Bond18 wins $145,000 in the Caribbean

The World Poker Tour Caribbean Main Event concluded on Saturday to make for one of the best final table stories. The action took place at the Casino Royale in St. Maarten and after a few long days of play, Tony “Bond18” Dunst took home his first WPT trophy and $145,000 to go with it.

With the gorgeous setting and 747 jumbo jets landing in the background, the Caribbean lived up to its reputation as being one of the best places in the world to play poker.

WPT Caribbean Final Table

The final table certainly wasn’t an easy one as two former World Poker Tour champions were looking to add even more trophies to their collection. Marvin Rettenmaier and Giacomo Fundaro were two of the big threats at the table but Dunst had an advantage over them from the start of the day as he was the chip leader at the final table.

Six-handed play didn’t last long as Dunst increased his lead by eliminating Robert Bakker 34 hands into the day. Dunst started the action with a min-raise to 32,000 from early position and Bakker made it 90,000 from the SB. Dunst called and an Ac-Th-5c flop came on the table. Bakker fired an 85,000 bullet and Dunst made the call. After a 2d came on the turn, Bakker fired another bullet, this time worth 197,000 chips, and Dunst once again just called. A Qc on the river completed the board and Bakker shoved all-in for his remaining 615,000 stack only to have his pocket Aces dominated by Jc-Tc which gave Dunst a flush and a big pot.

Zoltan Purak was the next to go to the rail and again, it was by the hands of Dunst. According to the WPT live blog, Purak went all-in for his remaining 275,000 stack from the cutoff and Dunst made the call with Ac-Qc. Purak was ahead with pocket Eights but the 5d-5c-2c flop gave Dunst a flush draw. The Th on the turn didn’t change much but the Qd on the river gave Dunst the win and sent Purak home.

Back-to-back WPT events winner Marvin Rettenmaier was on his fourth final table in the World Poker Tour and seeking another big win. His dream of winning the trophy in the Caribbean was cut short when he was eliminated in fourth place. He went all-in from the small blind with J-8 of hearts and ran into Severin Schleser, who had him dominated with Ad-Js. An Ace on the flop was enough to seal the deal.

However, Schleser wasn’t able to hold on to the chips for long and was the next player to be eliminated from the tournament, leaving Giacomo Fundaro and Tony Dunst to battle it out heads up for the title.

WPT Caribbean Heads Up

When the match started, Dunst had 4.790 million chips while Fundaro was holding 940,000. A few hands later and Fundaro doubled up. With Dunst still in the lead, he kept the pressure on his opponent and won a major pot on hand #115 to leave Fundaro with less than 10 big blinds in front of him.

It was just a matter of time until the decisive blow was given and it happened during hand #120, the last of the tournament. Dunst shoved all-in from position and Fundaro made the call with Kh-3h. Dunst was behind with Jd-2h but got a big lead after the flop came Js-9d-2s. The later streets brought a pair of sixes and Dunst claimed his fifth WPT cash and his first title.