Tony G lose over $275k on The PokerStars.net Big Game

The new calmer version of Tony G is one of the most popular poker players in the world, both with fans, and with his top-level opposition. Fans love Tony G (Real name Antanus Gouga) for his comical table talk, and incessant needling of the other players -especially if Phil Hellmuth happens to be anywhere near him. The pros love Tony for his willingness to gamble with large amounts of money, and even Tony G admits he’s not at the same level as most of his competition.

This week Tony made his second appearance on The PokerStars.net Big Game, and got clobbered after a few small losses, followed by two very dramatic hands; the first against Vanessa Rousso, and the second against Scott Seiver:

In the first hand Tony raised the innocuous 5-6 from the small blind, only to have Rousso wake-up with pocket Aces in the big blind and re-raise. Fortunately for Tony he took the lead when the flop came 5-6-J. His lead didn’t last very long as Vanessa turned one of her five-outs, catching an Ace, and to add insult to injury a second 5 hit the board on the river, virtually ensuring Tony G would get stacked-off in the hand.

After some hemming and hawing Tony eventually accepted Daniel Negreanu’s offer of a $100,000 loan, but he was noticeably tilted, which showed in a hand against ultra-rock Todd Brunson, where Tony made some really loose calls with middle pair against Todd’s top-set. It didn’t take long after this before another big all-in confrontation came up involving Tony G:

The second critical hand wasn’t quite the bad-beat/cooler of the first hand, instead Tony found himself All-in on the flop against Scott Seiver’s top two-pair, with both flush and straight draws -Tony Held A-J with a club against Scott’s K-2, and the board was Q-K-2 all clubs. Tony picked up 4 more outs on the Turn when a Jack hit -which would be a total of 16 outs, but 3 of those outs were dead from other players’ hands– but a brick on the river sealed his fate, and he left the game down over $275,000. Which led Daniel to remark how Tony never makes a hand -of course Tony is usually drawing, but he has missed some really big draws over his two appearances on the show. For instance, in the all-in hand against Scott, Tony was only a 60/40 dog when the money went in, and roughly the same when he picked up more outs on the Turn.

Daniel also explained how Tony G is good for a game even though he is a good player, because of willingness to play pots and put his money in the middle: This type of action usually loosens up the entire table, and makes for what I call “A good gambling atmosphere”.