Name: William Tonking
Twitter: @willtonk21
Age: 27
Birthplace: Flemington, NJ
Occupation: Poker Pro
Employer/Company Name: Self-employed
Education: Bachelor’s Degree from University of South Carolina
Marital Status: Single
Years entered Main Event: 3
WSOP Earnings: $9,479
WSOP Cashes: 2
WSOP Final Tables: 0
Best Previous Main Event Finish: N/A
WSOP: How does it feel right now?
Tonking: It still hasn’t sunk in yet. It’s pretty, well, its a lot at once. Tomorrow, I’ll be able to answer that question better.
WSOP: Talk about what it means to be just on this stage, and in this moment.
Tonking: Well, that whole time during this, I was trying not to think of this moment, and just focus on playing poker. You know, I kept making myself refer back to the scene in "Hoosiers", when Gene Hackman took them in to the big stadium, small town team, put the tape measure up to the rim, down to the floor, and said, ‘still ten feet, gentlemen.’ You know, its still poker, and I was just playing the hand in front of me and not trying to think about anything else. The game's hard enough, the field was tough enough without letting that stuff bother me. That was at least half the battle, and the rest was just playing poker.
WSOP: How much did that bubble weigh on your mind?
Tonking: By the time I got here, I had kind of been at peace with whatever happened. I just wanted to play well and have no regrets. Whatever was left up in the air, whichever way it went, I was ready to deal with it.
WSOP: What would ten million dollars mean to you? What would you spend it on?
Tonking: You know, I’m not really prepared...I hope I’m not really prepared, to answer that. There would be a lot of thought that would go in to that. Whatever I did with it, I’d hope I would handle it smartly.
WSOP: What was it like on the rail with your two friends? . How’s it going to feel to have everyone in attendance here to cheer you on?
Tonking: Get ready, I’m bringing them out. There’s not going to be two of them in November, that’s all I’ll tell you.
WSOP: What do you do?
Tonking: I just play poker. I graduated from University of South Carolina, economics. Started playing online in college, and kept with it. Played online after college, once Black Friday came, I went live for a few years. And once New Jersey became legal, I’ve played cash on the Jersey sites.
WSOP: What made you decide to play the Main Event?
Tonking: This is the third time I’ve played. I don’t play a lot of tournaments, but this is one you just have to play in case something like this happens.
WSOP: Is this the only tournament you’ve played this year?
Tonking: No, I played the $1,500 Mixed Max and I actually cashed. I think I got like 77th or so. It was fun, nothing like this though. This is the second tournament. I played, and kind of had some fun with my friends out in between, and over the last week, been doing this.
WSOP: What originally sparked your interest in poker? How did you get in to it?
Tonking: Playing with friends in high school, seeing it on TV, and then I got to college and it was 2005. Just like everyone else, the boom hit and I was intrigued by it. I thought it appealed to me, what I like and what I’m good at, and it just kind of took off from there.
WSOP: Now you got three months off, what are your plans?
Tonking: I haven’t got that far, for three months. But, I’m definitely looking forward to going home and spending time with my family and my close friends, and starting to let the moment sink in.