World Poker Tour’s third-annual WPT Cruise set sail from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida last week, providing 320 passengers with an unforgettable poker vacation in the Caribbean. Sailing on the largest cruise ship in the world, Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas, the WPT Cruise explored ports of Labadee, Haiti; Falmouth, Jamaica; and Cozumel, Mexico.
The evenings and days were filled with non-stop poker action, with a variety of freerolls, tournaments, and cash games running late into the night. More than $95,000 was up for grabs in the tournaments, with the WPT Cruise Main Event generating a prize pool of nearly $30,000.
Paul Arrant topped the Main Event final table, which featured live commentary from the WPT’s own Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten, earning $8,880. Arrant defeated Rick Henson heads up, who pocketed $5,920.
Main Event – $220 Buy-in – Prize Pool $29,600– $8,880 – Paul Arrant
1st – $8,880 – Paul Arrant
2nd – $5,920 – Rick Henson
3rd – $4,140 – Jay Pugleasa
4th – $2,515 – John Gordon
5th – $1,775 – Sheila Fuller
6th – $1,480 – John Morelli
7th – $1,185 – Jenny Vars
8th – $890 – Fred Domingo
9th – $590 – Rick Lanning
2014 WPT Cruise Main Event Final Table Recap
Rick Lanning was the first casualty of the final table, with Louisianan Fred Domingo following him out the door after he failed to double up against John Gordon. Jenny Vars, was looking to one up her second-place finish at last year’s WPT Cruise Main Event, but her KK was run down by Paul Arrant’s A6. An ace spiked on the river, and crippled Jenny was eliminated in seventh place a few hands later.
John Morellie looked to be in good shape for a double as he was all in with KJ vs QJ, but a there was a queen on the flop and no help on the turn or river sent. Sheila Fuller, the chip leader coming into the final table, was knocked out in fifth place when her Q9 failed to improve vs Paul’s AQ.
John Gordon was another player who was making a back-to-back appearance at the WPT Cruise Main Event final table, but like Jenny he was unable to improve on his third-place finish from last year as his A6 couldn’t beat Jay Pugleasa’s 88.
With three remaining, Arrant had about half of the chips in play but it was the two shorter stacks, Pugleasa and Rick Henson, who went to battle. Pugleasa moved all in from the small blind with A6 — a very common hand at this final table — and Henson called from the big blind with A8. The flop came 675, giving Pugleasa the lead for the time being, but Henson held an open-ended straight draw. The 9 on the turn completed the straight, and the river was a brick. Pugleasa left in third place, taking home $4,140.
After the beautiful WPT Royal Flush Girl’s Ivy Teves and Danielle Ruiz brought out the WPT Cruise Main Event Trophy, retired Army man Paul Arrant and business owner Rick Henson were ready to square off. It only took a few hands for both players to get all of their chips in the middle on a rainbow flop of Q52. Henson held 53 for a pair of fives but Arrant was in a dominating position with Q5 for top two pair. Henson was unable to improve, settling for second place and $5,920.
Paul Arrant was crowned the 2014 WPT Cruise Main Event champion, earning the trophy and $8,880.
Other big winners on the week included Michael Vela, who won the win-your-cabin freeroll on the first night and then chopped the $500 high roller event three ways for nearly $7,000 along with Hovik Terminasyan and Shaun Phillips.
The next WPT Cruise will explore the majestic Alaskan coast, departing from Vancouver, Canada on May 22nd, 2015 and returning to Seattle, Washington on May 29th, 2015. Stay tuned to www.wptcruise.com for more details.
In the meantime, here are some of our favorite pictures from the WPT Cruise for you to enjoy:
