Doyle Brunson Exclusive Interview
by
Tony
on Today at 05:51 PM
Poker Affiliate Solutions' Tony Guerrero begin_of_the_skype_highlighting*****end_ of_the_sky pe_highlighting had the pleasure to sit down with poker legend, Doyle Brunson, to chat about many issues on the minds of players and affiliates. In the interview, Doyle spoke at length about a variety of topics including the recent move to Yatahay, player cashout issues and the current online poker legal situation. He also reveals who he had on the Super Bowl and his plans for WSOP Europe.
Linked below is the audio of the interview. Hope you enjoy!
Tony Guerrero from PAS: Doyle, thank you for doing this interview with us. First off, you are known as a pretty decent sports bettor. Who did you have in the Super Bowl last weekend?
Doyle Brunson: I had Green Bay, thank goodness. I had a bet that I made earlier in the year. I had three teams to win the Super Bowl for $100,000. I had New England, Indianapolis, and New Orleans, (laughs) and my opponent had the New York Jets, the New York Giants and the Pittsburg (Steelers). And so obviously, all my three teams got knocked out and so he had a freeroll at me. If Pittsburg had beat Green Bay I would have lost $100,000 and I couldn’t win anything. But, fortunately, I survived and I made a smaller bet on Green Bay just to have a little incentive in case they did win that I would get to collect something. (laughs)
"If Pittsburg had beat Green Bay I would have lost $100,000 and I couldn’t win anything."
PAS: Did you do any prop bets on the Super Bowl?
Doyle Brunson: You know, I didn’t. I started to make some prop bets and I got so confused with them I just canceled all of them.
PAS: (laughs) That’s usually what happens to me too. We’ve noticed that you’re really involved in Twitter right now. You have over 350,000 followers. What do you like least and most about Twitter?
Doyle Brunson: Well, I like that fact that you can do it any time. You can do it any time from anywhere. You can do it on your phone, or from your computer when you are sitting at your desk. And it’s real convenient; it’s entertaining. So, I think that’s what I like the most, plus, you get to interact with a lot people that you don’t know, that know you. And you get a lot of questions...and it’s just interesting. The thing I like least is that you can only use 140 letters when you tweet.
PAS: Yeah, makes it challenging, doesn't it?
Doyle Brunson: Yeah. I usually have to rewrite everything I say because I’ve gone over the limit. (laughs)
PAS: That’s great. Do you play much online poker these days?
Doyle Brunson: I play at Doyles Room every day when I can. I play for an hour or so each day. I do actually kind of get bored with online gaming, online poker playing. I much rather play live. But I do, I try to play an hour or two every day.
PAS: A lot of people are wondering if you could shed any light on the reason why Doyles Room left the Cake Poker Network?
Doyle Brunson: Well, obviously we had some major disagreements with the Cake management and we couldn’t resolve them. And we wanted to have better communication with our players where we could put in our loyalty program and give back to the players. When you are on a network, the network has rules, and they wouldn’t let you violate their rules, you know. Consequently, we had a lot of problems over that, and we wanted to be able to have our own software and be able to do what we wanted to do: to give back to the players. I think that later on you will see that we probably will give back to the players more than any other site. Right now the software is in beta testing, and it’s not real sharp yet, but we just hope that people will put up with us for a few months until we get the software bugs out, and I think then we will really have a site that people will want to play on.
PAS: So it’s safe to say that you guys felt like you needed more control over the VIP programs and basically more control over your database of players and what you can do with the software?
Doyle Brunson: Right. We didn’t want somebody telling us what we could and couldn’t do, and while I do understand Cake’s position, it didn’t suit us because we want to be able to control our own destiny. We want to be able to make our players happy…And a few other issues that we couldn’t come to terms with. So we decided to leave and go with Yatahay, or whatever you call it.
"And I’ll just guarantee that anybody that has any problems, that they will be able to get their funds out of Doyles Room"
PAS: We’ve had a few players ourselves and have seen some threads on 2+2 and other poker forums from players complaining about not being able to get their funds off Doyles Room. What can you say to reassure these players who are worried about their deposits?
Doyle Brunson: Well that had to be while we were still with the Cake Network, and Cake controlled the payouts. And that’s another reason that we left. They were very slow with it, and I think that any of the players now will have no trouble cashing out. We’re very secure financially, and I’ll just guarantee that anybody that has any problems, that they will be able to get their funds out of Doyles Room, any time they want to. Of course, sometimes it’s getting harder to get them out, but the funds are safe at Doyles Room.
PAS: Ok, that’s good to hear. Now, Doyle, why do you feel players should continue to play at Doyles Room after the move to the new network instead of going to another room or network?
Doyle Brunson: Well, I think that some players like the smaller rooms because they get to build a rapport with the other players. They get to know a lot of players on the network, whereas at the bigger sites, it’s very impersonal. They usually don’t know who they are playing with and so forth, and a lot of players like that. I think, I think they should continue to play with us because in the long run that we are going to give back to the players more than any other site does. And I think for that reason, I think they should come play with us. Plus, I think that we probably have a lot of softer players because a lot of them are sportsbook players; they’re not poker players. But they come to that site, and I think that the real poker players will do very well on our site.
"if there is some question about what I think would be best for the site, well, the management they call me"
PAS: Sure. Yeah, that’s been my experience at Doyles Room, the player pool is a lot softer than other rooms because of the sports bettors. Now many players are curious of your specific role at Doyles Room. Do you see yourself as a sponsored pro that’s common at many other sites or move or a “mover and shaker” decision maker with the room.
