I certainly hope that Tony Dunst starts a trend toward dressing
better at the World Series of Poker. He has been setting an example for the
last ten years, showing up to play poker in a suit and tie. This photo is from
day one of this event. On day two he showed up in a crisp pressed blue and
white striped dress shirt looking much better than those rubes wearing an
outfit they could have worn to paint the garage last week. It would be nice to
class up the joint a little.
At the day three final table he did sport his now familiar formal
attire.
Tony did very well when I passed through his table on day 2 of
the $1000 entry No Limit Hold'em tournament.
Twice he was all in and at risk of elimination during my stint at his
table.
The antes had been collected and cards were out when Tony was in
the Big Blind and the Under-the-Gun player, first to act limped in. One by one,
around the table, each player folded up up to the Small Blind who tossed in the
chips to call. I started to sweep in the three calls with my free hand when,
showing a little panic, Tony says, "Wait!"
"You have an option," I assured him.
In button and blind games, when there are no raises, only calls,
the player in the Big Blind has only the option to check or raise. Often, the
dealer will, in that situation, clear the perimeter by pulling in the bets
while offering the Big Blind the option to raise. About 80% of the time, the
Big Blind checks the option and the dealer can then immediately put out the
Flop. If the Big Blind raises, then any players still in the hand will have to
decide to fold, call the additional amount or re-raise and the action
continues. Pulling in the calls and offering the option speeds up the action a
little. I only do it when all of the callers have put out the exact amount of
chips and no change is needed. I probably shouldn't. The amount of time saved,
even if it helps to speed up the rhythm of the whole game, is probably not
worth the risk of putting out a premature Flop which would create a real mess
and a Floor Supervisor call and waste a bunch of time and create a lot of bad
feelings. Note to self: Stop trying to
speed things up by pulling in the calls while the Big Blind thinks. Just let
them play at their own speed.
Tony took the option to raise and three blaze orange $5000 chips
fell off his fingertips to the table. The Under-the-Gun player re-raised,
quickly placing a stack of chips out. The Small Blind folded followed by Tony
declaring, "All in!"
"I call!"
Tony tabled two Jacks and the caller showed an Ace-King hand.
Interesting tactic
by the Under-the-Gun player. He had been
trapping, limping in (just calling) hoping to catch someone raising or trying
to steal with a weak hand and pouncing on them with a re-raise. This time, the trapper got caught in his own
trap. His A♦️K♦️ was a slight
underdog to Tony's J♥️J♦️.
The Flop came out Jack high with a ten and a small diamond card
making the Jacks a huge favorite while the suited AK could only win with a
Queen for the Straight or running diamonds for a "back door" Flush.
Neither happened and Tony went from having a below average stack of around
125,000 and at risk to a nicely above average stack of 260,000.
Three hands later, Tony once again finds himself all in with a
pair of Jacks up against a larger stack with an Ace-King and risking
elimination if he loses.
Flop to the rescue. Although the flop paired the opponent's King,
a Jack made the set, keeping him ahead and while a King on the Turn improved
the opponent's hand, it made Jacks Full of Kings a near total lock vulnerable
only to one card in the deck, the case King. One card of the remaining unknown
44. A 97.7% favorite and then... ...no
drama. An inconsequential small card falls on the River. Dunst doubles up again
to over half a million chips and in reach of the tournament chip leaders.
On Day 3 of the tournament Tony showed up in his now familiar
suit and tie, made the final table and was able to win his first WSOP Gold
Bracelet.
