Tony in an interview with Rikard from PokerTube. Tony is in LA on business and relaxing and learning new things. Tony says he is in very positive development and working on his site HealthNews.com and he’s getting into health and learning about the body, including relaxation.
Rikard asks about the poker business and Tony moving into other areas of business as well. Tony says he is looking into many other things and he is into whatever works.
The conversation turns to Tony’s actions on YouTube when he was ‘going mad with Ralph Perry and Surinder Sunar.’ Rikard asks if they were just acts and if so are they behind us. Tony says he’s not regetting it, it’s him, it’s the way he was, he’s not ashamed of it. He says it was his reaction at the time and he’s proud that some passion and entertainment came through in poker. He says that was him and it’s still him today. Tony believes that his passion and the ability to express himself may have helped him move into creating his style as Tony G and his inner drive has moved him on, opening up doors, including building websites which he really enjoys.
Rikard brings the point that at the time that Tony was dancing on Ralph Perry and ‘Bring on More Russians,’ that some people may have thought Tony had something against Russians. Tony says he has nothing against Russians, he feels he’s an entertainer, he explains where he was born and his association with Russia and says it was fun to get something back on the Russians for occupying Lithunia. Tony says his best friend is Kirill Jerasimov who is a Russian and if Ralph Perry had been from Sweden, he probably would have said Swedes.
Tony Playing Poker
Rikard asks if Tony is still playing as much poker or if he’s more into the business now. Tony says he doesn’t play much but he has $150,000 profit on Full Tilt right now. He says he will always play but he has other things to do that are important.
They talk about Tony’s session on Full Tilt where he picked up a $100,000+ pot and he was happy with it. Tony says it’s a hobby for him and that he doesn’t plan on spending as much time playing as Patrik Antonius and some of them do.
Isildur1 comes up in the conversation and Tony says he still believes Isildur1 is Viktor Blom, although he says he could be wrong. People ask Tony why he brings Isilidur1 out of the closet and Tony says it’s obvious, Tony’s in the media business. Tony would like to see Isildur1 clean up. Backgammon comes into the conversation as a means to create the money to play those limits as Tony explains it, he says it is only his theory.
Tony talks about Gus Hansen – Tony is openly appreciate of Gus’ lifestyle where he has his pick of women, his healthy look, and playing as a Full Tilt Poker. Tony is asked about his relationship with Gus and if it has changed. Tony says he would rather not talk about it, he says that it’s OK if people talk him (Tony), but leaves it at that.
ChipMeUp comes into the conversation, Tony says PokerNews is totally supporting ChipMeUp and it’s good for poker; it’s an experiment but it seems to be going well. It’s mainly to help players that don’t have a bankroll, they can sell a piece of themselves in a tournament, he explains that he has people he backs automatically and that’s part of poker.
Tony’s future plans, he will be going to Australia soon to play the Aussie Millions and basically spend time with family. He is into health and has three rules that he’s going to stick to – relaxation, exercise, and nutrition. Tony says he is happy with life, excited because he has a lot more new developments he will get into and he’ll have more strength to get into poker. He talks about his team that drive the company and how he relies on them. NeverWin Poker comes up and Tony talks a bit about how the site wasn’t what Tony wanted to be part of the PokerNews Team. It’s a friendly divorce.
Tony plans to be back in LA after Australia and then back to Europe. He says he will be playing a lot of poker next year.
