from his original five. The Brunson family are all pet owners and we love them so I really hurt for him. On the other hand, his dog Stoli had a nice life and between co-ownership with Jennifer Harmon was really well cared for. Stoli was the dog Jennifer offered to give Todd $100,000 if he would let her have Stoli when their relationship dissolved. Todd told her she could add a zero and the answer would still be no. That is a lot of love for a dog!

The WSOP final table is underway and will be widely viewed by ESPN viewers. I’ve gotta pull for the Grinder as he is the only one that might join us in some cash side games.

I’m introducing Eric Seidel Monday night at the Poker Hall of Fame banquet. Eric is being inducted along with Dan Harrington and both are worthy of the honor. My pal Barry Greenstein will be next if I have any say so about it.

-DB

Anyway, they reached an agreement to share custody of the dogs which they have done now for 10 years. Jennifer had all the dogs except Yager the night he died at 2:00 a.m. Jennifer said at exactly 2:00 a.m. her dogs started howling and she couldn’t stop them for 20 minutes. Coincidence? I don’t think so. My friend from high school died last year and he had a 10 year old Bulldog who died the next day from no apparent reason. Anjela, Todd’s wife, had a dream in the early morning the day Yager died with some girl she couldn’t recognize telling her of his death. Some things defy logical explanations. R.I.P. Yager.

Congratulations to Erik Seidel and Dan Harrington for their upcoming induction into the Poker Hall of Fame. I was sure Erik would be one of the new members and I have no problem with “Action Dan” being the other. I voted for Erik and Barry Greenstein because I couldn’t remember Dan playing in any big cash games, but everyone tells me he played in New York and California, so he does meet the criteria. Barry will be one of the inductees next year for sure. I would like to see Mike Caro, David Sklansky, Bobby Hoff, Eric Drache and Abe Mosseri on the ballot next year along with some of the nominees from this year.

Speaking of the Hall of Fame, my hat goes off to Phil Ivey who announced he wouldn’t accept the award if he was voted into the Hall. Phil said he didn’t want to be voted in until he was older than Chip Reese was when he was inducted as the youngest player ever. Chip was 43 and what a tribute to him from Phil. There is no doubt that Phil was the best player on this year’s list of nominees but that doesn’t mean he should go in yet. It also should show the committee they should have an age limit for the nominees.

We have lowered the limits in Bobby’s Room to 1k-2k and we have been having full games with waiting lists. I’ve been saying for a long time we should do these smaller limits because of the economy. I’m willing to play even smaller, I just want to have games every day. If one or two players would help start these games along with Eli Elezra and me, we can play almost every day.

Everybody knows I’m a dyed in the wool western movie fan. I’ve got almost all of the favorites for the last 15 years on DVDs. Now I found a place on the net called oldies.com where they have all the western movies restored and in color. They are very reasonably priced from 3-10 dollars each. I bought 400 more western DVDs and I’m going to watch them all.

I don’t know what to think about this weather. It is still thundering, lightning and raining after a 24 hour electrical storm. I’ve been in Vegas since 1973 and I’ve never seen anything like it. The lightning is spectacular but I’m afraid it is dangerous and might cause some major damage. Las Vegas don’t need any more problems right now. Internet poker

-DB

The Festa al Lago Classic poker tournament is underway at the Bellagio and for the first time in a long time, I’m excited and ready to play. The main event starts Friday and a big turnout is expected. These tournaments never seem to end. If you want to travel, there is a tournament every week somewhere in the world. They are ok, but it’s not good for the cash games. Poker tournaments

All of the family are back from Montana and it’s good to be home. I had fallen behind about what has been going on at DoylesRoom and our team was all excited about the new loyalty program they launched. I’m not too familiar with it yet but I understand a grinder can cash in an extra $3,000 in cash a month. That’s the highest return on the net using “Brunson Bucks.” Try it out.

October has been a bad month for my pals in the poker world. After losing Pete Popovich, the floor supervisor at the Bellagio poker room, I got a call Bobby Hoff is in the ICU in L.A. He evidently fell and hit his head causing blood on the brain. Bobby is one of the few remaining player from the old “Texas Circuit”, the press writes about. I know Bobby is one tough guy and I’m hoping he makes it through this.

-DB

It’s going to be time to induct two more members in the Poker Hall of Fame next month. I’m primarily a cash game player and perhaps I put too much emphasis on the cash games but I don’t see how it can’t be the most important landmark. I consider all of the nominees to be friends and for what it’s worth, here are my thoughts.

The criteria for being in the hall are simple. (a) A player must have played against top competition. (b) Player for high stakes. (c) Played consistently well, gaining the respect of their peers. (d) Stood the test of time. (e) Contributed to the overall growth and success to the poker games.

The nominees in alphabetical order are:

(1) Chris Ferguson. Chris is a worthy candidate even though he doesn’t meet (a) and (b) of the criteria. Even though he hasn’t played much outside tournaments, he is so strong in the other three he has to be considered. Probably not yet though.

(2) Barry Greenstein..You can’t find a criteria Barry doesn’t meet. If not this year, next year for sure.

(3) Jennifer Harman-Traniello..Jen also meets all the requirements. I’ve always considered her to be the all-time best female player. However, her sex doesn’t matter here and she will probably need a few more years before she goes in.

(4) Dan Harrington…My only problem with Dan is I don’t remember him playing in any high-limit cash games. Well respected however.

(5) Phil Ivey….Who?

(6) Linda Johnson…Aptly known as the First Lady of Poker. Loved by everyone but probably isn’t a strong candidate this year.

