He was the GOAT for decades in poker....no small feat, believe me. He was a force of nature, feared and respected by all. He played the backroom games, the bar games, the alley games...right up to absolutely pwning Vegas casinos....while at the same time going broke a couple of times, then a multimillionaire, then broke again. He had no fear.
His was the first poker book I ever read. When I first started playing, I emulated his playstyle, and had some success in big tournaments online and IRL. His playstyle was, in a nutshell, that you play the chips, not the cards...make aggressive moves into small pots to win a bunch of little pots that add up over time, exploiting your opponents' insecurities. I was never really comfortable with it, though. Eventually, I developed my own style, which is almost the opposite, but certain principles of his are universally applicable.
I remember in his book, he posed the question....would you bet everything you own, literally lose everything, on the flip of a coin, if you got double that if you win?
His answer was "Yes". You are getting 2 to 1 on a 50/50 proposition. I don't know that I have the stones for that if it really came along, but he literally did.
The man was a genius, and more than that, a really, really great guy. He was a mean, agressive, ruthless SOB at the poker table, but away from the table, he was just a big teddy bear. Really likeable, always had a smile, wasn't full of shit, just as honest and friendly as could be.
This man, more than any other, was universally loved and respected by ALL the modern pros. In his older years, his game slipped a little, and the modern game has changed from his heyday....but he still could hang in there at a pro level to the very end.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSl7uhbinbk
With Great Love and Respect, RIP Doyle!
www.biography.com
