World Poker Tour Analyst Tony Dunst Wins First WSOP Bracelet
Poker pro and World Poker Tour Raw Deal analyst Tony Dunst won his first World Series of Poker bracelet in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
Dunst booked the win in Event #63: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em, outlasting a large field of 2,452 players to collect a $339,254 top prize.
"I ran really good at the right place at the right time," Dunst said. "It's awesome that it happened at the World Series in the very last preliminary event of the summer in this huge field. I just ran the purest, and it means today, and the last couple of days, were my days."
$1,000 NL Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tony Dunst | $339,254 |
| 2 | Jason Rivkin | $209,586 |
| 3 | Joshua Field | $153,015 |
| 4 | Francisco Araujo | $112,724 |
| 5 | Matas Cimbolas | $83,804 |
| 6 | Sergio Cabrera | $62,880 |
| 7 | Levon Torosyan | $47,622 |
| 8 | Raffaele Castro | $36,406 |
| 9 | David Sciacqua | $28,097 |
2016 has been a huge year for Dunst that started with a runner-up finish in the 2016 Aussie Millions Main Event. He also made two final tables in various WPT events around the world heading into the WSOP.
"In the course of a year I probably play 30 or 40 tournaments, and it can seem like over the last couple of years it's like 'You've taken it to the next level,'" Dunst said. "But have you, or are you just suddenly the guy winning all the key flips at the end?
"The only major difference I can see in my game is that I feel more focused at the table. I'm purposely keeping my phone down and trying to watch as much play as possible and stay zoned in. I just watch a lot more poker now when I'm playing."
Dunst watches a lot of poker hosting WPT live streams as well, and says it only helps him improve when he sits back down at the table.
"One of the ways I practice playing out final tables is watching them at my job, doing online commentary, and discussing them with other great poker players," he explained. "It forces you to go through the motions of a major final table over and over again. I've watched so many of them and it's not just the flashy lead up hands we see on TV, it's everything in between. I'm getting a sense of what plays people are making when there is big money on the line, what their ranges are, and what types of plays they are making, what they are capable of, whether they're bluffing or not bluffing, and that helps a great deal."
With the victory, Dunst also pushed himself over the $1 million mark for live tournament earnings in a year, which is the first time he's done so in his career. With this score, Dunst has won $1.134 million on the year and moved over $2.8 million in career live tournament earnings.
And while it was heavily publicized that Dunst only played for a small percentage of himself in his Aussie Millions run, this time around, things were different.
"It was a bigger chunk this time," he said. "I did sell of a piece of this to the Bank of Timex as a part of my summer package, but I have a bigger chunk and I'm very happy with the result."
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