TV poker host Tony Dunst also excels as player at WSOP

Tony Dunst is so often associated with his TV work that it’s easy to forget he has another job.

This year has served as a reminder that Dunst is a poker player first and a commentator second.

Dunst, the popular suited-and-booted host on the World Poker Tour, captured his first career World Series of Poker bracelet Sunday and has won more than $1.1 million in live tournaments since the start of the year.

Dunst got off to a strong start in the $10,000 buy-in No-limit Texas Hold ’em World Championship but was eliminated late Thursday. Professional poker player Kenny Hallaert of Belgium was the unofficial leader when Day 3 action paused at 9:45 p.m. at the Rio Convention Center with one level of play remaining.

“I guess my superiors at both the World Poker Tour and Party Poker are probably pretty pleased with my results prior to this summer,” Dunst said. “But it sort of reinforced the idea that I was credible as a hire and credible as a spokesman and as a sponsored player, and that you’re still current.

“It’s very easy to fall off in poker, and while I think part of my results are just running very good and winning big-equity pots or big-equity flips deep in tournaments, it’s also hard to have a streak like that if you’re totally clueless.”

The Main Event continues at noon Friday with Day 4 and was expected to reach the money bubble late Thursday or early Friday. The top 1,011 players get paid.

Dunst left the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2006 and has traveled the world playing online and live poker ever since. In 2010, he was hired by the WPT and hosts a segment called the “Raw Deal” in which he reviews a hand from the tournament.

“It was definitely a thrill for me because I used to be both a fan of the show — it was one of the shows that was integral in getting me into poker — and also because I love creating things, writing things, even performing to a degree,” Dunst said. “Particularly, I like working with cameras actually.”

Dunst is easily recognizable thanks to his keen sense of fashion. In contrast to the hundreds of players in T-shirts or hoodies, the 31-year-old often wears suits and ties at the poker table.

“It was a very distinctive thing in poker. Nobody really dresses up very much,” Dunst said. “But I thought the corporate side of poker wanted to see somebody in the younger generation who was conscious of the presentation element of the game, so I thought the suits embodied that in a way.”

Dunst has won more than $2.8 in live tournaments and another $1.8 million more online. In January, Dunst finished second to Ari Engel in the Aussie Millions Main Event for approximately $700,000, though he had only 15 percent of his own action in that event.

Last week, Dunst took down the WSOP $1,000 buy-in No-limit Hold ’em event, outlasting 2,451 other entrants to pocket the $339,254 top prize.

Dunst opened play on Day 3 of the Main Event with one of the top 75 stacks but was stuck in reverse for much of the afternoon and early evening as he sought to cash in the Main Event for the third time.

“This is the best tournament in the entire year to multiply your starting stack because you have the most soft spots deep in a high-equity tournament,” Dunst said early Thursday. “It just doesn’t get any better than this. It’s very exciting.”

Contact reporter David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidSchoenLVRJ