On Shawn Cunix’s website, he writes that he is committed to the core purpose of “inspiring happiness.” We think that $400,600 could be quite the inspiration. This is what Cunix won Wednesday for his triumph in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Jacksonville BestBet Open, along with a $25,500 into the season-ending WPT Championship and a WPT Champions Trophy. This was his first major live tournament victory.
Going into final table play, Cunix had a stout chip lead. Holding 2.77 million chips, he had more than 600,000 than the second place player, James Calderaro, and over 1.2 million more than the next guy, Will “The Thrill” Failla.
For a while, it looked like Cunix might go wire-to-wire. Early on, he nabbed a 1.4 million chip pot against Failla, sending Failla down to just 1 million chips while increasing his own stack to 3.755 million. By hand 26 of the final table, he was up over 4 million, eliminated Failla in 6th place on hand 40 to reach 4.71 million, and then crested the 5 million chip mark two hands later. At that point Shawn Cunix had more chips than the other four players at the table combined.
Cunix grew his stack to around 5.5 million when the tournament was down to four players, but once it got to three-handed, he began to run into trouble. Darren Elias won the first four hands of three-handed play, including three directly against Cunix, to take the chip lead. At that point (hand 77 of the final table), Cunix was all the way down to 2.395 million. He made a run to get the lead back for a short time, but then Calderaro took off, eclipsing 5 million at one point.
By hand 106 of the final table, Cunix was reeling, holding just 1.315 million chips with the big blind already at 60,000. Fortunately, he found some luck when, with just Jh-9h in the hole, he called an Elias three-bet all-in, putting his own tournament life at risk. Elias had Ad-Q, so Cunix needed some help. The flop of 7d-7h-2h gave him a flush draw, but that was all. The 6c on the turn was a total brick, but the 3h on the river completed Cunix’s flush, giving him new life and more than 3 million chips. He took another 900,000 from Elias on the next hand and then Elias was shown the door by Calderaro on the hand after that.
Going into heads-up play, James Calderaro had the chip lead, 5.61 million to 3.97 million. The two chip leaders to begin the day were now the last two remaining. A few hands in, Cunix took the lead, but Calderaro quickly snatched it back and eventually started growing it, taking a lead of more than 3 million at hand 128. Undeterred, Cunix kept plugging away and just barely inched ahead of his opponent ten hands later. After he was able to accomplish that, there were a couple key hands that led Cunix to victory.
The first was hand 143 of the final table, which started with both players seeing the flop of As-9h-7s for the minimum. They both checked to bring on the 6h on the turn, at which point Calderaro bet 200,000, followed by a call from Cunix. The 7h fell on the river, prompting another 200,000 chip bet from Calderaro, a bet which was met this time by a raise to 500,000 by Cunix. Calderaro made the call, but mucked when Cunix revealed 7d-3d for trip 7’s. Cunix was now sitting with a stack of 5.755 million chips while Calderaro was down to 3.825 million.
The second big hand was just four hands later. Cunix min-raised pre-flop to 200,000, Calderaro three-bet to 400,000, and Cunix called. The flop was a rather innocent looking Ts-Th-5s and Calderaro bet 600,000, followed by a Cunix call. It looks like that may have been just a bluff, though, as Calderaro checked the 5d on the turn and folded when Cunix bet 650,000. Cunix showed his 6h-4h, giving him nothing but a flush draw. That pot put Cunix in command, leading 6.855 million to 2.725.
Calderaro didn’t have a comeback in him. Just a few hands later, Cunix shoved for 8.1 million with 3h-3s and Calderaro called with Jd-Td. All things considered, it wasn’t too bad of a situation for Calderaro, but it became a horrible one when Cunix flopped a set. Calderaro had a gut-shot straight draw on the turn, but the river blanked and Cunix was crowned the WPT Jacksonville BestBet Open champion.
World Poker Tour Jacksonville BestBet Open – Final Table Standings
1. Shawn Cunix – $400,600
2. James Calderaro – $236,560
3. Darren Elias – $147,850
4. Daniel Buzgon – $94,624
5. Tony Dunst – $66,532
6. Will Failla – $54,704
