Listen to my interview with PokerStrategy.com and some quotes below:

On the Poker Brat: “Phil Hellmuth think he’s a superstar player, the best player in the world, and he thinks he’s a great cash game player at the same time. He just thinks he’s unlucky, everyone else plays bad around him, and he’s a genius.”

On his televised altercation with Ralph Perry: “I think I made Ralph famous – Ralph never made himself famous with his game or his performance after. He should have left the table much quicker than he did, hanging around there was terrible. I don’t know what he was hanging around for, he just played the hand horribly and it was in the final. He should have just got on his bike and left. Quickly.”

On his own strengths at the table: “I can read the game pretty well. I think I can lay down some hands that other players couldn’t who are technically better than me. I don’t really study the game technically like everyone else to be perfect – a German robot.”

On the highest cash game he’s ever played: “It’s difficult to say because sometimes the games increase. If they start in Russia, for example, at $1K/$2K PLO, they could slip up to $5K/$10K and maybe even $10K/$20K for a few hands – US Dollars. They can get big; we also had a rule of unlimited straddles. I remember one guy would always do a $100K Straddle, even if we were playing $1K/$2K.”

On the future of the online poker market: “Unless the US opens, I think online poker will struggle from here. If the US opens, it can get massive.”

On if he’ll ever quit: “I would probably only quit for health reasons… or if I owe someone a lot of money and I don’t want to show my face.”

Full interview: Interview with Tony G [Audio]

Some bits and pieces from a recent interview:

Leaning forward as if to shield our conversation from prying ears, his voice drops to whisper. ‘I lost about $10 million because of Black Friday.’ he says, slowly easing back into his chair.

‘I’m still a piece of shit on the tables,’ he tells me. ‘I want to be part of a circus. I can be the clown, if that’s what everyone wants. That’s what I live for. I live for those moments, I live for the TV.’

‘I have a huge mouth and very little ability in the game,’ he adds. ‘I’m probably a bubble player, someone that’s rated much higher than he should be. But I have a lot of passion and a big heart. I love the game when I play. I encourage anyone else to achieve what I’ve achieved.

On top of a controlling interest in PokerNews, he is now head of delegation for Lithuanian Basketball, attaché for the Lithuanian Olympic Committee, involved with life and income protection insurance and has prominent roles in government and charities. There’s even a Tony G holiday resort in his home country, complete with eco-friendly cabins, open-air amphitheatre and assault courses.

Read the full article: Big mouth strikes again

Alderney’s Gambling Control Commission has been criticised by a world-class poker player and industry commentator over the way it dealt with a besieged US-run betting website.

Antanas Guoga, known as Tony G, said regulators failed to protect players.

Full story: Alderney Gambling Commission criticised by poker player Tony G

I was introduced to shisha few years ago in Moscow and now regularly smoke, drink mint tea and eat baklava when relaxing.

Tom Riding asked me on Facebook: Tony, what’s the worst hand you have ever played?

The worst hand I ever played was in WPT Malta. I was in the money. I had vs with a raise coming from a middle position. I called in the small blind and managed to get all-in on the river with the board . Total pot was 900k – a massive chiplead at that stage of the tournament.

It’s important to lay down such hands on the river. I overplayed and managed to be all-in without having any real showdown value.

The correct way to play this hand post-flop would have been to just check-call all the way and lose perhaps 25% of my stack. I just called pre-flop but check-raised on the flop. This made the pot way too big on the river. I ended up having to call 150k more with 750k in the pot.

Maybe I could lay down on the river but ideally more value is had to just check-call all the way, inducing the bluff and creating value. The big issue and problem was that I took on the chipleader Matt Giannetti, who ended up winning the event.

What’s the worst hand you have ever played?

I just made the money at WSOPE and won the $100k bet vs James Bord! Watch the video below.

I also got my first ever WSOP penalty! This is how PokerNews saw it:

Tony G gave out a big cheer and pumped his fist as he knew his full house was the winner and he would double up. The dealer had other things in mind though.

The dealer quickly swiped Tony G’s hand, not seeing his full house and only seeing Boujenah’s spade flush. Right when the dealer did this, Tony G began yelling at the dealer about incorrectly killing his hand.

One of the things he said was, “How can you be so stupid?” as he was clearly upset the dealer almost cost him the pot because he was was now buried in the muck and only Boujenah’s hand was on the table. Everyone else at the table made sure to pipe up and tell Tony G they all saw it and that it was fine, he’d win the hand.

The floor came over and checked in on the situation. Because of what Tony G said and his rant, he earned himself a one-hand penalty.

I am really looking forward to playing the Caesars Cup event. I am humbled to be selected in the top 5 players in Europe.

I will play my A game all the time, this is going to be so much fun for me. I want to tear them yanks apart and then have Zasko eat their flesh.

The Caesars Cup is going to be a meat fest – I already have the tactical and strategic plans of Team America leaked by one of my spies. They are planning to use the nippy Chihuahua Negreanu for the heads-up. Watch the video:

More details: Bring on the Americans!

I love basketball. I played it a lot over the years at a pretty high level, I still play a little bit. I killed them the other day, perhaps a change in games is needed? Could I become a superstar basketballer?

I have a reasonable shot. I had a lot of bets over the years making long-range shots outside the court.

Basketball is a great sport. I am heavily involved with Lithuanian Basketball Federation, I am the head of the national basket team. I know a lot of the NBA players that I spent a lot of time with here and there.

I love the game. Hear me talk about basketball in the PokerNews Podcast below:

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