(7) Tom McEvoy…Tom’s name keeps getting on the ballot every year so that means he is a strong candidate. While he didn’t play in the real high stake cash games, he paid his dues in the mid stake games.

(8) Daniel Negreanu. It’s only a matter of time for Daniel. He meets the criteria but probably is going to have to wait until he is a little older.

(9) Scotty Nguyen…Scotty needs to live up to his nickname, “The Prince of Poker” He meets all 5 criteria but is going to have to wait until his behavior in his $50K win in the Horse tournament fades from people’s memory.

(10) Erik Seidel…I gave almost all of my votes to Erik. Most people don’t remember his cash game play but he was in all of the games in his early career. He meets all the requirements and his exemplary conduct deserves a special accolade. He reminds me of Chip Reese.

So who is it going to be? If Seidel isn’t one of the inductees, I’ll be very surprised. I think the 2nd will be Greenstein or Ivey. I feel it should be Barry but if Phil is the one, I’ll have no objection even though I feel he should wait until he is older.

-DB

Because I came from the farming country, I found some interesting changes. When I was young we used to watch the skies praying for rain to enable our cotton to grow. We had to fight boll weevil, lice, rabbits that ate the cotton, etc. We had to spray the cotton, chop the weeds out of it, then harvest it by hand. Today’s farmers have a new strain of cotton that eliminates the weevils and lice completely. They spray the young cotton one time which kills all the weeds. Most of the farms are irrigated and harvested mechanically. In the meantime, a single tractor can cost upward of $250,000. Farmers have to have lots of crops to afford all the machinery they have to buy.

Another interesting thing was as I was driving away from the Midland-Odessa airport, I could see hundreds of cars parking in a giant field. They were having a huge three-day concert by a group of rockers called Rock the Desert. I googled them and they play Christian rock music. Lots of Christian folks down in Texas, again a far cry from the majority of young people around Vegas.

My sister had just gotten a cast off her broken arm when I arrived. She had fallen on her patio and snapped the bone. I think falling is one of the primary dangers in older poeple’s lives. Puggy Pearson got up to go to the bathroom, slipped and hit his head, killing him. My old golfing buddy, Fred Barnes from Mobile, fell backward going up some steps, killing himself instantly. I saw a boy from Amarillo who told me Amarillo Slim had fallen down a flight of stairs, breaking 5 ribs. I know my crutch has saved me many times.

Nothing much to do in Andrews, TX so I watched a lot of TV. While I was there I watched a couple things I had no idea about on 60 Minutes. turkey is 90% Muslim (I googled it and 98% profess the Islamic faith) and has mosques everywhere where they go to pray 5 times a day. If the current trend continues, Muslims will control the world in just over 1/2 a century.

The other thing that amazed me was that our country spends 55 billion dollars a year on terminally ill people during the last two months of their lives. Even if the patients in a hospital have a clause in their will or living trust (as I have) about declining any use of life support, the money is spent giving almost useless tests from head to toe. Good Googa Mooga! I know I won’t die tied down to some hospital bed hooked up to some machine.

I’d like to thank the hundreds, maybe thousands, of people that wished me Happy B-day on Facebook and Twitter. I ran out of room on Twitter trying to read the messages and my e-mail overflowed with messages on my wall from Facebook. I was surprised at the number of folks that had the same birthday as mine. Even though I remember the old gambler/con man Titanic Thompson used to have all sorts of proposition bets about that. I believe if you take 22 random people you are a big favorite to find two with the same birthday. I’m pretty sure if you take 50 random people you will find one that has your B-day. Titanic had other props but I’m not sure what the B-day props were. Anyway, I know my lucky number has always been 7 and now I have a pair of 7’s to draw to

-DB

When I got to the house the game is played in, I couldn’t believe it. It was 5 stories high on the top of a mountain overlooking the city. The lift was broken and I climbed the five stories of marble stairways with my crutch. My legs and knees are so sore I have trouble sleeping at nights. I’m not going back until the lift is fixed.

At the top of the house where the game is sits a piano. It was Nat King Cole’s instrument and I sat down and played a song my mom taught me when I was six years old. I didn’t know I could play anything besides chopsticks. Yep, me and Nat.

Every time I fly I think about how unfair our system is. I usually get a wheelchair to ride to my gate because of my bad leg. Every single time, because I have a metal implant in my shoulder and set off the alarm, I go through an intensive search that takes a long time because not only do they shake me down completely, they go over the chair with a fine tooth comb. I suppose it’s necessary but it seems a little extreme. The funny part is that almost all of the security guards must be poker fans and they recognize me. However it doesn’t keep them from being very thorough on their final examination. I even have to take my shoes and belt off along with the usual stuff. I guess it’s better safe than sorry though.

My publicist, Lara Miller, sold everything she owned except what she could carry in a backpack. She left her business and embarked on a 3-4 year journey around the world. She is currently in India and she regularly blogs and sends tweets about her trip. She has a $14 a day budget and plans on hitchhiking across Asia and Europe. I can’t imagine all the dangers she is going to encounter doing that. But, she is determined to do so even after I tried to talk her out of it. Can you just imagine an attractive 34 year old woman hitchhiking across some of those countries? I told her the only way she could possibly not get raped is to carry cards in every language and give them out at the opportune moment. The card would say, “Go ahead, but I have aids.” That might save her but I really fear for what could happen, being all alone in foreign countries.

I just got a tweet from Lara saying she is having a great time. She says the only poker players the folks in India know are “texdolly” and the “unabomber”. Can you imagine that? The world is a funny place.

