Before he became a personality on the World Poker Tour (WPT), Tony Dunst was a well known online pro by the name of “Bond18” and a coach at LeggoPoker. He won an open tryout to become the host of “The Raw Deal” which airs during WPT broadcasts and was recently featured in a poker documentary. Now, Tony “Bond18” Dunst can add 2013 WPT Caribbean Champion to his resume as well. Dunst rode the largest stack (by a small fraction) to start the final table at the WPT Caribbean Main Event all the way for the win and a $145,000 payday.
Final Table Breakdown
There were two large stacks to start the final table with Dunst technically in the lead, but both he and Severin Schleser came in with 118 big blinds.
Seat 1. Tony Dunst – 1,418,000 (118 bb)
Seat 2. Giacomo Fundaro – 458,000 (38 bb)
Seat 3. Zoltan Purak – 324,000 (27 bb)
Seat 4. Marvin Rettenmaier – 1,046,000 (87 bb)
Seat 5. Robbie Bakker – 1,069,000 (89 bb)
Seat 6. Severin Schleser – 1,416,000 (118 bb)
The first elimination belonged to Dunst, who took out Robbie Bakker on the 34th hand of final table play. Bakker moved all-in from the small blind on the river with a set of aces, with Dunst making the call with J-T suited for the made river flush. Bakker’s broken set sent him to the rail with $28,700 in hand for sixth place.
Dunst also was responsible for the next knockout of the tournament. Zoltan Purak went all-in preflop with pocket eights and was called by Dunst’s A-Q suited. The flop brought Dunst two cards to his flush giving him a ton of outs, which he spiked on the river with a queen. Zoltan, for finishing in fifth place, received $35,900.
Marvin Rettenmaier, who has won the Champions Club event twice, was eliminated next. He pushed J-8 suited and was called by Severin Schleser’s A-J off-suit. The drama was cut short when Schleser hit an ace on the flop and the rest of the board ran dry. Rettenmaier finished in fourth place and took home $46,800 for his efforts.
Schleser turned out to be the next to hit the rail. On his final hand he five-bet shoved preflop. Dunst had A-K off-suit while Schleser turned over a dominated A-Q off. The flop brought a king and Severin was eliminated in third place for a $63,500 finish.
Dunst was a huge chip leader to start heads-up play, with nearly a five-to-one advantage over Giacomo Fundaro. That gap was significantly cut smaller when Fundaro was able to double up after a few hands of play when he held the nut flush against a weaker flush held by Dunst. Eventually, Dunst took back control of the chip lead and grinded away at Fundaro’s stack. Eventually, on the 120th hand of final table play, Dunst moved all-in preflop with just J-2 offsuit against a woefully shortstacked Fundaro who called with K-3 suited. At this point in the hand, Dunst was actually a 65-35 dog but hit two pair on the flop and never looked back. Fundaro was awarded an even $100,000.
For his impressive final table run, Dunst takes home $145,000 as well as a free buy-in to the WPT Championship, worth $15,400.
Analyzing His Own Play
Tony Dunst is well known to poker fans through a segment during WPT broadcasts known as “The Raw Deal” which breaks down play at WPT final tables. Dunst also occasionally works as a color commentator during streamed events. It will be interesting to see how Dunst breaks down his own play, as the WPT Caribbean Event at the Casino Royale in St. Maarten was a televised event. This episode of the World Poker Tour will be an interesting one as it represents the first time one of the WPT personalities has won an event on their own tour.