Doyle Brunson: Yeah, well, I give my input to the decisions, usually. Not the day-to-day management because I’m not involved in that. But if there is some question about what I think would be best for the site, well, the management they call me and I give them my opinion. So, I don’t know if that answers your question or not, but that’s the position that I am in.
PAS: Sure, so you’re more of a consultant as far as when they have questions about game play or stuff where they come to you and run it by you first?
Doyle Brunson: Right. Yeah. If they think it’s some kind of important change or something they usually ask my opinion.
PAS: Ok, what do you like most about the new Yatahay Network?
Doyle Brunson: I just like the idea that we are in control. We have a 3D (software) that I think is pretty unusual that I think maybe that the recreational player will like. It’s kind of an animated avatars and I didn’t think I would like it, but since I’ve been playing on it I do kind of like it. And it’s a little bit slow but the software people are working on it to speed it up. I think if they get it speeded up and make a few changes, I think most of the public will like it. I think the recreational players will like it more than maybe the pros, that are, you know, the grinders that are trying to make a living playing online poker. I think it might be a little bit too slow for them. But I think just the ordinary recreational player that wants to come on and play for an hour or two: I think they will like it... I was surprised, but I kind of like it myself.
"We’re planning on having a cash game on a national network"
PAS: Doyle, are there any new exciting features or news in the pipeline for the new site on Yatahay?
Doyle Brunson: Well, that’s, that is the thing that we are working on. There’s a lot of different flaws with the software right now that we are trying to correct. It wasn’t a major site, you know, like we’re trying to make it where we are having to make a lot of adjustments and a lot of changes, and it’s going to take a little while to get all this done. I’m just hoping that the players will bare with us and stay with us to help us get through this to where we get the site and the software to where we want it. We’ve got some big plans for the future. We’re planning on having a cash game on a national network, and I think that will bring a load of recreational players to our site, and again, I think that our site is going to be more for the recreational player than the pro players. Of course, the pro players they will follow the weaker players to play with them. I’m sure we will get our share of them, but I think it’s mostly we’re going after the guy that wants to come down and play an hour or two and enjoy it, like going to a movie or something for entertainment.
PAS:So you guys are in talks with doing a cash game on TV, you said?
Doyle Brunson: Yeah, we’re in talks. In fact, we can do it, but we want to wait till our site and software gets in better shape, and the bugs get out of it and new features added and so forth before we do it because we don’t want people to come and leave because our site is not up to the other major sites, which it’s not yet. So, you know, that’s the reason we are waiting. We’re trying to get through this beta testing and everything. Then hopefully we will have a pleasant experience for the poker players.
PAS: Ok. Doyle, as a high profile face of an online poker site, do you ever feel any pressure from US authorities?
Doyle Brunson: Uh, no, I don’t. You know, I’ve been kind of a high profile gambler for 50 something years and I know that the US authorities, they know everything there is to know about me, and, you know, it’s a grey area whether this is legal or not. But obviously, it’s not illegal and it’s not legal. I’ve never seen anything (laughs) quite comparable to the online poker (situation). It’s obviously not illegal or they would have stopped it. On the other hand, they say it’s not legal because there is no law that says that it is except the law that they put through in the Port Security Bill, back in (2006). So it’s kind of a messed up thing. But as far as me feeling any pressure about it: No, I don’t. I’m used to pressure to start with. (laughs) I just don’t see that we’re doing anything wrong, and until they prove that we are, well, I’ll face that when we come to it. But at this point, I don’t feel any pressure.
PAS: It’s quite odd. There aren’t really any other industries in the world that generate billions of dollars a year that are sitting in a grey area like online gaming is right now -- especially in the US. It’s very odd to me. Following up on that, do you think that online poker will be regulated in the US on a federal level in the next year to 18 months?
Doyle Brunson: I don’t know if it will be that soon or not, but I think it’s got to come because the states are going to legalize it one by one. So why wouldn’t the federal government want to come in and regulate it and tax it? It’s a mystery to me why they haven’t already. But I guess that’s politics, and I don’t know really what the answer is, but I think for sure that it will be regulated at some point. I just don’t know when. I think it may be a little bit longer than a year, but I think it’s coming.
PAS: Finally, I just have to ask, there’s been a lot of hype about the high stakes cash games in Maccau over the last couple months. Do you plan on partaking in any of that action in the near future?
Doyle Brunson: The gentlemen that runs the game came to Vegas and I met him. And he said that I would be welcome if I wanted to come play. But then on the other hand, I hear of players that go over there and can’t get in the game, and that’s a long ways to go and know you’re not going to have a seat. I went to Maccau one time thinking I was going to play in a big cash game. They told me what a big game it was, and I wired a lot of money over there to play in it, and I got over there and it was the equivalent of a 30/60 game in US dollars. But they were playing with Hong Kong dollars and made it sound like it was a lot more money. I think it was 7 to 1 or something in Hong Kong dollars. So...I don’t know. Of course, I would like to go play, but I want to be assured that I’d get to play if I go.
PAS: Sure. Well, Doyle thanks for doing this interview. I really appreciate it as a poker player and fellow Texan. It’s an honor to speak with you and wish you the best of luck this year and at the World Series in 2011.
Doyle Brunson: Well thank you. I appreciate that and I saw an exciting bit of news at the World Series of Poker Europe had been moved to France next year. I think “boy, what a great move that is.” I personally wasn’t going to go back to London. I didn’t go last year, but I will go to France. So I think that was a great move they made. I’ve been recommending to them that they do that ever since they started it. I said “move it around Europe and you'll get a lot more people.” So I think they will find that’s true... Anyway, thank you guys. I enjoyed it.
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