Someone sent me an e-mail about the World’s Shortest Books. I thought some of them were very funny so I tweeted a few of them on Twitter. The response was amazing. I got hundreds and hundreds of humorous jokes about short books. I retweeted the ones I thought were the best and they just kept coming and I kept retweeting them. I had 346,000 followers when I started and I lost 900 of them because they didn’t like it because of the volume. After two days of travel and no tweets, I’m back to 345,500. The one that I received the most was “Humility” by Phil Hellmuth. My favorite was “Different ways to comb your hair” by Doyle Brunson.

I’m almost through with my seven implants (yeaaah-). It’s time to make my way to Montana for a relaxing time with my dogs and my family. I’m gonna beat Todd at the shooting range this time. Adios 110 degree weather, hello 81 degree weather!!

-DB

For all the people that have asked about the results of Daniel Negreanu and my bets in the main event, I’ve won two and lost one. It was a lot of fun sweating the tournament and while our bets weren’t 7 figures, they were large enough to be interesting.

All my neighbors were referring to my backyard as Brunson’s Brothel because all the feral cats came to a spot over my waterfall to give birth to their kittens. My family was trapping the kittens and taking them to no-kill shelters and vets for adoption. The daddy of almost all of the kittens was a scoundrel Siamese cat. He is white and has the cutest offspring you can imagine. We tried to adopt two of them but my wife is so allergic we had to give them up. It’s really a shame because they were a lot of fun. I’m putting out cat repellent, which is nothing but pepper, to close down Brunson’s Brothel.

My high school class is having our 60th reunion this fall and I can’t wait to see some of my old friends. The class of 1950 has had a reunion every five years and we have really developed some strong bonds among us. We have lots of success stories from our class, all the way from State Senators, famous lawyers, award winning journalists, and lots of distinguished teachers and educators. I was the black sheep of the class but thank goodness, they finally accept me and my profession. Took a while though.

-DB

I actually think Daniel, you need to change medications because I think you have lost it when it comes to these bets. But you certainly have your six world beaters I’ve never heard of against my three great old timers. But again, my old pal Titanic Thompson used to tell me that difference in opinion is what makes good gambling. Would your bunch be interested in coming by Bobby’s Room and give us some lessons afterwards? They have to leave their poker tracking, HUDs, etc at home though.

No, I wouldn’t bet on Dewey Tomko in golf against someone I didn’t know. It shouldn’t be too hard to figure out that I know there are plenty of golfers that can beat Dewey that I don’t know. However, I don’t believe there are very many players better than three proven world champions. Our bets are won on the amount of money cashed in the main event. Win or lose, I’ll be glad to be on my team any place, any time. It will be fun, we will work out how much we are betting.

1st Bet

My team is:

Todd Brunson
Hoyt Corkins
Dewey Tomko
Zach Clark
Steve Gross
Amit Makhija
Alex Kamberis
Chris Moorman
Dani Stern
Daniel Kelly
Faraz Jaka
David Sands
Michael Martin

Dan’s team is:

Jason Mercier
Dan Negreanu
Joe Hachem
Elky Grospellier
Ivan Demidov
Will Thorson
JP Kelly
Jose Barbero
Lex Velduis
Jude Ainsworth
Arnaud Mattern
?
?

Daniel needs to add 2 more PS players. In the event everyone doesn’t start, we take players from the bottom of the list until we have an equal number of starteres

2nd Bet

I have:

Johnny Chan
Phil Hellmuth
Barry Greenstein

Dan has:

Bill Reynolds
Will Molson
Tom Marchese

3rd Bet

I have:

John Chan
Phil Hellmuth
Barry Greenstein

Dan has:

Vivek Rajkunar
Jason Somerville
Richard Lyndaker

I just got word that Daniel Kelly won the $25k tournament. That’s 1,300,00 for a 21 year old kid and it officially makes him the newest member of the Brunson 10.

Way to go Daniel!

Yes, I know I left myself off our team. My mouth hurts from all the dental work, my leg hurts, my back hurts, etc. I’ve been around long enough to know I’m not playing my best right now so I’m not going to let my ego hurt my team’s chances. I need a few weeks of rest in Montana.

-DB

It is absolutely amazing how different people interpret things. In my last blog I said I get along with Phil Ivey if we don’t have to use the same bathroom. Surely the entire world would know that was a joke. I remember seeing the movie Brian’s Song where a teammate of Gayle Sayers said that and I thought it was very funny. But no, I’ve been accused of racism, being a redneck and a hillbilly. One article said I wanted separate bathrooms because of the difference of our penis size and I would be embarrassed. It’s comical but also a little bit aggravating.

Daniel Negreanu is pretty talkative about our TOC bets (which I still like). It’s too bad I didn’t get to the Rio instead of the dentist. Dan said he would take Bill Reynolds, Will Nelson and Tom Manchese against Chan, Greenstein and Hellmuth. Wow, would he have got that on! Is that offer good for the main event? Or any other tournament you can find?

I’ve got an interesting bet for Daniel. I’ll take 10 DoylesRoom pros against any 10 Poker Stars pros in the main event. 4 bets, who goes farther, who cashes, who makes final table and who wins. That will be fun and maybe Dan can finally pick himself.

I see where Ivey and Juanda have motor homes in the parking lot at the Rio. That’s a great idea and I have a motor home in Montana that I’m going to bring to the 2011 WSOP. That would be a neat spot to take the long breaks in. Also, you could sleep there if you had an early start the next day.

-DB

I noticed a few men entered the ladies tournament. I think they should be barred from entering anymore events this year. I suppose the WSOP had to allow them to enter but what self respecting man would stoop to entering a ladies tournament?

