The 6th Annual WPT Cruise recently finished and it was a trip to remember. More than 200 poker fans were joined by WPT cast members Vince Van Patten, Tony Dunst, Lynn Gilmartin, and Caitlyn Howe all for a week of poker and fun on one of the biggest cruise ships in the world, Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas. In addition to all of the excitement on the ship, the WPT Cruise visited Nassau, Bahamas, and made a trip to Mexico to tour Cozumel and Costa Maya.
At night after leaving each port and on three sea days, the action heated up in the ship’s poker room where Vince, Tony, Lynn, and Caitlyn played tournaments and cash games with cruise passengers. Available to the passengers were multiple freerolls with prizes that included seats into World Poker Tour events and trips to the next WPT Cruise. Poker players could also compete in several tournaments with combined payouts totaling $90,000.
The poker-playing festivities culminated with the WPT Cruise $250 Main Event, which included live commentary of the final table by Vince, Tony, and Lynn. A field of 112 players competed in the event, and players who busted out were comforted by Caitlyn during bust out interviews.
Guy Caudill (pictured, seated) became the winner of the WPT Cruise Main Event after he defeated Lilla Maxwell in heads-up play to earn the $6,250 first-place prize. Not only did Caudill battle through a field of 112 entries that included WPT cast members, but he had to overcome starting in seventh chip position amongst the final nine players.
1st: Guy Caudill – $6,750
2nd: Lilla Maxwell – $4,700
3rd: Caesar Sargunetti – $3,055
4th: Frankie Ferguson – $2,175
5th: Steve Nichols – $1,715
6th: Anthony Teolis – $1,375
7th: Dwayne Walters – $1,100
8th: Kirk Allmon – $900
9th: Michael Costa – $735
Despite starting the final table third to last in chips, Caudill eliminated the first five players.
The first to go was Michael Costa, whose queen-jack couldn’t outdraw the ace-king from Caudill. After that, it was Caudill with ace-king again to win a flip and knockout out bull rider Kirk Allmon with pocket nines.
A few hands later, Dwayne Walters ran into Caudill’s pocket queens to finish in seventh place, and then it was Caudill winning another race with pocket sevens against the ace-king suited of Anthony Teolis.
Steve Nichols, one of the WPT Cruise winners on ClubWPT’s new television show King of the Club, pushed all in with ace-seven, but he was called by Caudill holding a dominating ace-king. Nichols failed to improve and took fifth place for a payout of $1,715.
Frankie Ferguson was navigating the final table beautifully until Caesar Sargunetti doubled through her when he moved in with the lowly deuce-three in a blind-versus-blind situation. Ferguson made the right call with a suited king-five, but she was unlucky when a two came on the flop to give Sargunetti the win. The very next hand, she was eliminated by Sargunetti’s pocket threes when her king-two couldn’t connect.
Sargunetti’s good fortune didn’t last long, as on the very next hand he pushed with ace-nine from the cutoff seat and was called by Caudill’s pocket jacks, eliminating him in third place.
Caudill entered the heads-up contest with a massive chip lead over a short-stacked Lilla Maxwell. Maxwell has been on every WPT Cruise and was hoping to double up quickly to make it a match, but the very first hand of heads-up play saw it all come to an end. Maxwell was all in with nine-seven against the jack-four of hearts for Caudill, and the jack-four held up. Maxwell earned $4,700 for a second-place finish, and Caudill was crowned champion for $6,750.
In addition to playing poker throughout the week, cruisers were also able to get valuable insight from WPT Champion and new WPT Commentator Tony Dunst during two LearnWPT training sessions. All cast members shared their stories with passengers during an intimate Q&A session, and cruisers were able to get an inside look into the lifestyle of working on the World Poker Tour.
One of the highlights for passengers each year is Vince Van Patten’s prop games, where contestants can play carnival-type games for big money. Whether it’s trying to throw a ping pong ball onto a poker table or trying to hit Dunst with a tennis ball, it’s always fun to try and take Van Patten’s cash.
For more information on upcoming WPT Cruises, visit www.wptcruise.com.