Canada has produced many great poker players, and you only have to take a look at this year’s World Series of Poker to see the well is far from dry. Talented, fearless youngsters are coming out of the woodwork, and yet many remain to be discovered. Tyler Bonkowski was one of these players. While in university for three and a half years, he chopped and changed his mind from pharmacist to accountant to policeman, while all the time playing online, before he decided to take a shot at the game full-time. Since then he hasn’t looked back. But now he wants more. The online pro is hungry for a live win and is now taking on the major live international circuit in his hunt for gold.
Rebecca McAdam: When and why did you start playing poker?
Tyler Bonkowski: I started poker when I was 19 in university. I read a book to try to get better at beating my friends in our small home games; the book talked about Internet poker, so I tried with $20. After a year of online/school/work, I thought that I’d be able to make more playing poker than doing anything else at the time, and really wanted to give it a shot. My parents didn’t want me to, but I quit school and just played poker. Things started sky-rocketing from there.
RM: That was seven years ago. Did you find it was a lot easier to do well and make money online then?
TB: Definitely. Looking back, I was pretty terrible, but I was always able to find some of the juiciest games filled with much worse players than me.
RM: What games did you play at the start and how did you move up?
TB: I can’t remember what stakes, but if I started with a $20 bankroll (I was into bankroll management back then), it would have been a very small cash game or sit ‘n’ go tournaments. I always wanted to do very well at the stake I was at before moving up, and making sure I had enough money to handle the swings at each level. Something that I almost totally disregard now.
RM: So you disregard it now when it’s harder to make money? You must be running good to be able to take risks?
TB: I’ve done well enough in my career so far now that I’m able to take risks. I don’t take huge risks, just small risks with high rewards.
RM: What is it about your personality that made you want to stick with poker professionally, or was it just a money thing?
TB: I’ve always loved playing video games as a kid, and to me, online poker is like a huge video game. So it comes naturally to me to compete and get better. It’s very easy for me to handle playing a lot of online hours. That and the money has been very good.
RM: Do you play cash or tournaments?
TB: Online cash games have probably been 99 percent of my income, and in the last year I’ve really started travelling a lot and playing a lot more live tournaments.
RM: Why now?
TB: 888 offered me a sponsorship to join their VIP Team 888, and after a lot of years doing the same thing online, I thought it would be an opportune time to do more travelling and spend less time on the computer.
RM: Had you much experience live?
TB: Not very much at all before this last year.
RM: Did you have to adjust your game at all?
TB: I didn’t start out being as much as a maniac as I normally am, but eventually I got back into the habit of that. It was a little more intimidating at first.
RM: Has the live dimension of the game added anything to your online game?
TB: Yeah, well mostly because a lot of the tournaments I’m at, I’m with Team 888 members, so I pick up a few tips from them every once in a while and it helps my live (no-limit) game a lot more. I’m a limit player, so I’m still learning some different things at no-limit.
RM: How come you got into playing limit when you started when no-limit was so big at the time? And for you what are the main differences between the two?
TB: Well I started out playing both, but I was doing so much better at limit when I started that I ended up spending almost all my time on that game. For me, I think in limit, you’re always playing a hand; and you’re waiting a lot more for spots in no-limit.
RM: Do you set yourself a goal to earn a certain amount per month?
TB: No, there is no monthly amount that I look towards. I just play as many hours as I feel like. I took two months off before the WSOP just because I felt so burned out from poker. But now I feel hungry to make money again.
RM: What stakes do you play regularly?
TB: My regular stakes are usually $30-$60 limit up to $200-$400. Those are my normal stakes, but I will grind lower if I need to, and have also played a lot of the rarer, higher, limit games when they’ve been on.
RM: The Irish Open was the first time I saw you play, you got some airtime on the feature table, how was your whole experience of the event, and will you play it again next year?
TB: So far it’s been the most fun I’ve had at a tournament. I think I went out every night after playing. The rush from going deep into a tourney and getting that exposure made it a great experience. I got a lot of compliments from players/media telling me they thought I was going to win that one too. I’m pretty sure I’ll be there next year.
RM: Was this year your first World Series? How did you do?
TB: I’ve played a few other WSOP events over the years but nothing even close to this year, where I played 21 events. It didn’t start out very well for me, I was trying to force things too much, and I even tilted in one tournament, which I don’t really think has happened before. But near the end of the Series, I talked some strategy with my friend Darren and I relaxed a little bit more. It helped and I went deep into a few of the remaining events.
RM: Did playing so many live events close together accelerate your live experience?
TB: Yeah, I’m glad I played as many events as I did this year because I’ve learned a tremendous amount of what I can and can’t do in certain situations.
RM: Canadians did quite well this year, are there any young Canadians we should keep our eyes peeled for either online or live?
TB: Yeah my buddy Ivan Mamuzic, I played him in a tournament at the Borgata last year, he’s someone to keep an eye out for.
RM: What events will we see you at?
TB: WSOPE in London, a few EPT’s/WPT’s, Aussie Millions, and the Irish Open.
RM: Do you have a poker goal?
TB: Yeah, to win a big event, so that the rest of my poker career I can just play live events and donate winnings to charity. 