Daniel: I've had a freaking cough since the Super Bowl that won't go away. But guess what? Christian, I just told him after we went golfing today, played 18, played a little match—then went to eat at the Mexican place. I had some food and a couple of red sangrias. Guess what? The cough feels fine right now. Alcohol is medicine for me.
Amanda: It's still going to come back.
Daniel: Forget about Delsym and Theraflu; just give me straight Scotch or tequila.
Amanda: You'll be fine. Are you playing poker tomorrow?
Daniel: When this airs, I'll be playing the mix games. Josh came with me—Christian, Josh, and Ed—we played a little match over at South Shore M. Fun little golf day. We won.
You know what's funny? Like we used to play—I was telling Christian—as a team we used to play matches for no joke $150,000 per hole! Oh my gosh! Where you could win or lose a million dollars in one afternoon—that's what we played. And remember when Christian first got hired, he was hired as my golf guy. First match we had, we're playing against Patrik Antonius and his partner playing $10,000 high-low—so it's $20,000 per hole, right? Christian's a scratch golfer; he shoots 72 normally. What did he shoot? 81! He shot 81 and thought he was fired because he had just started working with me. He's like, "Well..." I just said, "I just shot 81." Luckily old Dnegs—who was supposed to be mid-90s—I shot myself a mid-85 score myself.
When I met Christian—you know I was down like over $3 million playing golf! Because Phil Ivey and Doyle Brunson—but I got Chip Reese out of retirement! Chip Reese had no cartilage in his knee; he couldn't even turn! But he came out to golf and I was like the guy who was like "derp—Oh! I get five aside—three aside—derp derp derp! Okay! I'll take whatever you give me."
And Doyle Brunson—you'd love this because it's cute—but God rest his soul—this guy's like 80 at the time and we're out there golfing and he has a crutch and he's overweight and he's got a broken hip but he's out there golfing. So we play by Doyle's rules, right? Doyle got to play from the ladies' tees—and then on top of that he got teed up from anywhere! So he could tee if he was in the bunker or whatever because it's dangerous for him or whatever—yeah—and he would just dribble it up 170 yards—dribble it up—and two-putt par, every hole!
Amanda: How cool is that? He still came out there and did that!
Daniel: Yeah—he beat me for like—the first day I played with him—$550,000! I was losing all my money.
Then I get Christian—and if you don't golf—you wouldn't know this—but like when you're out there by yourself and you're not good—when your swing goes bad—you’re screwed. You're just dead—but when you have somebody there to correct you—they can be like—you need your grip—you know—you need to—you’re not getting through it—you know switch this—and then you can fix it.
The best golf gambler—the best gambler—in one way or another—is Phil Ivey because he does this with poker and golf. He will not make matches for 18 holes because usually people say okay we're going to do an 18-hole match—but he's like—I play by hole.
Okay yeah—he'll play like three holes—and if he's not playing great—and you are—he just quits! He's got so much discipline—so much discipline—to do that! Most people can't do that because they want to get even right? He does the same in poker—he'll go down and play—for 20 minutes—the wrong people are winning—he leaves! It's genius really—but nobody has the discipline.
The opposite friend I have is E-Dog.
Amanda: Isn't it bad to hit-and-run?
Daniel: Well that's the thing; he made the match that way—he never agreed to nine holes or eighteen holes.
He just said, “I’ll play till I play.” E-Dog liked to gamble, and he was a pushover with these killers who would squeeze every nickel. My favorite was Doyle Brunson and Phil Ivey because they were like The Old Couple. You had Doyle, the old white Texan, and then Phil, the New Jersey black kid. Listen, we’d show up at Shadow Creek sometimes at like 11:00 a.m. to play, right? And they’d be arguing over how many shots—four? Four and a half? It’s like a half-shot. So, we’d start at 11, and they’d bicker like brothers—you know, the kind that hate each other but love each other.
Now it’s like 3:30 or 4 p.m., and we realize we’re not going to play because they can’t agree. We wouldn’t—they just wouldn’t play.
You know, but E-Dog would do this:
E-dog: "I’ll give you four."
Doyle: "No, I need 5.
E-dog: “Nope, you only get four.”
He’d walk away for five minutes and come back saying, “Okay, you get five.”
Amanda: Yeah, because you’ve got to give Doyle what he wants.
Daniel: Why? How do you think Doyle Brunson got rich?
Amanda: You told me he was 80!
Daniel: Yeah, then—but he still had that killer instinct. I’ll tell you what—if Doyle was 50 and could play with an 80-year-old, guess what he’d do? He’d screw him for everything he could. Here’s the thing—nobody in that world has any room for “Oh, poor little 80-year-old.” He’s a killer! Yeah, he’s a killer—he’s been killing his whole life. He would kill you at the first drop—and when I say kill, I don’t mean murder; I just mean take your money.
You know—his last tweets to me before he passed away was about murdering me.
Amanda: Yeah—and he said something about how to get rid of Daniel. Yeah! “Put a hit out on you,” he said! “Put a hit out on you!”
Daniel: He always liked you. He told some great stories, man. If you’re interested in any of those gambling stories and stuff, read any of Doyle’s old books. He talks about Tony Spilotro—the real guy in the movie Casino, Joe Pesci—that real badass. Yeah! Like Doyle knew him; they golfed together and stuff like that. That guy was dangerous—you know—like, I don’t know what diagnosis he’d have today or whatever disorder—but he was like a psychotic sociopath or something. I don’t know!
Daniel: Speaking of stories—let’s get a little update on your IVF now. It’s your hour now—it’s your turn because you’re done—you don’t have any more jabs. What’s the latest on the IVF?
Amanda: I mean—I guess we’ve told everybody this far—we might as well keep going.
