The WPT live updates recently shared that patrons on the WPT Cruise can buy some official merchandise onboard.
They said...
The WPT Voyage is quickly coming to an end with just one more full day of excitement ahead before disembarkment on Saturday morning.
Don't leave without a piece of official World Poker Tour or WPT Voyage memorabilia from the Virgin Voyages gift shop on Deck 6.
Virgin Voyages is well known for Scarlet Night, which according to their website is:
"A full ship activation that is amorphous at its core, meant to be unique for each Sailor ... Scarlet Night is the result of a creative collaboration between Virgin Voyages’ in-house entertainment team and award-winning producer behind Sleep No More, Queen of the Night, and The Donkey Show, Randy Weiner, who conceived, designed and produced this, multi location-based event. Brooklyn’s exceptional nightlife producers, 'House of Yes' carry the energy on later into the night, with their creative experience concepts at Scarlet Lady’s onboard nightclub, The Manor."
Needless to say, poker players had a good time as evidenced by these photos shared by the WPT.
The third and final day of the WPT Voyage $5,000 Main Event saw the final nine players from a 293-entry field return to play down to a winner. Farid Jattin began the day as the chip leader, while reigning WPT World Champion Dan Sepiol was looking to follow up his $5.3 million win with a second title.
However, when the dust settled it was Aram Oganyan who emerged as the champion for $214,245 after a three-way deal with Carlo Basurto and Austin Srur.
“I feel amazing,” Oganyan told Vince Van Patten after the victory. “This is so fun. This is like unbelievable, won some flips at the end. Got some bluffs through and here we are we got our name on the trophy.”
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aram Oganyan | $214,245* |
| 2 | Carlo Basurto | $202,885* |
| 3 | Austin Srur | $188,670* |
| 4 | Farid Jattin | $100,000 |
| 5 | Dan Sepiol | $75,000 |
| 6 | Romula Dorea | $55,000 |
| 7 | Kasey Mills | $42,000 |
| 8 | Iman Dan | $34,000 |
| 9 | Marcelo Giordano | $28,000 |
* Denotes three-way deal.
Check Out the Best Outfits From the WPT Voyage MUG & PJ Party
On the very first hand of the day, Marcelo Giordano bowed out after losing a flip with pocket tens to Sepiol’s suited Big Slick, which rivered a spade flush. On Hand #23, Iman Dan also fell at the hands of Sepiol, who turned a flush holding ace-seven to beat the former’s pocket fours.
The short-stacked Kasey Mills bowed out eight hands later after moving all in under the gun with pocket fives only to run smack dab into Basurto’s pocket kings in the big blind. Mills’ exit in seventh place set up the official WPT final table of six, and soon after popular Brazilian vlogger Romulo Dorea hit the rail after shoving the small blind with king-nine suited and failing to overcome Jattin, who called from the big blind with ace-three.
Sepiol’s run came to an end in fifth place after he got his stack all in on the turn holding pocket queens on a ten-high board and was called by Jattin’s pocket eights. Jattin spiked a straight on the river and just like that Sepiol’s day came to an end.
Four-handed play lasted a while and proved to be a back-and-forth affair. Eventually, in Level 28 (75,000/125,000/125,000) Jattin four-bet jammed for 1.6 million with two red aces and was called by the king-queen of spades of Basurto. Jattin was way ahead until two red kings appeared on the flop to give Basurto trips.
After Jattin’s departure in fourth place, the final three players worked a deal that saw them leave $31,400 to play for, which included a $10,400 seat into the season-ending WPT World Championship. The trio opted to blind flip for things, and Oganyan tripled up in the first. In the second, he held pocket deuces and flopped a set to score a double elimination and officially close out the WPT Voyage Main Event.
“I feel like it’s nice to win it, but I still don’t 100% feel like I actually won it, because of the flipping,” Oganyan told the WPT after the tournament. “I feel like it would have been nice to play it out, and it would have felt more of like a real deal championship. But they wanted to chop it, and I always take someone asking to chop as a compliment, like, ‘Hey, I think you’re good at poker and I don’t think I have a big edge over you.’ So we just agreed to cut the variance down, flip for the championship and here we are.”
