If this was online poker, conspiracy theorists might think something smelled fishy. But this isn’t online, so let’s nip the “poker is rigged” talk in the bud right now. Tony “Bond18” Dunst, the host of the Raw Deal on World Poker Tour (WPT) broadcasts, won his first WPT event Sunday, taking down the WPT Caribbean Main Event for $145,000.
Going into the six-handed final table, Dunst was the chip leader, but that was only a technicality. With 1,418,000 chips, he was in a virtual dead heat with Severin Schleser, who had 1,416,000. Two other players were over a million: Robbie Bakker with 1,069,000 and Marvin Rettenmaier with 1,046,000. After them, there was a substantial drop off to Giacomo Fundaro (458,000) and Zoltan Purak (324,000).
Surprisingly, neither of the short stacks was the first one eliminated. That “honor” went to Bakker, who had to have been thrilled to see a flop of A♣-T♥-5♣ while holding Aces after getting Dunst to call his pre-flop three-bet. Bakker came out firing when the 2♦ was dealt on the turn and then went all-in for his last 615,000 when the Q♣ landed on the river. Unfortunately for him, Dunst had J♣-T♣, good for a rivered flush and Bakker was out in 6th place on Hand 34.
Dunst narrowed the field again on Hand 55, using A-Q to knock out Purak and his Eights when a Queen spiked on the river.
There was an even lengthier span of time until the next elimination, which occurred on Hand 86 of the final table. Rettenmaier, down to under 400,000, moved all-in pre-flop with J-8 suited and was called by Scleser, who had A-J. An Ace flopped, Rettenmaier couldn’t hit his flush, and he was out in 4th place.
Schleser himself hit the rail on the very next hand when, after several raises, he ended up all-in pre-flop with A-Q, dominated by Dunst and his A-K. The community cards reinforced the strength of Dunst’s hand and the tournament was now down to two players: Dunst with 4,790,000 chips and the surprising Fundaro, who was one of the short stacks to start the day, but still had 940,000 chips.
Dunst cruised through the heads-up match fairly easily. Fundaro did double-up once early, but other than that, he wasn’t able to make up much ground. On the 120th and final hand of the final table, Dunst put pressure on Fundaro by moving all-in pre-flop with J-2. Fundaro called off all his chips with K-3 suited, but Dunst flopped both a Jack and a deuce to win the hand and capture the WPT Caribbean title.
2013 WPT Caribbean Main Event – Final Table Results
1. Tony Dunst – $145,000
2. Giacomo Fundaro – $100,000
3. Severin Schleser – $63,500
4. Marvin Rettenmaier – $46,800
5. Zoltan Purak – $35,900
6. Robbie Bakker – $28,700
