DOYLISM OF THE DAY: "The best way to get the last word is to apologize."

DOYLISM OF THE DAY: "The best way to get the last word is to apologize."

"Round and round it goes, where it stops, nobody knows." The roulette dealer says these words when he spins the wheel and ball. It reminds me of the way my life is going right now. I went to the cash game last night, dropped another $137K and can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. It seems like I'm playing well and I think about all the hands after I leave the game. In the tournaments, I go completely card dead after a few hours. I have to believe Lady Luck just isn't smiling on me right now. Any poker player knows this feeling and I think you have to play your way out of it.

Another thing that is bothering me is my son Todd, and I are in the middle of a very unpleasant disagreement. He is so stubborn and hard-headed (I wonder where he gets it from) it looks like I'll have to bite the bullet and go talk to him. I hope our argument hasn't affected his playing, but I have always said you have to get your personal life in order if you are going to play your best poker.

A group of the older poker players have been talking about what poker players, dead or alive, have been the most abusive to dealers. So I thought it would be interesting to list them; one each blog.

My all-time #1 is Stu Ungar. He was so explosive and could erupt at any second. He always took his frustrations out on the dealers, never the players. He called them names I have never heard and the gender didn't matter. I remember once in Lake Tahoe where he spit on a card, told the dealer, "I'm out, take my cards." To the dealer's credit, he told Stuey, "Pal, I ain't touching that card." At the Golden Nugget I saw him curse a woman dealer until she called the floor person over, took her badge off and said, "I quit." Then she turned to Stu and said, "You S.O.B. come outside and I'm going to kick your ass." Needless to say, Stu declined.

He was such a fun guy away from gambling with such a great sense of humor, I always wondered why he would go on those tantrums.
Next blog…#2
-DB