PTP Q&A with Tony ‘Bond18′ Dunst

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If you’ve put any serious time in on the tournament circuit, live or online, Tony Dunst should be a familiar name. While he lacks the abrasive personality or massive takedowns of other players who have achieved something closer to household-name status, Tony has earned an enviably solid reputation as a great player, a great person and a heckuva snappy dresser among the tournament poker community. You can catch Tony over in the MTT community at 2+2 and also in his recent string of guest pro videos for online poker coaching service PokerSavvy+. We’d like to thanks Tony for taking a couple of minutes to answer our questions about the life of a young tourney pro.

PTP: Could you give our readers a quick summary of how you got involved in poker, and how you moved your way up the buy in ladder?

I was the school bookie in high school. Eventually that started drying up and I was looking for other methods of making money without actually having to work. Somehow my friends and I started playing poker one night, 5 card draw at first, though things eventually switched to hold’em. I did so well I didn’t have to get a job the rest of high school. That carried on to college where I started playing online more heavily. At first I played mostly all SNG’s online then transferred over to limit. In 2006 I made the move to tournaments and it just fit naturally. I made way more money there than I ever did playing limit. I got staked and just grinded up the bankroll and got coached to the point I felt comfortable in the highest tournaments. It was a fairly slow process, I was never a natural and it took a lot of trial and error. I posted a lot at 2+2 for further strategy input and have since taken to moderating there. Moving up the buy in ladder is as much about bankroll management as it is skill level.

PTP: You’re a pretty high-volume player. After so many tournaments, what is it about poker that keeps you interested and motivated?

Well the money first of all. I’m sure as hell not going out and getting a job again and I really prefer being my own boss. To be honest though, I really enjoy tournament poker. It’s a lot on most days so I have very little trouble staying motivated. It’s never felt like a job to me even though I put in 6-9 hours a day in front of a computer. Love your job and you’ll never put in a day of work in your life.

PTP: In addition to your online play, you also travel pretty extensively for live play. Is there something unique about live play that’s appealing to you, or are you just as interested in both mediums?

Basically I’m just interested in both. In live there is the potential for the big score, the fame, the sponsorship, and of course like most tournament players I wouldn’t mind getting a piece of all that. I’m not going to go so far as to scream and shout and act like a maniac in front of the camera but there’s certainly a level of thrill involved to playing on TV or playing for a 7 figure score. Live and online play are hard for different reasons. In live you have much longer hours in more uncomfortable surroundings at an agonizing pace with huge variance and you’re likely traveling. In exchange you get much, MUCH worse players playing for 100X the buy ins you play online. Online is tough because most of the players have a understanding of many poker concepts and you’re home alone in a room with no social interaction. I think finding a balance is healthy.

PTP: Speaking of live play, you’re arguably one of the best-dressed tournament players around. What’s the drive behind the perpetual suit-wearing?

So when people ask I can tell them “I’m all style and no results.” I don’t know really, maybe it was growing up watching Bond movies and seeing how smooth he looked in his suits hanging around the casino. People treat you differently when you wear a nice suit, you get more respect, more accommodation, I can appreciate that. Mostly though I’m just the self important suit wearing douchebag type.

PTP: You recently signed on to do some guest videos for PokerSavvy+. How did you hook up with those guys, and how did you feel about the process of making the video and the finished product?

My fellow 2+2 mod Justin ‘Jurollo’ Rollo is a pro with the site and asked me to join. I’d been keen to get involved somewhere and the series of articles I did for 2+2 and my blog got enough love from the community that I think people were interested in some degree to see how I play. When I make them I’m kind of nervous about doing something really spewy or awful that’s going to make me look like a moron, but making them also helps me to slow down and verbalize my thought process, so in the end I think it leads to less mistakes. Uploading them is annoying though, Christ that takes forever.

PTP: What’s your general thought on the impact that sites like PokerXFactor, PokerSavvy+, etc have had on the online poker tournament landscape?

They’ve made the games harder for sure. Still, there’s way more than enough donks to go around these days so I think anyone who complains about the educating needs to get the sand out of their vagina and stop bitching. It’s not like we weren’t all clueless donks looking for information once upon a time anyway.

PTP: What are your must-play online events at the moment? How about live?

I play basically the same schedule of tournaments online everyday. My absolute favorite though is the 109 30k 6 max on Full Tilt. That tournament couldn’t get any sexier if it was Jessica Alba. As far as live goes I’m planning an upcoming ‘Around the World in 90 Days’ poker trip which I’m hoping to get a site to sponsor and do video content with. The itinerary isn’t set in stone yet since the APPT schedule hasn’t been announced yet, but my tentative plans are Melbourne to Macau for APPT, then Macau to Venice for the Party Poker Million VI Mediterranean Cruise, then Venice to Paris for the Grand Prix de Paris, then Paris to Milwaukee since I haven’t seen my friends and family in a year, then Milwaukee to Vegas for 6 weeks of the World Series of Poker, then Vegas back to Melbourne for the Victorian Poker Championships. Pretty sure I’ll want to kill myself after all that.

PTP: If you could ban one word or phrase from the poker lexicon, what would it be?

‘Mini-raise’. It’s ‘min-raise’ people, mini sounds stupid.

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