A Cornhole Master: Tony Smith | OFF THE BOARD | Ep 49

🎯 Step into the arena with Tony Smith, the trailblazer reshaping the landscape of professional Cornhole! In this riveting episode, we peel back the layers of Tony’s illustrious career. Delve deep into the strategies that catapulted him to the top and uncover the mental gymnastics he performs in the heat of nail-biting matches. Tony doesn’t just play Cornhole; he reinvents it with a flair that’s uniquely his. Join us for an up-close and personal journey into the mind of a Cornhole prodigy, where every throw tells a story of precision, passion, and the relentless pursuit of excellence. Whether you’re a seasoned player or a newcomer, this episode promises insights, inspiration, and that extra edge to fuel your love for the game!

🔔 Subscribe for more Cornhole insights, player interviews, and behind-the-scenes action from the heart of the Cornhole community. Drop your questions or thoughts in the comments below and let us know who you want to see next on OFF THE BOARD.

00:00 New ACL Bag!
00:37 Intro
01:20 The Decision to Part Ways with Jacob Trzcienski: Insight into Tony’s Career Shift
02:49 New Beginnings: Tony’s Exciting Partnership with Mark Richards Explained
06:10 Reliving the Victory: Tony’s Career-Defining Win at Pro Shootout #3, Miami
08:15 Tony’s Top Moments: A Look Back at Career Highlights and Memorable Matches
09:41 Strategic Mastery: Tony’s Approach to Cornhole Matches and Unique Game Plans
11:45 Inspirational Figures in Cornhole: Who Shaped Tony’s Professional Journey?
18:28 Tony’s Rise to ACL Stardom: From Enthusiast to Pro Player Challenges and Successes
20:04 The Future of Cornhole: Tony’s Vision for the Sport and His Role in It
21:25 Advice for Aspiring Pros: Tony’s Guidance for Young Cornhole Players
22:30 Beyond the Boards: Exploring Tony’s Personal Interests and Their Impact on His Game
24:41 Tony’s Goals and Legacy: What’s Next in His Cornhole Career?
25:50 Ton’y Biggest Supporters
28:04 This is What Tony Would Change About Cornhole and the ACL
30:29 Tony’s Message for Everyone

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Hey what’s up Buffalo Nation we back and guess what we got something special for you guys today we got our newest bag the Buffalo savior this bag is incredible it’s for players that like to roll like to cut hey this bag’s for you the savior is going to be similar to our fallouts

It has the same hair and bone it has a slower fast side so the speed of the bag is going to be a eight on the fast side and it’s going to be a five on the slow side this bag will be available and mixed fill in a light version and a regular

Version Hey what’s good welcome back Buffalo Nation to another episode of off the board today we are thrilled to introduce a remarkable talent in the world of cornhole Tony Smith Tony’s Rising cornhole scene has been nothing short of phenomenal showcasing skill strategy and a dedication that’s captivated fans and

Players alike and then can he clean it up for a big pushy what AAL by Tony his knack for clutch plays and strategic thinking makes him a standout in the sport look at this roll shot by Tony Smith going over everything so without further Ado help us welcome the one the only Tony

Smith Tony what’s up man that much we appreciate you taking time for us man like I said we GNA hop in and uh man I’m going start out you know with with the Banger you know what I want to know uh so man you and Jacob y’all had a

Phenomenal year together what prompted the decision to go in a different direction so it didn’t have anything to do with like how we finished at all last year or that we didn’t do as good as we wanted to had nothing to do with that it was um a lot to do with sponsors

Sponsors was that was big for me this year I’m trying to take that load off my back of if I don’t win this I’m not eating right and this was one way to do it along with I feel like Mark is going to be a extremely good Mentor for me and he has

Like a he’s just always calm and I’m trying to like model myself after that trying to and I feel like playing with him will help me with that along with just he’s a dope dude so that’s really the basis of it all right Tony Yeah you mentioned Mark

Richard I’m sure everybody was excited on that was that something that y’all talked about it before or just kind of happened short-handed or as you mentioned we were talking AJ as far as that what sponsors was a big deal on y’all teaming up uh it happened really