The WPT Voyage $5,000 Main Event may be over, but there is still plenty of poker action to be had on the Virgin Voyages’ Valiant Lady. That includes the $1,100 WPT Prime Voyage Championship, which will see all the survivors from three starting flights return for Day 2 action on Thursday. PokerNews will have a recap of that tournament upon its completion.
*Images courtesy of WPT.
On Tuesday night, the WPT Voyage $5,000 Main Event saw the surviving 37 players from a 293-entry field return to action. The money bubble burst at the end of Day 1, so everyone in the field was guaranteed
Of course, everyone had their eyes firmly fixed on the $285,800 top prize, and the man best positioned to make a run at it is poker pro Farid Jattin, who bagged the chip lead with 3,650,000. Not too far behind him is Austin Srur with 3,410,000, while Dan Sepiol, who won the WPT World Championship last December for $5.3 million, is still in contention with 1,460,000.
| Seat | Player | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Farid Jattin | 3,650,000 (91 bb) |
| 2 | Carlo Basurto | 450,000 (11 bb) |
| 3 | Iman Dan | 680,000 (17 bb) |
| 4 | Kasey Mills | 695,000 (17 bb) |
| 5 | Aram Oganyan | 1,460,000 (37 bb) |
| 6 | Austin Srur | 3,410,000 (85 bb) |
| 7 | Marcelo Giordano | 655,000 (16 bb) |
| 8 | Dan Sepiol | 1,460,000 (37 bb) |
| 9 | Romulo Dorea | 2,000,000 (50 bb) |
Among those to fall on Day 2 were Christina Magana (37th - $9,600), Ryan Riess (33rd - $9,600), Adam Weinraub (27th - $12,000), Eliot Hudon (22nd - $14,000), Andrew Neeme (19th - $17,000), WPT commentator Tony Dunst (17th - $17,000), Day 1 chip leader Landen Lucas (12th - $20,000), and popular Japanese vlogger Masato Yokosawa (10th - $28,000).
Dunst exited in Level 21 (15,000/25,000/25,000) after three-bet jamming with king-jack over Sepiol’s open with ace-ten. The latter called and despite making two pair on the turn, Dunst was downed as Sepiol made a Broadway straight.
For Masato, he fell in Level 23 (20,000/40,000/40,000) when he jammed the button for 140,000 holding the K♥10♥ and Iman Dan called from the small blind with the Q♦8♦. The board ran out Q♥Q♣J♠2♣2♠ and Dan filled up to send Masato out the door as the final table bubble boy.
The final nine players will return on Wednesday with 19:36 remaining in Level 23 (20,000/40,000/40,000) and will play down to a winner. PokerNews will offer a full recap upon completion of the tournament.
*Images courtesy of WPT.
It hasn't been all fun and games on the currently underway World Poker Tour (WPT) Voyage, or maybe it has been. Much of the fun on the weeklong venture through the Caribbean took place on the first night, which featured a pajama-themed WPT Voyage Meet-Up Game followed by the WPT Voyage PJ Party.
Both events took poker players out of their comfort zones and put them in comfortable clothes. From fleece onesies to branded PokerNews two pieces, there were no shortage of entertaining, intriguing and outright hilarious outfits.
Here's a look at some of the best outfits from the Day 1 activities, which brought out the likes of Vince Van Patten, Lynn Gilmartin, Alexandra Grey, Andrew Neeme, Ethan "Rampage" Yau, Caitlin Comeskey, Nikki Limo, Tyler Patterson, Julie Cornelius and ClubWPT Qualifier Monika Heppner, who PokerNews wrote about ahead of the Voyage.
The World Poker Tour (WPT) Voyage on Virgin Voyages’ Valiant Lady set sail from Miami, Florida on Sunday, and for a solid 36 hours, it was all about the poker action with both the $5,000 Main Event and $1,100 WPT Prime tournaments kicking off, not to mention a slew of side events and cash games.
On Tuesday, poker took a back seat for a bit as the luxurious cruise ship docked at George Town in the Cayman Islands. Whenever a cruise ship is at port, most onboard activities pause so that guests can go ashore to partake in excursions or whatever activities tickle their fancy.
