What You Can Learn from Doyle

If any of you watched the latest ESPN broadcast of the 2006 WSOP, you would have seen a classic confrontation between two poker legends, Doyle Brunson and Chip Reese. As it happened they were both at the final table of the $50K HORSE event, playing NL Hold Em. The confrontation in question came about when Doyle held QQ and Chip had KK. There was some fairly standard raising back-and-forth preflop, but after the flop came a bunch of low garbage, Chip re-raised Doyle, and Doyle barely hesitated before mucking his QQ.

The amazing part of this story—in my mind anyway—came afterwards. There’s no denying that Doyle made a great laydown here. Many of us, in fact, may have thought that our QQ was the best hand and pushed all in. Fortunately for Doyle he had the wisdom and experience to decide not to risk his tournament life on a hand that could have been easily dominated by AA or KK, or possibly been out-drawn even if all Chip had was AK. Of course it didn’t hurt that Doyle has played with Chip for decades and probably has a very accurate read on him. All this aside, what impressed me the most was what came afterwards.

The amazing part of this story—in my mind anyway—came afterwards. There’s no denying that Doyle made a great laydown here. Many of us, in fact, may have thought that our QQ was the best hand and pushed all in. Fortunately for Doyle he had the wisdom and experience to decide not to risk his tournament life on a hand that could have been easily dominated by AA or KK, or possibly been out-drawn even if all Chip had was AK. Of course it didn’t hurt that Doyle has played with Chip for decades and probably has a very accurate read on him. All this aside, what impressed me the most was what came afterwards.

As Doyle tossed his QQ into the muck—the same hand that many of us might have been pushing all in with—one of the queens flipped up and was exposed to the table. Several of the players asked what it was and Full Tilt Poker’s own Andy Bloch told them that it was a queen. When asked what the other card was, Andy replied that it wasn’t exposed but was probably an ace, because nobody would lay down QQ there. T.J. Cloutier was sitting next to Andy and mentioned that if Doyle thought his QQ was beat he would indeed lay it down. The fact remains that Andy, like most of us, thought that Doyle would not have laid down QQ with a 7-high garbage flop on the board. Meanwhile, throughout all of this Doyle was sitting across the table and never said a word. He never even acknowledged Andy’s statement with a wry grin or a smug inward smile. Looking at his expression, you might have thought that he didn’t even hear Andy’s comment, or maybe he was thinking about what he ate for dinner last night, who knows.

There’s a couple points to be learned from this. Despite poker’s success on Full Tilt Poker and other internet sites, it is still a game played live and in the spotlight on television, and there is a certain manner to carry oneself that is exemplified by the older legends such as Doyle and Chip. I cringe every time I see a player jump up and down and pump their fist and whoop and holler when they win a pot, or worse yet berate their opponents for their play. This seems to happen most often on the internet where we are sheltered behind the anonymity of our computers. Before you start berating that donkey for hitting his 2-outer on the river, remember the saying “don’t tap the glass!” You want those fish out there making those calls, because in the long run you will win money off of them. Yelling at them will only scare them off or worse, make them learn from their mistakes and become a better player. Be nice to the fish, and they will happily give you their money. Remember Doyle, and how he was so calm and collected that even when Andy said “NOBODY would lay down QQ there” he didn’t rise to the bait. For him, perhaps it was better to have Andy think that perhaps he was not disciplined enough to throw down QQ in that situation, after all, he still intended to take all of Andy’s chips. (Editor’s note: Andy finished 2nd in this event to Chip Reese.)

The other lesson to be learned here is that there is rarely, if ever, a reason in poker to give your opponents extra information. A lot of people like to show certain cards, maybe thinking that showing bluffs will get their opponents to tilt, or maybe thinking that if they always show their good hands people will fold to their bluffs. Meanwhile, all your opponents are doing is gathering information on you, and as it happens Full Tilt Poker has an excellent note-taking system. Their notes might be as specific as “this player tends to raise 4x preflop with JJ or QQ but check-raise with AK or AQ.” Whatever clever strategy you think you are employing, there is rarely a reason to show your cards to your opponents. It is often satisfying and fun to show your opponents when you hit quads or a royal flush, and everyone is usually happy to congratulate you, but when you show your quad sixes, beware of the careful opponent who has now made a note that you raised 5x the BB with 66. It may come back to haunt you.