Fast like it was like the last day of Worlds um I remember Mike Hennessy saying something about me and Mark like months prior and I was just like curious and I was like what would you do to make this [Laughter] happen and then um talked to markk a little bit and back

And forth and this happened like two days and the rest was just that was just it we were it Partners you mentioned him being a mentor to you do you find yourself um the few tournaments have yall played did you ever find yourself kind of nervous knowing that you were

Playing with arguably one of the best players in the game right now yeah absolutely um first two two tournament two and a half tournaments it was not me just playing it was more like I can’t miss I got right I got mark on the other I can’t miss and then after I

Got over that it we’re we’re chilling now so I’m just playing my game playing game having fun hey man that’s crazy because you guys literally what most people would considering cornhole broke the internet because I think at the time when y’all decided like it was number number one player and the number two

Player are coming together and the idea behind that is like who’s going to stop these guys like I had I had I had a my own personal list I felt like out of the the top three doubles I mean just talking about doubles best doubles players in cornhole to me and that’s my

On my list was you Mark and KB as the three best doubles players like straight up and we already saw what KB and Eddie was able to do you know you were in a bunch of those matches with them you know um so did you automatically like in your head

Think man if I can get with this guy I mean I what what like what would y’all be able to do what were you thinking when whenever that came up it like I said like this happened so fast like I didn’t even have time really

To think about it all like up until the end of Worlds I had zero doubt in my mind that it was gonna be me and Jacob next season until that figure came in that came into play uh Contraband is still still a new company or was at the time so I wasn’t

Seeing what I’d like to um so it just all around or not all around but it was was just like the better move for me at the time so there was really no thoughts of playing with other people up until then nice that’s awesome so your win at

The pro shoot out number three in Miami was one of many of your defining moments can you take us through that experience and what it meant to you um you know going into that shootout like first match of the day I had zero doubt in my mind that I was

Not going to win more than three games I swear because I just the day before is when I switched over to a faster bag and I was those boards there were quick so I was super uncomfortable the whole time and then going into the shootout I didn’t have like a sticky bag

That I wanted to throw so I just thre the the fast bags and somehow scooted by each game and ended up getting to Jimmy in the finals now I was not happy whatsoever about having to go to Miami for the just the finals instead of playing it in South Dakota right

But ended up pulling it out and it felt good it f it felt like I got a chip off my shoulder and then went right back to get in second place the whole rest of the year oh man that’s crazy man so man uh I’ve been knowing you for a long time

Man even before you made it Pro Qualifier like you you know uh your your cousin Garrett man that was one of my boys you know what I’m saying I used to hang out with man and I used to talk to Derek all the time I think I don’t

Know Derrick’s your uncle yeah yeah yeah yeah so Uncle Dereck man and he always ran it and raved about you know you oh man Tony is a beast and he’s a killer you know so man I watched your journey a long time man um but I I want to know

For you man because you’re you’re a vet now you know even though you only playing a few years you’re a vet like with what you’ve been able to do is there a particular match or a moment in your career that stands out as like your favorite or most memorable I know you

Got a lot like you have a lot of you’ve had a lot of success is there anything that stands out as your favorite it’s it’s probably got to be that National Dub with Jacob against uh Mark and Phil that was one of the craziest games I’ve ever seen in doubles at

Least uh other than that I think maybe my first like Pro singles tournament ever down in uh Myrtle Beach I think like three years ago they did a uh like a a switch not a switch it was a is a switch yeah they did a switch into

Singles and I I won that and it was only Pros in it and so that was like my first considered Pro tournament I guess and I I won that so that was cool but other than that there’s too many to count like that’s a good problem D yeah

Right I like that Flex man but we we were sitting down I think we were at the Airbnb watching that game and some of us still the game against Mark and you know that was an incredible game man uh so yeah you’ve had some you know incredible

Moments Man Tony give us a little feedback and U on how do you prepare how do you prepare for a game like what kind of do you what kind of strategies do you employ before going into a tournament uh or even just a match I mean depending on

As far as if you’re facing no somebody that you know that’s going to just as as high as caliber as yourself um I try to just turn off my my brain just go and throw for like before tournament I go try and go throw for at

Least like a half an hour before it starts otherwise you know how how it goes going in just fresh out out your bed it’s not good so try to warm up a little bit but when I play I I try to not think as much as possible

I I kind of already know how everybody in the league plays their style and everything unless they’ve switched recently then so I I know how to where to put the bags like automatically against each opponent unless it’s like a open and I’m playing against somebody I don’t know then

It’s not sure what to do just kind of run them in so each person I have like a different strategy for it’s it may not even be voluntary but like I just recognize patterns of how like their bag Cuts this way it does this blah blah blah so just kind of

Automatically know where to put the bag respect man do your homework man that’s that’s probably the first and I will say this I listen to everybody talk that’s the first I probably ever heard that and that’s that’s why he’s Tony Smith are there certain like practice routines

That you do during practice I don’t practice you don’t practice at all no I uh blind draws I go to like two blind draws a week that that’s my practice all right well since you don’t practice like I said who’s who’s somebody that’s been your significant influence and inspired you in cornhole

And you mean how did they how did they shape and approach to the game um so I mean from the beginning my parents have been playing this in the backyard since I was like four years old so that really is where I started playing was a little backyard and then eventually uh

Tornado or no actually those the lugos and like tornado and Lady tornado right they came to to my dad’s league and showed us the ACL so then that whole next era started and then uh so the pro that I first started to look up to was uh Ken

Scha if you know who that is no I know that is y a that’s that’s that’s a that’s a name you don’t hear that of yeah but I remember K shave for sure he was lit and then um so he’s the first like Pro I really talked

To in at like a national I think in uh Mohan I talked to him for a bit and thre with him and he tried to help me out and then um couple months go by and I go down to Pennsylvania for regional wax hard ball twice black twice and then

Um he starts like inviting me out to these tournaments to play with him and that’s when I started just hitting the road going all over the place playing with people is with Harbaugh so I feel like Harbaugh is really the one that got me into going and finding like the best

Competition going finding all these big tournaments to play in and now right right now I’m I’m looking up to partner mark because he’s got undoubtedly the best mental game in the sport like it’s unreal I’m trying I’m just trying to get like that yeah it’s crazy man because you’ve

Never seen him kind of show any emotions or anything or just kind of get flustered or anything during the game I saw one emotion one time and I would tell you it was uh what the it was this last year he was playing against uh I want to say powers

And Ruben again and they were playing him for a bracket and like he’s normally calm and quiet but this is after you know the comeback and all the the chatter or whatever and like Jordan was like chirping or whatever in the beginning of the game well you know Mark

Was kind of calm right so at the end of the game Mark hits a shot to win the game and I mean he lets out this belt like loud well we were playing on the back side we didn’t know what it was cuz it sounded weird right but you know that

Was the first time like he let out some emotion kind of behind like what had happened the year before so that was the only time I’ve ever seen him like make any kind of like noise but you could tell in that moment it was personal but

Any other match I’ve ever seen for him it was just like he’s been calm he’s been even in a defeat right like because I played him in singles at Rock Hill and I ended up beating him and like calm and comes up to me he great shooting man

Good like you know what I’m saying that that was calm and cool like cuz I can’t do that after I lose don’t look at don’t look at me don’t look at me don’t talk to me don’t even look that you know what I’m saying we come over here hey

Nice nice try big fell you know that’s that’s something that you know saying hey don’t look at me bro like Frank mlin did that to me my very first loss in National hey you you know come back get a little stronger you know come back come back you know what I’m saying hey

Come back again right you know what I’m saying like but yeah no man you’re right so getting a mental game from you know Mark man that’s solid because he’s he’s got a pretty solid mental game absolutely and um I lost my train of thought man do you

Know what he listens to because I know a couple people have asked me like do you know what he Listen to Because I mean he must be some calm music cuz I mean like you like we said no matter what’s defeat or Victory I mean he has the same face

Facial expression no matter what like music what music he’s listening to yeah uh whenever he gets or I let them put on the music it’s usually like country uhhuh or some uh two chains really play some I would have never guessed that bro never would guessed that that’s funny

