It’s time to go to London and the WSOPE.  I kinda dread the trip but I’m excited to be going.  The thing I like least is that our money is half the value of the English pound and three quarters the value of the Euro.  I thought we were supposed to be the most powerful nation in the world.  Didn’t we win every war we fought?  Something is wrong with this picture; plus the fact that  most people in foreign countries don’t like Americans.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to play in the Saturday, September 27th Doylesroom $250,000 guaranteed tournament.  I’m sure I’ll be one of the ten $1,000 bounties in the biggest Saturday online tournament.  We are going to have a short field because it is our first big tournament, so be sure and come.

Daniel N - “This is the worst golf course I’ve ever played on.”
Caddy - “Sir, this isn’t the golf course.  We left that an hour ago.”

DB

It seems there are two or three charity poker tournaments every week.  Most all of them are for worthy causes and we should support them.  However, because there are so many, it is impossible to play in all of them.  DoylesRoom almost always donates books, caps, shirts and different paraphernalia to the worthy charities that have poker tournaments.  Even after you decline, those sponsors never give up.  Last week, one of them called me saying Matt Damon said he would come if he could play at my table.  I never thought for a minute Matt really said that, but I went anyway just to see.  After I got there, not only was Matt not there, none of the A-list celebs were.  Matt is probably too busy with Sarah Silverman

On the positive side, the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino had two tournaments this past week announcing the opening of their card room.  The room is ultra nice with the most comfortable chairs I have ever seen.  I wish every card room manager in Vegas would drop by and see them and put the same chairs in their rooms.  There was a big turnout for their 1st tourney with every seat taken and over 100 alternates waiting.  First prize was a custom made Harley motorcycle that had never been ridden.  Guess who won it?  It was a Brunson, but not me or Todd.  

My daughter Pam came through the 250 player field to win.  Poor Todd lost another $1,000 to Pam on their last longer bet they make each time they both enter a tournament.  With 19 players left, there were 3 Brunsons still in.   Pam, Todd’s wife Anjela, and me.  We had to listen to that same old, “I’m the last Brunson standing”, from Pam.  She has outlasted both of us the past 7 or 8 tournaments we all played in.  She also bets Hoyt Corkins, but Hoyt only bets $20.  Good thing because she has beat him several in a row.  Congratulations Pam, you must be playing really good poker! 

It’s almost time to head out to London for the WSOP Europe.  It’s a long way to go but I’m committed to go so I plan on playing in the HORSE, PLO and Main Event.  I’m going ot try to “really” focus on playing and give it my best shot.

Daniel N - “That can’t be my ball.  It’s too old!”
Caddy - “It’s been a long time since we teed off, sir.”

DB

Another big time poker room is opening in Las Vegas. The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino is opening a plush new poker room this Saturday.  Oscar Goodman, our mayor, and myself are cutting the ribbon at 4:00.  A charity poker tournament follows along with a party at one of their clubs.  Lots of celebrities and poker pros will be there so if you are in town, check it out; I hear the room is very nice. 

It’s hard to believe, but McCain has taken the lead in the presidential race.  They rolled the dice when they chose Governor Palin to run for Vice President and they threw a seven because she really turned things around for the Republicans.  It’s hard not to be in McCain’s camp after listening to his life story.  He really is an American hero.  I’m not sure either presidential candidate is the right person to lead our country over the next few years.  I wish Hillary was still in the mix because that would mean Bill would be around and he proved he could lead us. 

I’ve been getting a lot of inquiries about Scotty’s behavior when he won the HORSE tournament at the WSOP.  I don’t really know what to say about it, except it was a very bad display of poker etiquette.  Scotty is a good friend of mine, and I can only excuse his behavior by saying he had too much to drink.  Who among us hasn’t at one time or another?  The tournament director should have stepped in, cut off the alcohol and given Scotty a one-time warning, followed by a severe penalty if the warning wasn’t observed.  Scotty is usually very gracious and obliging and a good ambassador for poker.  Let’s give him another chance! 

There is also a lot of buzz about John Phan taking too much time to act on his hand during tournament play.  I’ve played with John several times and I think he does take an excessive amount of time.  Players are always allowed to call the clock on a slow player, but most don’t like to do that.  I would like to see a turbo tournament where you have to act on your hand in 20 seconds or you get a penalty.  I can’t remember anyone calling the clock on me in my poker career.  I always decide quickly what I am going to do.  Can’t argue with success though, John Phan is having the best year of anyone. 

I’m still thinking about my trip to Asia.  Everyone says it is easier to go to Europe than Asia with the jet lag.  I’m leaving for London the 20th, so I’ll be able to tell you if that is true or not.  Macau is the most densely populated city in the world but I thought it would have been Hong Kong.  Lots of Chinese folks over there. 

I played in a charity tournament while I was in Macau.  There were a lot of Asian celebrities.  I sat next to Tila Tequila, a Vietnamese-American model from Houston, Texas.  She is famous for having 3.5 million friends on MySpace along with her modeling and singing career. 

The biggest bluff I ran while I was there was when I told her if I was 40 years younger I would kidnap her.  She replied, “Oh, I love older men.”  I had to fold and throw my hand away.

What a great feeling it must be to be 23 years old and on top of the world.  I had dinner last night with Michael Phelps, the 8 gold medal winner from the Olympics.  What a nice kid!  He had a bunch of his friends from home with him and they were the guests of the Palms Hotel and Casino.  I got a call that he was an avid poker fan and wanted to meet me, Todd, and Hoyt Corkins.  Jennifer Harman and her husband Marco were also there.  Todd and Big Mike, Joe Montana’s manager, eat all the time at the Nine Steakhouse at the Palms.  Chef Barry is a good friend of Todd’s and Mike’s and put out an elegant meal.  We had seafood, salad, steak, chicken, lamb and vegetables.  If you have never eaten there, you should try it.  

Phelps and some of his friends wanted books so I took Super System 1 and 2 to them and they asked all kinds of poker questions.  Michael said all he wanted to do in life, was to eat, swim and play poker.  We went up to his suite to hang out for a while.  His suite had a basketball court, swimming pool, workout room, multiple bedrooms and bathrooms.  It must have been 15-20 thousand square feet, the nicest one I’ve ever seen.  

After I had a few beers, I faded away at about 3 in the morning.  The party was going strong and I think Michael left two things off what he likes to do.  He should add girls and partying.  Why not?  He deserves to celebrate.  Imagine how hard he has to train to be the best swimmer in the world.  They invited me back for dinner tonight, but I’m going to pass.  Michael is trying to outdrink Todd and he is going to find out what defeat feels like.  I asked Michael’s agent if he would like to come to the opening of The Real Deal at the Venetian.  After I told him it would be in the middle of October, he said he would try to make it.  There’s going to be lots of celebrities along with the 10 pros at the opening.  I’m sure everyone will have a good time.

It looks like I’m going to have to go to the WSOP Europe after all.  There have been lots of things already set up for me and I really want to be there to promote DoylesRoom.  I think I’m supposed to play a heads up match with Annette Obrestad.  I know that she is a good player, but it will be embarrassing to lose to an 18 year old girl.  But if I do, I won’t have any excuse because I have almost completely recovered from the trip to Asia.  The human body is an amazing thing; I thought it would be weeks before I felt good again.

Daniel N. - “How do you like my game?”
Caddy - “Very good sir, but personally, I prefer golf.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-DB