Usually this is kind of where people stop talking about it until something happens. Who cares what people do? Well—I know—I’m just saying for us—not for them—for us because this is the part where it can go either way.
So on Thursday, our surrogate gets the embryo transfer. She got a good-looking uterus—they said it looks beautiful—clean—perfectly clean. I don’t know what clean means but it’s the lining—it means the lining of her uterus is the perfect thickness.
Daniel: So she got a good thick uterus!
Amanda: What they do is they give progesterone until your uterine lining is the perfect thickness—like 12 millimeters—and then that’s the only way they’ll go through with it if it’s perfect. But medications make it that way.
Yeah! So like when someone gets pregnant on their own—we don’t know what’s going on with their uterine lining—that’s why a lot of people miscarry because it’s not perfect—but with surrogacy they try to make it the perfect environment—and it still sometimes doesn’t work out.
So on Thursday—I’ll go—you’ll be playing—but I’ll go.
Daniel: But I’m not going to be the guy who sits there while her legs are up and I’m—you know—looking at that stuff.
Amanda: There’s an ultrasound screen and you can see it going in and being placed inside of her—and then they’ll say success or not.
Okay—and then? Ten days—in ten days we’ll know if the pregnancy took and whether we’re on track for late this year having a little baby!
March 8th—we’ll know if the pregnancy test is positive.
Daniel: Many years ago, before it was part of the GPI, they used to do poker awards big time. They did them in L.A. You’d have celebrities; it was a big banquet hall. At these award shows, you’d have Doyle Brunson, Chip Reese, Phil Ivey, Johnny Chan, Phil Hellmuth, you had all the pros. Everybody showed up. It was this big festival, and I feel like it meant something.
It was really, really cool. Then it felt like it jumped the shark. For younger people who might not know what that term means—Happy Days. You remember the show Happy Days? That was a cool show with Arthur Fonzarelli played by Henry Winkler. A few seasons in, there was an episode where he goes on a waterboarding thing and jumps over a shark. That’s where the term comes from—when people were like, “Okay, this show’s gotten stupid.” So now people say that all the time—it jumped the shark.
Anyway, I was talking to them, and nobody showed up—not even players.
Amanda: Oh yeah—I watched a little because I wanted to see Platt.
Daniel: You showed me some of those clips. Here’s the thing—I thought Platt was great.
I don’t know who was in the room; I’m not saying anybody—but there were some real pussies in there because they didn’t laugh at some of his zingers.
Amanda: Do you have a vote in that stuff?
Daniel: I get to vote—but here’s what I do: Okay—I don’t...here’s what I think ends up happening: I don’t know who gets to vote—I don’t know all the people who do get to vote—but I don’t buy for a second that people vote on things where they actually know the right answer or have a real opinion. Here’s the thing—when it’s like Streamer of the Year? Oh—I don’t watch any streams! So if I were to vote for Streamer of the Year—what am I voting for? The person I like the most—not actually watching all their content. I don’t watch other people’s vlogs either—so on categories where I don’t actually have an opinion—like “What’s the best mid-major tournament?”—I don’t know!
Amanda: You don’t have to vote on everything?
Daniel: No—you shouldn’t actually—but people do anyway—and that’s what ends up happening—you just end up voting for the people you like.
Amanda: I’m going to be honest—I knew almost nobody who won this year! Yeah—I was like “Who’s that? Who’s this? Who’s that?”
Daniel: Yes, when he introduced the nominees, he said:
– "Time now to present Best Vlogger. This seems tough—you have to edit—you’ve got to do the stupid thumbnail thing—you have to do voiceovers—and if you invest too much money in it—like Daniel—you don’t win because so many voters are European! I don’t know...here are the nominees for Best Vlogger."
They offered me the Icon of the Year—like Icon of the Poker World, but I turned it down.
Amanda: You are an icon!
Daniel: But I turned it down because, number one, I’m 50. I literally said, “Give it to Phil.” You know, Phil Hellmuth—he’s 60, he’s older. I’m like, “I’m too young.”
Amanda: But you feel like it’s just not your time yet?
Daniel: Someone before me should get it. Do I think I’m an icon of poker? Yeah, I know I am. Okay, duh—that’s not me bragging; that’s just the way it is. But it’s like...I don’t know—Erik Seidel? Phil Hellmuth?
Amanda: Shouldn’t there be some sort of qualifications? Like you’re an icon and somebody they want to honor?
Daniel: Well, because remember we were talking to Jeff and Brent about this? And Jeff was like, “No, I think that you should be the icon because they give LeBron James things. In their industry, if you’re deserving, sometimes it doesn’t matter about your age.”
The people who’ve gotten it already—they’re all like Johnny Chan, Mike Matusow, Mori Eskandani—people who’ve been around for a long time. And I just felt like...
Amanda: You deserve it.
Daniel: Thank you, babe—I appreciate that. You do! But yeah—I mean, it used to be really fun.
I remember—okay—I’m going to tell this story because you don’t drink anymore. But when we just got back together, they had the award show—the last one we went to. Yeah—it was a mess! Platt was there; Hanks was there; and you were on one. You were in manic mode—you were drinking—and you were on fire!
And I remember somebody’s girlfriend—because I was in the other room chatting with people—they’re like, “You need to grab Amanda.” And I’m like, “What? What’s she doing?” And you were dancing on Platt!
Amanda: No—it was Brent! It was Brent! I was sitting on Brent’s knee and he was pretending like he was a horse—and I was pretending like I was riding a horse on him! She thought you were banging his knee or something!
Daniel: But I swear one of the girlfriends—I’m not going to name her because whatever—but she made a big drama thing out of it. She grabbed me from the other room and was like, “You need to come!”
Amanda: We were pretending he was a horse and I was jumping—it was dumb! But it wasn’t sexual at all.
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