His music’s all he’s all over the place um he don’t listen listen to like new rap at all oh okay which that’s what I’m listening to attention all cornhole players out there do your bags get in the way your perfect shot well say no more we have the Buffalo bag butter

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Stubborn bags now slide over to Victory and get your Buffalo bag butter today now let’s dive back into this episode with Tony Smith becoming an ACL Pro what was some of the biggest challenges Andor triumphs along the way you challenges um getting that first dub on Matt

Guy I just did it I think oh no actually no no no I I got it a regalia a couple years ago but I cannot peat that man can’t do it that’s always been your cryptonight oh yeah I don’t know what it is I just I’m throwing

Gas and then I step up next to him and it’s just like I’ve never played a game before you mentioned earlier about knowing your opponents I mean all the several times you played that guy do you play him differently every time or is the same approach every time you play him I don’t

Know what to do against him this last time I just played him I I I tried to out air Mill him right it worked which is weird I just slide an air maill that’s all I did and I got him somehow other than that I always tried

Blocking him like try to block him as close to the hole as possible right so when he air mails he drags me but I don’t know how to play him because he’s just going backside every time oh yeah and he’s shooting yeah no hesitation he’s shooting it but

Um triumphs is probably that National getting that first national dub and uh just honestly any any tournament win nowadays is it’s damn uh it’s a gauntlet every time right so you gotta just take them where you can proud of all of them absolutely I’m sick of getting second though I can tell

You it’s coming I’m about to go on a run somewhere soon hey that’s solid man hey that’s a good problem to have the second place I know it’s made you know some people are comfortable you know where they are but that’s solid that you are unhappy with getting second some people

Just wish they can get second you know what I’m saying so that’s solid man how do you see the sport in cornhle evolving the next few years and what role do you hope to play in the growth in the popularity I’m I’m praying it just keeps

Growing I really I don’t know I feel like people are still just discovering us so hoping it just keeps growing um a lot of the things I’m seeing on like Facebook it’s just like people do this for professionally professionally and then they like just bunch of people hating on it so I’m I’m

Hoping that somehow it turns around uh I’m hoping I’m I’m there at the the front trying to promote it just trying to put as as good of games on as I as I can guess that’s really all I can do is just play good um I don’t really have much of a social

Media presence which I need to work on that like you don’t see me posting [Laughter] nothing I really don’t know and what advice would you give to the young players who aspire become Professionals in this sport uh School comes first Absolutely and you just got to practice like you gotta work like I don’t want to say travel because I mean because then that puts it on on the parents right right but if you’re not playing against the best players you can f that you can find you’re not going to get better like

If you’re not playing against people that are better than you so wherever they’re wherever you’re at try to find like the best player in the area and play against them often that’s Sound Advice I mean I agree that’s exactly how you know we ended up

Getting better the same way so um so we know you cornhole just isn’t everything right I’m sitting there looking at you got to get gamer chair um so outside of cornhole like what are your passions or interests and like is there any of those passions outside of cornhall that help

Influence your approach to cornhall uh golf that’s number one right there um when I play golf I get so mad sometimes because like I have really high expectations in golf so like the littlest thing will get me get me mad so then I tried to I’m trying

To model my mentality after um Tiger’s 10 step rule which is um Let me let me look it up for you so anytime tiger will hit a bad shot he’ll give himself 10 steps after the shot to like um show his emotions like like be mad at

Himself but then once he crosses that line it’s it’s game time again so like I’m trying to trying to work on that not not letting it just keep carrying over into like my next bag or next round like a bad shot right so can can you explain

Each step can you explain each step what what it is no that like he walks 10 steps steps yeah 10 steps yeah yeah he’ll hit his shot and walk literally like he’ll have like a red line like after 10 steps he his next shot is what he’s worried about

Now not not what just happen so in cornhole would you relate that to because you’re not going to take 10 steps unless it’s singles right then you’ll take 10 steps but in doubles like would you take 10 seconds and or would you how would I feel it’s more like

