Texas Hold 'em icon gambles on Web site
Imagine playing poker against a guy who combines Michael Jordan's talent, Roger Clemens' competitive streak and Mario Lemieux's sixth sense. Now imagine sitting down across the table from this man with hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line in a poker game.
Yes, you would be quaking in your imitation snakeskin boots.
Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson is one of the best to play the game of poker. One of two men to win 10 World Series of Poker bracelets, he's the author of "Doyle Brunson's Super System: A Course in Power Poker," arguably one of the most instructive books ever to be written about the game.
Now, he's on the tip of another trend. Brunson, 72, who began playing with the Texas Rounders, a traveling band of gamblers who crossed the Lone Star state in the 1950s and 1960s, is out promoting his Web site. Doylesroom.com was launched in August 2004 and offers poker aficionados the opportunity to play a variety of games, for play or real money. Lucky visitors even have a shot at playing with Brunson, his son Todd and other noted pokers stars including Mike Caro and Dewey Tomko.
This week Brunson talked with the Trib p.m. -- after missing an earlier scheduled chat because of a mix-up ... and a poker game. He begins by apologizing like the Texas gentleman he is, but it's not necessary; you have to respect a guy who has his priorities in order.
Question: Do you play differently online than you do in person?
Answer: There are the same fundamental principles, but obviously it's a different thing because you can't see your opponent.
Q: Does that take away from the enjoyment?
A: Yes, it does. You have to play differently because players as a rule aren't sophisticated enough to understand any advance play, so you just have to play basic, good solid poker.
Q: How often do you play online?
A: If I'm at home sitting around, I play three or four times a day, about 30 minutes each time. I'm so busy that a lot of days I don't get to play at all.
Q: Did you envision that poker on the Internet would take off the way it has?
A: Of course not. Nobody ever dreamed that poker would become the craze that it is. It's just incredible to me that I'm just a poker player and I go through airports and people from all walks of life, from every state, they come up to me and they know me. It really amazes me, because I'm not doing anything different than I've done for 50 years, and then all of a sudden everybody knows me. They've read a lot of my books, but it's still amazing.
Q: Do you attribute the increased popularity in poker to television and coverage of the World Poker Tourâ¢
A: I think the main thing is when they got the hole-card cameras where viewers could see what players have; I think that's what created all the interest. Once people started watching it, they found out what a great game poker really is.
But even the tournaments, though, they don't have the true poker games. It's just different when you're playing for real money, a lot of money, as opposed to a tournament where you can only lose your original buy-in.
Q: Do you miss the old days at all, those times in Texas where you sometimes risked life and limb in high-stakes games?
A: I do miss it, yes. It was exciting, adventuresome and it was dangerous back in those days, but it was a lot of fun.
Q: Do people still want to sit down at a table and try to take your money, especially now that you're famous?
A: It used to happen in the old days, but we play so high now it doesn't happen that often. The games that I play in, it takes $300,000 or $400,000 just to play in the game. Most people just can't afford that. I personally wish they would lower it down a little bit so more people could play with us. The games that I play in are very tough, so it takes very good people to play. Consequently, the games aren't as soft as they could be.
Q: In other interviews, you've talked about how good poker players have a sixth sense -- that they sense what their opponents have in their hands, that they know when to go all in, or fold. Is this a quality that can be developed?
A: I think you can develop, but I think it's also some kind of innate ability you have to start with. But you can refine it simply by being observant. I think that's more of what it is. Also, it's recall, which is the most important thing for a poker player to have. I think that can be confused with having a sixth sense, because you remember back years ago hands that you played against different people. You remember the outcome and what happened, and I think that's probably what I refer to as a sixth sense.