Congrats to Phil Laak for breaking the existing Guinness record for playing longer than any recorded session. Phil played 115 hours with no drugs, not even caffeine. Not to take away from his remarkable achievement, when I was 25 years old I played 5 days and nights. But I drank tons of coffee. I also saw two old time cowboy poker players Johnny Moss and Paul Harvey, play from Monday morning until Friday night. They slept Saturday and Sunday and came back the next Monday morning and played until the next Friday night. They also drank a lot of coffee so that makes Phil’s 115 hours a credible mark.

There has been a lot of ink about Annette Obrestad and me and our “feud”. Actually I believe now that Annette’s remark about cash game players vs. online players was taken out of context. That’s an old argument and will never be proven either way. My response was ill-advised and very inappropriate. I should know better after all these years of listening to poker talk.

I didn’t mean to offend anyone in my last blog about being an atheist. This is America and you can believe whatever you want. What I don’t understand is why most atheists, particularly the younger ones, get so angry when someone does profess their faith. I’ve listened and studied both sides and I can’t imagine believing there is not a higher power. As for Christianity, there was one compelling fact that convinced me. Almost all of the scholars believe the Jewish scribes kept accurate records. Those records say that all of Jesus’ disciples met violent deaths (except Paul). Every one of them died saying Jesus was God the Son. That’s pretty impressive. But don’t get mad at me because I believe and I won’t be mad at you if you don’t.

P.S. Elpokero, I admire your work and commend you for it. Did you know that my daughter Pam was the executive director for the largest retirement center in California?

-DB

A typical regular negative poster chooses to use the name LeeTheStrikerChagra. Lee Chagra was a brilliant criminal lawyer who never lost a case. He also was the head of the biggest drug cartel in Texas history. So here is my read on this pathetic poster who doesn’t have the balls to let anyone know who he is. He fancies himself in Lee Chagra’s shoes and I almost guarantee he is an atheist. He is a middle-aged wannabe who is a coward but wants to vent his frustrations by insulting people. He has a hatred of everything and anger is eating him up.

LeeTheStrikerChagra probably struggles to pay his rent and obviously knows nothing about poker because he continuously insults Daniel Negreanu and other poker players. He called me, “just another stetson wearing obese hick from Texas.” Hmm…well, nothing wrong with that but when he insults my family and predicts me and my son will die within a year, he has crossed the line. I’d like to meet him in a dark alley sometime. I shouldn’t have given him these five minutes in the sun but I’m afraid Cardplayer is going to kick him off.

If you want my real political views, they are simple. Democrat, Republican, Liberal or Conservative, if it’s good for America I’m for it. If that means alienating other countries, so be it. We have to have American products be competitive with all these imports. When we get into position to help the entire world, let’s do it. But until then, let’s try to save ourselves. We are on the brink of disaster and we need to address our problems the best we can.

Here is a honest opinion the “howler monkeys” can take off on. When it comes to national security or saving one American life, I’m all for this. If a terrorist has information we need and he has his testicles tied to a cattle prod and a battery, there are three steps we should follow:

(1) Black is negative

(2) Red is positive

(3) Be sure his balls are wet.

-DB

The best news of all was that I had very little plaque in my arteries and the heart doctor said, barring some unforeseen complication or disease, I should live into my 90’s so no more excuses, I’m going to have a big year in poker for 2010.

DoylesRoom had the Brunson Beer Pong Tournament at Hogs & Heifers biker bar in downtown Las Vegas. The place was completely packed and we had a ball. Zach Clark, one of the Brunson 10, was my partner and we got to the Elite Eight before losing by one cup. Ty Stewart from Harrahs and Brian Bosworth came in second, confirming our belief the Eastern guys spend all their time in bars. Tony Dunst and Leo Murphy were the winners. Ex football star from Oklahoma, Brian (The Boz) Bosworth was there along with lots of poker playing friends.

I got my special edition copies of my autobiography back from a specialist book shop in CA. They are handwoven with gold binding, special engravings and gold leaf paper. I only got 15 for special friends and family with their name engraved in gold on the front. They are beautiful and cost $800 each. I’m trying to get them reproduced at a lower price for other friends.

At least I’m no longer a bachelor. Louise got back from a 2 month stay in Hawaii because of her allergies here. It’s hard to live alone after 48 years of marriage. My dogs Casper and Cutie were almost as glad to see her as I was.

I’ll say one thing, Daniel Negreanu is very vocal about his dislike of UB and the Cereus poker network. I think that he is right about everything that happened, but I’m not sure we should completely throw them under the bus. It seems they are trying to do the right thing now and keep things under control, but how on earth could they allow something like this breach of security? I know some of the former owners are still in the office at UB so they have to go the extra mile with their security. It is a mystery to me how poker players keep going there and that brings me to my next subject.

I hope Nevada watched the Mike Huckabee TV show with his guest being the Las Vegas mayor, Oscar Goodman. I remember everyone was on my case for voting for McCain when Obama was supposedly pro-poker. I knew the election was over when I voted and I was just being a loyal Republican. If I thought my vote would have mattered, I probably would have voted for Obama. But forget about pro-poker, bailouts, immigration, apologizing to other countries for America, budget deficit and all the other problems of this administration. Oscar had the statistics of what happened after Obama’s 2 remarks about “not going to Vegas.” According to Goodman, a gigantic dip in canceled conventions after our President’s first comment and a sharp decline in visitors immediately after his 2nd “stay away from Vegas.” Our mayor said Obama was directly responsible for Vegas being the hardest hit city from the recession. I don’t see how any resident in Nevada could ever vote for Obama after this.

