Why Doyle Is The Best

I guess I am part of the young wave of Internet poker players who have been successful. Being one of these players, I get asked by many who I think is the best, am I better at poker than a player like Doyle, etc. I like to offer my opinions and am generally pretty passionate about what I believe in.

The thing that bugs me the most is when some of the cocky younger generation say things like “xyz online poker player is wayyyy better than Doyle Brunson. ZOMG didn’t you see Doyle make that bad lay down (or bad call etc) on (insert TV show here)?” Guys, anyone who is picking on Doyle Brunson because he maybe made a bad play or two against one of your Internet heroes, well WAKE UP!! Doyle is the man. Doyle is one of the pioneers of what helped create poker into what it is today. He is one of the guys who invented the plays out of thin air that we all use today. Doyle is one of the most successful gamblers in history and in my opinion, the standard with which poker players should be measured by today.

What I just don’t understand is why people would want to A. Pick on a man who has cut up more games than just about anyone alive B. why someone who is in their 70s should be expected to keep up with the young generation who have the advantage of every conceivable training tool and can see more hands of poker in a year than Doyle has seen in his life and C. Do you really want to sit in a seat directly across a man who has the stones to shove you all in for every cent you have and will ever earn in your life? Personally, I want no part of him unless it is to play for a smaller game where I could add a feather in my cap and be able to say I sat with the best.

Doyle is not just a specialist in one game like most of the online poker players either. He can cut you up at just about any poker game you can dream up. I’m sure the guy has sat in a game with at least a million dollars at the table in about 762,000 different forms of poker. In all of those games he has done very well and not only has he done well, he’s done it forever. The greats stand the test of time and Doyle should make no apologies for not pouring over spreadsheets and complex equations like most of the top online players do deep into his 70s when he has already done everything you can do in poker. Give the guy a break kids! While I am not saying I am a huge Phil Hellmuth fan (I’ve never met him so I really can’t say whether he is a great guy or not) there is a lot of merit to what he says when he tells some of the younger players “We’ll just see if you’re around in 5 years.” The greats last, but along the way there will be a jillion up and comers that people will oooh and ahhh over who will quickly disappear.

Like in any sport, the game is always evolving. Poker (although I don’t consider it a sport) evolves consistently as well. Comparing different generations is always a dicey proposition at best no matter what game we are talking about, and since the invention of online poker, poker is evolving almost daily. I would say the rate of evolution with poker is about as high as any sport.

As I write this I am reminded of a quote by golfing legend Ben Hogan who was once asked if he thought the golfers of today were better than the golfers from his generation. Ben said, “Well, I would sure hope so.” Ben later explained that he had to dig his swing “out of the ground” and didn’t have launch monitors, scientists studying every move in the golf swing as they do today, better equipment, access to instruction, sports psychologists and the list goes on and on. Hogan dug it our of the ground and so did Doyle. For that, my hat goes off to him.