The indefatigable Tony Dunst has just been named as the host for a new segment on the World Poker Tour broadcasts called “Raw Deal” which will apparently feature “an edgy, yetinsightful look at hands from the week’s broadcast”.
Although he sounds like a caricature of a marketing hack when he says it, WPT Executive Producer Tony Grimm describes Tony’s qualifications for the job quite well: “There were a number of tremendously talented individuals who auditioned for the Raw Deal, but Tony stood out for his candor, his knowledge and his delivery. He’s going to have a big impact on the broadcast. He may ruffle some feathers, but he wasn’t brought in to be Mr. Nice Guy.”
According to the press release, Tony was also selected for his cosmopolitan background (he was born in Wisconsin and has lived in China, Australia, and Las Vegas) and his knowledge of the game.
To be honest, I haven’t seen a WPT broadcast in years, but this might get me watching. Even for televised poker it always seemed particularly light on meaningful poker content. Tony really is the ideal combination of charisma, personality, and poker talent for a gig like this. Huge congratulations and best of luck, buddy!
So here’s how it works I guess: Flaunt your womanizing, weed smoking, no-shit-giving ways on your public blog, state often that you will never get another job because of said explicit candour, and BANG – TV gig.
Seriously though, that’s pretty sweet. I only follow two blogs regularly and his is the other one. Will be interesting to see if he can actually make the segment good as opposed to cringe-worthy. At the moment I give it 50/50.
Oh and +1 for the use of indefatigable. The I would have given +2 for describing him as a man of exalted probity… 🙂
Tony’s blog is my favorite poker blog (you are probably second Andrew don’t worry lol), but I have to agree there is a good chance of this being cringe worthy. Tony is a great personality but I don’t know how well he’ll handle the role of “bad boy”, if that’s what they want him to do. He’s a consummate gentleman at heart, just a fun-loving, weed-smoking, partying, active-sex-life… consummate gentleman. It will be okay if they let him be himself, but not if they try to force some role onto him.
Anyway congrats to him on the gig, he deserves it.
(comments need an edit function…!)
How could they leave out his wardrobe? Isn’t Tony one of the best-dressed poker players in history?
ryan
Poker Static