Vegas may never recover.

Besides that, how do you like this quote from Obama’s book, “Audacity of Hope”? “I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in a ugly direction.” If that doesn’t scare Americans, what will?

The WSOP has started and my 1st event, the $50k mixed games, was the ultimate nightmare. I went deep, 30 players were left when I busted, 14 away from cashing. Two 12-hour days back to back and then 10 hours the 3rd day. I played well and my endurance was good so I’m not discouraged. I had to make the opening speech and the “shuffle up and deal.” We were honoring my old pal Chip Reese and it made me realize how much I still miss him.

I’m going to rest until the 7 Card Stud tournament on the 4th. I’ve got to get more focused than I have been. My 1st tip that I needed to concentrate more was when I started brushing my teeth with Preparation H this morning

-DB

In my last blog I referred to an animal called a Kit Fox. This Kit Fox is catching and eating our neighborhood feral cats. I wasn’t sure what it was so I googled it and sure enough, it is a desert nocturnal animal that eats smaller animals. Some of these feral male cats are really big so the fox probably preys on the young cats. If it wasn’t against the law, (not that it bothers me much) I’d hide in the brush with my shotgun and kill the Kit Fox because I get attached to the cats, even to the point of putting food out for them.

DoylesRoom is sponsoring a beer pong contest at Hogs and Heifers downtown. Lara Miller, our publicist, arranged it and it should be a blast. It is the 26th of this month at 2:00 and will have a true bar-b-que. ESPN is coming to film it in conjunction with the WSOP. We had it last year and my son Todd won it with his partner. Hoyt Corkins and myself were runner-ups. It’s open to everyone so come down and join us.

In response to the comments about me talking about the bad poker shows, I didn’t mean the cash games. I’ve never seen a really bad cash game TV show and I believe the viewing public wants to see real players playing for real cash. And yes, almost all of the guys are playing their own money. DoylesRoom is toying with having a huge cash game with a few different twists. It will be on network TV and will be an interesting show. I was asked to be on the Golf Channel featuring “old time gamblers”, Jack Binion, Bobby Baldwin, Dewey Tomko, Billy Walters, Mike Sexton and myself will be at a luncheon/golf tournament next week. The trouble is I haven’t touched a club in two years and I couldn’t play worth a flip then because of my bad leg. I don’t think I want to perform in front of 180 million viewers with my swing. However, I’ll be happy to do interviews about the old days and talk about today’s economy in Vegas.

I was also invited to be a “celebrity chef” on a food program that airs on Fox this summer. It sounds like fun and I’ll probably do it. I’ve cooked on a grill a lot and my lamb chops are out of sight. Lemon, pepper and liquid smoke are the secret. I’ll fix my (and Paula Dean’s) squash casserole to go with it. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.

Damn! Just when I was feeling good and had decided to make a full blown run trying to win a bracelet at the WSOP, all of a sudden I feel lethargic with no energy whatsoever. Hopefully it’s what I call the “Brunson Blues”. When I don’t have something to gamble on, I start feeling bad. It’s hard to call yourself a degenerate gambler but I guess that’s what I am. I’ve had 57 years of almost non stop gambling and I need that adrenaline rush. Eli Elezra has been in Israel and he is the only one that will help me start real poker games. Playing on the internet isn’t the same and the NBA playoffs are winding down. Oh well, maybe the WSOP will pick me up when it starts at the end of this month.

-DB

For the record, I do have some concerns about today’s government. Do Americans really understand the healthcare bill? It’s downright scary. I’m really worried about the mounting debt we have, the unemployment, the illegal immigrants, the oil spills, terrorists, N. Korea, Iran and on and on. What the heck do people think is going to happen if Iran gets nuclear weapons and starts thinking about Israel? Talk about World War III. Israel will never wait to be attacked, they will strike first. I know if we can’t produce products in America that compete pricewise with imports, we are in for a long recession. If we don’t get to the polls and vote, we have nobody to blame but ourselves.

I got back from Costa Rica just in time to play in Star’s Big Game, a cash poker game to be aired on Fox sometime in June. I can’t give away any results before it airs, but I believe it will be a very good show, rivaling High Stakes as the most popular poker show. The set was spectacular and is the best I’ve seen.
Speaking of Costa Rica, that 3rd world country is really shaping up. I’ve been going there a couple of times a year to visit Doylesroom’s home office. It has changed immensely in that time with new modern buildings being built everywhere. The streets are cleaner and wider than they were and China is building a huge 130 million dollar sports stadium for Costa Rica. Something to do with a political favor. With the addition of DirecTV on Continental Airlines, the flight is much more enjoyable.

On my flight, when we stopped in Houston, the lady sitting next to me started asking me questions about Texas and Texans. She was a schoolteacher from Ohio and when she found out Texas was my home state she wanted to know why Texans loved their state so much. I gave her a brief summary of Texas History, complete with the story of the Alamo and our fight with Mexico that we won to become a Republic. We do have certain bragging rights because when we joined the U.S. as the 29th state, we were given the honor of being able to fly our flag at the same height as Old Glory. We can’t help it if we talk about our heritage as Texans.
I don’t like the response poker is getting about wearing sunshades at the poker table. I’ve been campaigning against allowing them for 20 years. I didn’t know it for years but is a fact that any marks on cards can be seen better with dark glasses. I agree that 99% of the time the person wearing them is innocent of any wrongdoing, but the tournament directors should take control of the danger. Even though lots of the players don’t like it, the human element of seeing your opponent should be a part of poker.

