An Interview with Tony G

 

TourneyBlog : Tony G; pro poker player, online poker businessman, uniquely individual poker personality- thank you for granting TourneyBlog this interview! You are known around the globe as “Tony G”, not “Tony Guoga”, your real name. Even this interview will be titled “An Interview with Tony G”- does that ever bother you?

Tony G: That is totally cool – I got that name in Australia when I was on the waiting lists at the Crown Casino.

TB: You have developed quite the reputation as an antagonist at the poker table. As you point out on your website, www.tonygpoker.com, the WPT labels you a “Smack Talker”- although on air they call you “the Australian Windbag.” You have been known to verbally get in the face of more than a few poker players- how much of that is just instinct, and how much of it is a plan to rattle the cages of your opponents?

Tony G: There are no plans to rattle anyone, but when things get heated I try to get people off-balance. I don’t mind letting them know how they played a hand or what I think about their poker skill. I will also make sure everyone knows that I am winning pots and playing great poker when this is happening. It sure does give me a good edge - the important thing is to have every player worrying about me.

TB: Being one of the poker pros most well known for what could be considered bad behavior, I had a chuckle reading the FAQ on your site, where the first entry was “Q: Does TonyGPoker have a code of conduct? A:
Yes. All players are expected to behave as good poker citizens and treat all others with respect.” Did you decide this entry was needed because players would come to your site and assume they needed to act up?

Tony G: It’s a totally different game online and you can’t compare my behaviour on TV  to pressure situations in cash games. I too would not have the energy to act up during, say a 20-40 NL game.  When you make a big final table it’s a whole new ball game.

TB: Did you feel any sense of poetic justice when you won the WPT Bad Boys of Poker this year?

Tony G:  I played the best poker on the day and I did the most talking so yes it was poetic justice. I had the reputation of being a bad boy but on the day I also proved to be the baddest of them all.

TB: So…speaking of the Bad Boys of Poker episode…kimono? Was that an “I’m so bad I can wear a kimono and still whup the table” statement?

Tony G:  The kimono was special to me. I get to spend time in Japan and love the culture - it’s a very expensive piece of clothing and cost me over $10,000. It feels nice to wear and gives me a good sense of being like a warrior.

TB: Another WPT event that sticks in the mind is the
2004 Grand Prix de Paris, where you took second behind Surinder Sunar. His iron grip on his emotions- at least visibly- to your attempts to unsettle him turned the heads up portion of the show into quite the drama.
Was he cool after the show, or did he completely come unhinged after the cameras turned off, perhaps come after you with a table leg? I think I would need therapy if you put me through my paces like that…

Tony G:  He is a black belt in karate! But after the game he was very happy and he totally deserved the win. We have no bad feelings at all, and actually had dinner at this year’s WPT in Paris. He took my heat and punishment and the blows, but he showed to all that he was the best poker player on the day.

TB: Was there any special thrill in controlling that big red plaque? What was that worth, 200,000 euros?

Tony G:  Yes it’s about 200,000 Euros of value but there was only one in play in the whole tourney and I had my eyes set on it. When I got it, it felt like a big win and the fact that he bluffed it off to me - the fact that I made him bluff and outplayed him in that hand made the plaque a very, very special gift to me at that time of the game.

TB: Do you ever worry that you come off as the villain after a TV appearance?

Tony G:  I don’t worry how I behave on the poker circuit – there are far more important things than what people think of you. I have fans, I have haters, I respect them all and hope that everyone finds some entertainment value from watching me on TV.

 

TB: Your website seems very well put together, with a theme that calls up suggestions of history, military victory, and pride (shields, bombs, and eagles)- how involved were you in the look and feel of your site?

Tony G:  A designer that has worked for me for a long time put it all together. Some are my ideas but all the credit goes to Eddy the design man.

TB: You have been involved in online poker for a few years now, culminating in your own poker room. How much do the new changes in US poker legislation affect you, and how do you see it affecting the poker industry long term?

Tony G:  The new law will most likely cripple online poker in the US. The government has made a point that they don’t want their citizens wasting their money playing poker and it’s a gradual step of a more controlling government in the US. No poker player that endorses a room now can ever feel safe.

TB: Tony, you are definitely entertaining to watch and follow, both for your lethal poker skills and your behavior at the table which, while often brash and confrontational, is equal parts humorous. Thanks so much for doing this interview. Here’s to the reigning Bad Boy of Poker!

Tony G:  Thanks for having me and I hope that we can all have heaps of fun playing this great game.

 

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