Doyle Brunson Is Still Alive

But Is the Dot-Com Ban?

Not in the tournament, I don\’t think … but I did just see him hobble by (distinguishedly) in apparent defeat.

Speaking of Doyle, I\’ve also noticed Arizona player Mike Wattel decked out in Doyle\’s Room gear — a DR.net wide-brimmed golf hat and heavily washed DR.com golf shirt. Congrats to Wattel for whatever deal he\’s worked out. Am guessing it\’s no coincidence that he has been logo\’ed up by the same room as his ex-girlfriend Cyndy Violette.

(Syntax dilemma of the day: Does Cyndy Violette support Doyle\’s Room, or does Doyle\’s Room support Cyndy?)

Am also noticing a lot more dot-commage all over the place this year. From my perch in the pressbox, right in front of me I see some Euro journo wearing a big PokerStars.com splay on the back of his T-shirt … and several other players in the second-chance tourney right in front of me wearing all sorts of FullTiltPoker.com swag.

Not sure yet what this means … either it\’s irrelevant because there\’re no TV cams around, or in general The Empire* is lightening up over the terrorist threat dot-coms present?