If you remember my referring to my neighborhood as Kittyville, a terrible thing has happened. Despite our calls to Animal Control, they wouldn’t come get the 3 dozen feral cats running loose around here. I noticed there were fewer and fewer animals so I asked one of our security guards if he knew what had happened to them. He reported seeing a Kit Fox (whatever that is) coming across Spanish Hills with a cat in its mouth. Also, there are coyotes roaming around looking for cats and small dogs. My dogs don’t get outside unless someone is with them.

I really felt old this week at the poker table when I said my hometown of Sweetwater, Texas has an unusual record. In the 1st draft into the NFL Hall of Fame, Sweetwater, a town of 10,000 people, had two inductees. They were Sammy Baugh and Bulldog Turner and no one at the table had ever heard of them. It reminded me of a poker interview when the reporter asked me who was the greatest poker player I had played with. I told him, “Chip Reese” and he didn’t know who he was. I guess this quote I have on a plaque in my office is true. “No one remembers the headliners of yesterday. Awards tarnish, achievements are forgotten and accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.”

Perhaps that is as it should be.
-DB

CA Athletic Directors Convention 2010

I had to miss the Bellagio tournament because I had to go to Reno. The California High School Athletic Directors were having their annual convention and I had agreed to speak over a year ago. Someday maybe I’ll learn to check dates before making commitments. I had a great time and met several hundred nice people. The directors surprised me with a poker tournament when I arrived, with a dozen or so Athletic Directors wearing DoylesRoom caps. Most of them had never played but we had fun. The sad part of this was that lots of these teachers, coaches, and directors didn’t know if they would have jobs next year. The bad economy has probably hit California and Nevada harder than any other states. California is bankrupt and really in trouble with no relief in sight.

Time is fast winding down on the 2010 WSOP. I’m going to play in the PokerStars cash game next week, then do my best to chill out until the series starts. I can’t make up my mind if I want to play a few selected events or make an all out run trying to win another bracelet. I feel pretty good so I may just go for it.

I’m going to Costa Rica this weekend. There may be some big news about DoylesRoom. I always enjoy going to CR because the scenery is great and the food is good. I’m also looking forward to seeing some rain. As hard as I try to slow down, it seems the only speed I have is full ahead.

It seems everybody these days are political experts and like to talk about it, so here is my two cents about the economy. We are so far in debt that most countries, including China who we owe the most money, correctly think we may never be able to pay everybody. I know everyone says America is the greatest country but we may have crossed the line this time. As long as other countries can manufacture cars, appliances and other items cheaper than we can, there will never be enough jobs for Americans. Our government could put a huge import tax on everything to make prices equal. If our country is so great, let’s support ourselves instead of depending on other nations. The oil would be a problem, but we could be independent there also in 10 years if we would listen to T. Boone Pickens. I understand the ramifications of a huge import tax, but if it comes down to America becoming a 3rd world country, I for one would be willing to do whatever is necessary. We have defeated most of the countries in wars but if another broke out tomorrow, who are our allies? Same as always, Britain, Canada, Australia, Israel and a few of the smaller countries. I just don’t believe very many Americans realize the downward spiral our nation is in. I’m in favor of helping our own nation while we can and stop trying to police the entire world. And yes, I like the things Arizona is doing despite Federal opposition. If I wasn’t so old, I would run for public office.

-DB

I previously wrote a blog about my trips to Texas but having just got back from another visit I have to talk about it again. The Texas towns are thriving and show no sign of the bad economy. There seems to be no empty buildings and all the stores appear to be busy. Most of the farmers have more money than they have ever had because of the oil wells and wind farms. It only takes a six mile per hour wind to turn these big turbines that power the generator to create electricity. I don’t understand why they aren’t all across America reducing our dependency on foreign countries for oil.

Another thing I was unaware of is that all of America’s nuclear waste is being stored in Texas. It is only 30 miles from my family’s house to the storage dump. Imagine the millions of dollars being poured into the economy from that. I guess after Harry Reid stopped the nuclear waste from coming into Nevada they went to the wide open spaces of Texas.

That’s the good news from there but the economy here in Nevada looks pretty grim. The Brunson family had to walk away from a 16 million dollar investment in Las Vegas real estate. The price of land is about 30% of what it was when we bought it and local banks don’t even want to talk about making any new loans. Las Vegas is probably hit worse than any place in America and it will take years to recover, if it ever does.

Flying back from my trip, you come in over Lake Mead. That is one huge lake and holds a lot of water. It’s hard to believe we have a shortage but most of the water goes on into California. The lake is the lowest I can remember and you can see the old water line from the air. I wonder sometimes if everything is declining in America. Certainly a lot of our natural resources are, but there is plenty left. I hope we use them wisely because I remember an old saying spoofing Forrest Gump. It said, “Life isn’t like a box of chocolates, it’s like a jar of jalapenos. What we do today might burn our butt tomorrow.”

It looks like I have to pass on the Bellagio tournament because of a previous commitment. A year ago, one of my college basketball teammates asked me if I would speak at a convention for the athletic directors of California high schools. I said yes, unaware that the dates were conflicting with the tournament. It’s impossible for me not to go because they have put out literature and brochures talking about the convention.

Congrats to Vanessa Selbst for winning the Mohegan Sun tournament. Lots of folks seem to be down on her because of her sexual preference. But as far as her ability at a poker table, I can attest to the fact she is really good. She knocked me out of the heads up tournament at the WSOP and impressed me with her play.