When they let go of their bag then it’s like all right now what do I got to do gotcha gotta that’s good I’m G use that I know I about think that too 10 steps yeah just bag for bag good it’s good stuff so looking forward what do you

Hope to achieve in your cornhole career and what do you expect from yourself expectations are too high they’re too high I I want a singles dub I can tell you that um what was the other half of that what expectations you have of yourself to achieve this year and in the

Future um I want to singles dub Nationals and World Championship too uh doubles or singles or both I’m trying to get I’m trying to get it all not everything back to back to back obviously that never goingon to happen I’m trying to get like I’m trying to get each of

Them before I am done with this and that’s the Legacy that you want to leave let everybody know like Tony Smith made this Mark yeah all right so what uh in cornhall right now who is your number one supporter like the person that you know that if something goes good bad or IND

Different they’re always going to have your back they’re always going to be right there you know watching you or you know supporting you if you had to pick one your number one supporter in cornhole or just in life who you got damn that’s tough one in cornhole like they’re in cornhole Hunter

Thor outside that my parents parents parents uh family they’re all huge supporters cuz all of them play too so oh you already know I got Garrett and and DK but yeah all of them are huge supporters in this so those the guys that you play with like you mentioned to the blind

Draws so what are the top Pros that that are your local blind draws because I believe you’re from Jimmy humans right or you and Jimmy close by no he’s four hours or so oh okay okay I’ve seen y’all play couple regionals I figured you a little close closer than that I’m the

Only Pro in Connecticut oh wow oh wow and I don’t believe there’s one in Rhode Island is tornado Pro still where is he where’s he at he’s in Worcester he’s at 30 minutes from me but he’s not a pro anymore oh okay um Jacob I believe is

The closest Pro to me and he’s an hour and 30 minutes so I gotta I got to travel a decent bit for nearby competition right or like Pro level competition because there’s still good local play uh players around here but everybody knows there’s levels to it man I

I all right so man I want I want to ask you this question uh you’re saying that you know cornhole is is your dream and being the singles champion and all this stuff and I know you’re happy you talked about you know what ACL has done and for

You to be what you want to be um if you could change one thing it could be whatever you want if you could change one thing about either cornhole how how it goes or how it’s going or if you could change one thing about cornhole

What would you do like it could be the business side it could be whatever like if you could change one thing about how the game is played right now what would you change um I I hate them slick and Slicker bags I hate I hate them

Things it it was something to do with that like you got to have like a like a somewhat slow side you can’t just have Game Changer slick Viper slick like come on yeah there’s people abusing that in the in the pros do you feel like that do you feel like

That says anything about because I know there’s where I come from man if you throw fast fast fast bags they feel like uh you’re just not Elite like that’s the opinion how do you feel about that um I’m I’m right there with you um you don’t got to throw it flat

For it to go in the hole and that’s that’s where I really I hate I just can’t watch it I can’t if I’m playing a against somebody and their bags looking like this I won’t hit the board if it’s it’s going like that and it’s going in the Hole uh it’s awful it

It just aggravates me I’m not going to lie when we played against each other at bag and Mania I looked at his facial expression every time I threw and he had that look like dude you got a ugly bag and I don’t know how that’s going in the

Hole he’s like who’s that guy I beat you oh you’re one of the ones I beat to he beat me like we played against each other like three or four times at B mania this last one yeah see he doesn’t even remember take your when you played with uh Asher Lil

Asher oh oh you’re talking about blind blind yeah yeah he’s like yeah I destroyed you bro yeah hey cool man hey look hey big tone man we appreciate you taking time uh coming through uh and and gracing our podast you know what I’m saying U but

What we like to do with all of our guests when we let them leave is just uh give a shout out to the people that believe in you if you had to let them know one thing that you wanted your supporters to know or the people

That you appreciate if you had a message to leave them with what would it be uh thank you uh not much more I’m I’m working uh I appreciate all the support that’s I don’t really got much solid man hey well we appreciate it man thank you for coming on our show uh

And again this Tony Smith Buffalo Nation we out peace thanks Tony apprciate appreciate it T man thanks a Lot N