-DB

I did get some good news from Montana. In my last blog I wrote about my grandson’s dog getting killed by a pack of coyotes. Cash, a big lab, showed up after a week a little beat up but in pretty good shape. After he fought the coyotes off, he evidently got lost and couldn’t find his way home. My granddaughter saw him crossing the road 10 miles from home. Imagine the welcome Cash got when he went back to his house!

With my wife in Hawaii because of her allergies, I’ve been hanging around the house. Between taking care of my dogs, paying bills and trying to get my desk cleaned off, I’m going nuts. I’m afraid I’m not cut out for a slow paced lifestyle. I’ve been on the go all my life and really miss the poker action. I have gotten to play 3 times since Louise left and really enjoyed it. The game in Bobby’s Room was 4-8K for years but most of today’s players want to play much smaller. So we played 4-8 hundred mixed games, exactly 10% of the old limits. We had full games with people on the waiting list. If we can keep the limits down we will have games. I just like to play so I’m ready to lower the limits.

I had a nice hour long workout in the pool this afternoon. I swam 20 laps which is approximately 600 yards. That’s the best I’ve done lately, a far cry from the 100 plus laps I used to do. We have 25-30 cats without homes in our neighborhood and three of them came and sat on our fence watching me swim. I call our neighborhood Kittyville and the cats are really cute but they will cause a real problem pretty soon. I wish I could adopt some of them but my wife is very allergic to cats. I’ve called several agencies but nothing has been done.

Because of the structure of the tournaments at the Bellagio, the event is really suffering. The number of entrants in the early events is amazingly low and the players are very vocal in their disapproval. The economy affects everything and the present structure is perceived to be too high. There is nothing as bad as disgruntled, financially troubled poker players. I’ve always said poker is the best barometer of the economy that you can find, so this means times are tough and things aren’t too good.

After watching Obama shoot baskets at the half of the Butler- Mich St. game, I see why he screwed the health care bill up. He has been practicing his shot which, by the way, was pretty impressive. Even when I try to forget I’m a Republican, it seems Obama has had a terrible 1st term. Time will tell.

My sister married Jack Hale, one of my childhood friends. Jack is two years older than me and lost a lung 30 years ago in an accident. Now he has developed a “blep” on his good lung. I had never heard of a “blep” so I googled it and found it is a blister that happens with lung problems, usually emphysema. At some point, usually in 2-3 years, it will burst and is almost always fatal. The alternative is surgery and if successful, will cause Jack to use a respirator the rest of his life. My brother-in-law decided to forego the surgery and live his life to the fullest. I wouldn’t have expected anything else from him. So all you smokers out there, throw your cigarettes away or you might have to make your choice someday.

My daughter and I are going to Texas to visit with my sis and Jack this week. I’ve got lots of friends in West Texas and I’m going to have a reunion with some of them. After I moved out of the athletic dorm in college, I went to a different dormitory as a graduate student and found things were completely different. These guys really studied and made good grades and inspired me to do the same. I haven’t seen most of them since graduation, so a few of us are getting together. All of these men were successful in their chosen fields, a few of them were extremely so. For many years I was considered to be the black sheep out of the group. Now times have changed and it will be interesting to see how they feel now that poker is accepted.

There is an event called World Team Poker that will be played at the Golden Nugget the 19th of May. It is a $50,000 buy-in and consists of teams from different countries. Phil Hellmuth was the captain of the USA team, but he graciously deferred the captaincy to me. I will have 10 top American pros to choose from to play different games. The other countries and their captains that have registered are: Team Vietnam – Men Nguyen, Team Switzerland – Chris Bigler, Team Norway – Thor Hanson, Team Lebanon – Freddie Deeb, Team Israel – Eli Elezra, Team England – Ben Roberts, Team China – Johnny Chan, Team Australia – Jeff Lisandro and Team Korea – Kevin Song. Seems like this should be a lot of fun.

-DB

My grandson Jeff lives on a mountain in northern Montana. There are all kinds of wildlife there including bears, wolves, mountain lions and coyotes. Jeff’s dog Cash was caught outside by a pack of coyotes and killed. Cash was a big lab but he had no chance against a pack of wild animals. It’s hard to lose a pet for any reason but it’s really tough to lose one like that. I know if they got one of my pets, it would be open season on coyotes.

Thank goodness for the NCAA Basketball playoffs. March Madness is one of my favorite times of the year. There are 64 teams playing 16 games on Thursday and 16 games on Friday. The winners play 8 games Saturday and 8 games Sunday, then they rest until the next Thursday. I have always had success taking all the underdogs the 1st round and this year was no exception as I won 8 bets. It seems the linemakers don’t know the correct favorites in some of the games. I’ve never seen so many young good players. I think Kentucky is going to win the tournament.

My wife Louise gets a severe case of asthma caused by her allergies from pollen every spring. She has to leave and goes to Hawaii where she has a small apartment. Thelma, our housekeeper for the past 10 years, had never been to Hawaii so Louise took her for a week’s vacation. Do you suppose Thelma and Louise went for a little ‘ol ride?

-DB

Congrats to Annie Duke for winning the NBC Heads Up tournament. I was also glad to see Erik Seidel, who is my first choice for this year’s poker hall of fame, come in second. Erik had a bad streak going in this tournament (0-5) and he needed this run to solidify his position as one of the all-time great players. Actually, I think Annie had a bad record going into this year. A 6-0 run will help that though.

After questioning whether I should play or not, I decided I might as well because the hours you play are very short. As soon as I started I felt more alert which confirms my belief that pro players need action. After not playing for 3 months, I made it to the Elite Eight before losing and felt great. After hearing so much about the “young guns” in the poker world and how much better they are than the “old timers”, I felt sorry for them (us). So when I walked into the room for the final eight I was amazed. Of course I was the oldest, but the youngest was in their middle 40’s. What happened to the youngsters?

The guys that robbed the EPT in Berlin made a nice score. They took 800,000 Euros at gunpoint. I’ve been there and done that 5 times in my life and believe me, it’s no fun. I’ll bet everybody that was there will remember it the rest of their lives. The young man that won the event in Berlin was Kevin MacPhee from Idaho. He is on Twitter and sent me a tweet about bringing the $1,000,000 back to the USA. Congrats Wu_Wizard.

I decided to pass on the Bay 101 tournament in San Jose. The hours are much longer and I’m not sure I’m ready for those 14-16 hour days. It’s too bad because that is one of the better tournaments. They even send a private jet for select players. I’ll be ready next year!

-DB

It’s been a while since I played any live poker. I play 5-10 NLH at DoylesRoom.com several times a day, but I can’t seem to focus enough for any long sessions. The NBC Heads Up Championship starts this Friday and I’m still debating if I want to play. Granted, I won’t be at my best, but I can put my game on auto-pilot and be competitive in that format. The antes and blinds have to go up very fast and that means whoever wins needs a lot of luck. If I decide not to play, there are lots of players waiting to take my place, but I’m pretty sure I will. It is a fun tournament with no long hours and it will be good to get out of the house. A friend in Texas asked me why he never sees my name on the leaderboard of any recent tournaments. I told him, “I don’t know, could it be because I haven’t played in any of them?”

I think the cash game players, including myself, owe the online pros an apology. I know there are lots of things about the mechanics of online play we don’t know and we shouldn’t criticize the pros that only play online. Maybe the hard truth is cash players are inferior to online players when at the computer and vice versa. I’ve decided there are 4 different kinds of poker players. (1) cash game (2) online (3) tournament (4) all around. Different skills are required for each group. There would probably be a different #1 in each, but if you listed the top 10 in each category, there would be more of the #4 group than any other. So my vote for the best players goes to the all around players. Could it be because I would probably be in that group (LOL)? The bottom line is it’s all poker and poker is the greatest game in the world.

Another question I’ve been pondering during my brief (I hope) exile from the poker scene is how do the old time poker players stack up against today’s best players? As there was no internet or tournaments long ago, you to have to eliminate the specialists in those fields. There wasn’t nearly as many games to choose from so take away the all around players and it leaves the cash game guys. The biggest difference is that the mentality of the two eras are so different. The oldtimers were playing for their living with little or no other income. Many, many times they had their entire net worth in front of them. That makes it a lot harder to make these big bets when you didn’t have much money and didn’t know where you could get any more. These guys were true gamblers. Compare that to today’s great players who have lots of income from today’s poker world. Good luck to the guy that 4 or 5 bet any of the oldtimers trying to make a play on them.

So, for that reason it is almost impossible to make valid comparisons about today and yesteryear. Most of today’s players have good management skills but don’t have the pure gambling mindset of the old guys. There are exceptions. Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan and David Benyamine are some names I think are “throwbacks” to the old time pure gamblers. I think any one of the three would fit right in with the great players of the past.

It makes me think of a Stu Ungar story. Someone brought up the question, “What if there was only one bullet in a six shot revolver, would you spin it and put the gun to your and pull the trigger for 20 million dollars? Everybody agreed that nobody would do that. Stu said, “for 20 million, they could put 5 bullets in the gun and I would do it.” Everyone laughed but I’m not sure Stu was joking.

DoylesRoom has an unusual promotion with our bounty tournament every Wednesday. We have 3 or more bounties each one worth $1,000. Knock out 2, win $10,000, knock out 3, win $50,000. Last week, a player broke 2 bounties and won 10k! Not bad for a $25 buy-in tournament and if it is your 1st time on DoylesRoom.com, you get the $25 back, I don’t know who comes up with those things.

I hope everyone was as proud of our mayor, Oscar Goodman, as I was. President Obama made a second disparaging remark about Las Vegas in a speech and Oscar refused to meet him on a recent visit to Vegas, unless he apologized. The president didn’t apologize and Oscar was very visible by his absence during our president’s stay. Way to go Oscar!

-DB

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

My daughter Pam called my attention to a blog written for Cardplayer by Dusty Schmidt and the comments that were posted. The comments were insane and some of them are downright comical. The one I like best was that I cheated Andy Beal and was threatened by Andy and had to return 16 million dollars. Do people actually hear these kind of stories or do they make them up? Did Andy say he would kill me if I didn’t give him all that money? Do you supposed he would have intimidated me more than Tony Spilotro did when he tried to get me into his cheating schemes? The next time I see Andy, we will have a good laugh about this little gem.

As far as the other negative stuff about the old time cheating, I spent two long years defending myself about that. I don’t intend to go through it again. For the record, I never had any involvement in cheating in poker from any era. This is America, believe me or not, I really don’t care any longer. It does look like there would be some evidence somewhere besides wild stories.

My thanks to Dusty for the nice things he said about me. I didn’t really know everybody thinks these young guys are so much better poker players than me. I do know I’ve survived through several generations of new superstars. Most of them are gone now. Send this new bunch down to Bobby’s Room and let’s find out if they are really so great.

There were also some positive comments and I appreciate them. Texas Road Gambler (I’m pretty sure I know who he is) really makes good points. If I ever go to court, I would like for him to be my attorney, Cardplayer doesn’t allow comments at the bottom of my blog. I wish they would, I can stand some criticism. Seems like it would be fun to read what poker players think.

-DB

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

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