While players like WPT champs Dan Sepiol and Tyler Patterson were busy at Matt Savage’s golf event, and others such as Matt Berkey and my colleague Connor Richards at Vince Van Patten’s pickleball tournament, I took the opportunity to hang out with some friends from the Midwest.
I met up with MSPT Hall of Famer Josh Reichard and his wife Ashely, as well as Minnesota’s Ben Valder and his wife Amber – who actually won their way aboard the WPT Voyage via an Andrew Neeme social media giveaway – and took a shuttle to 7-Mile Beach, which won “The Caribbean’s Best Beach” in 2015 from Caribbean Travel and Life Magazine.
Both Reichard and Valder are well-known in Midwest poker circles. The former spent several years working for the MSPT and is no stranger to the poker table having amassed more than $240,000 in tournament winnings according to the Hendon Mob. That includes a career-high $40,866 for finishing third in the 2015 Poker Night in America $1,650 Main Event.
As for Reichard, he has nearly $3.2 million in lifetime earnings including a career-best $339,646 for finishing second in last year’s WSOP Event #74: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em. Reichard is tied for second place on the WSOP Circuit’s all-time ring list with 15, and he is also an MSPT Hall of Famer. When it comes to Midwest crushers, Reichard is near the top of most everybody’s list.
While actually only 6.3 miles long, the beach featured beautiful white sand and crystal-clear blue water. There were a lot of people taking advantage of the hot-but-not-so-stifling weather, but with plenty of beachfront property, it didn’t feel crowded.
By happenstance, while walking down the beach, I wandered by LearnWPT Team Member Adrian Naggy, who the day before helped lead a special ClubWPT training session alongside poker pro Brian Altman. He had just eaten at the seaside Coccoloba, a part Mexican street taco joint, and part beach hut. He spoke highly of the establishment, which was “mango-throwing distance from the water,” and recommended the fish tacos.
Naturally, we decided to check it out for ourselves and let me tell you Naggy wasn’t wrong. The food was fire, which was fitting given it was a part of the Seafire Resort & Spa, and the margaritas weren’t bad either.
By the time the check arrived – Reichard gave us a freeroll of him picking up the check by playing a game of Crocodile Roulette, but yours truly lost and blew a chance for the Valder’s and I to have a free meal – it was time to head back to the dock and catch the shuttle boat back to the main ship.
For Reichard, Valder, and myself, poker awaited in the form of the $1,100 WPT Prime Day 1b Turbo Flight. The WPT Voyage might not be all about poker, but there’s always poker to look forward to at the end of the day.
Reigning World Poker Tour (WPT) world champion Dan Sepiol is well on his way to becoming the inaugural WPT Voyage Main Event champion, and that's no April Fool's joke. The first day of the $5,000 buy-in WPT Voyage Championship kicked off on Monday, April 1 and saw Sepiol bagging third in chips to closely trail chip leader Landen Lucas and fellow WPT champion Matthew Wantman, who bagged second in chips.
There were plenty of other familiar faces among the 37 players who bagged Day 1 of the WPT Voyage Main Event, which drew 293 runners for a prize pool of $1,347,800. Among those who bagged are WPT champions Tony Dunst, Matthew Wantman, Ryan Riess, Masato Yokosawa, Tyler Patterson and Eliot Hudon, WPT Global Ambassador Andrew Neeme and notables Greg Himmelbrand, Jerry Wong and Kasey Mills.
| RANK | PLAYER | CHIP COUNT | BIG BLINDS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Landen Lucas | 1,139,000 | 95 | |
| 2 | Matthew Wantman | 845,000 | 70 | |
| 3 | Dan Sepiol | 784,000 | 65 | |
| 4 | Carlos Miguel Basurto Romero | 645,000 | 54 | |
| 5 | Bart Dowling | 631,000 | 53 | |
| 6 | Dong Min | 630,000 | 53 | |
| 7 | Adam Weinraub | 563,000 | 47 | |
| 8 | Aram Oganyan | 544,000 | 45 | |
| 9 | Tyler Patterson | 504,000 | 42 | |
| 10 | Jeff Farnes | 503,000 | 42 |
There was high energy inside the Red Room on board the Valient Lady as the ship filled with poker players sailed through the Atlantic Ocean.
The field of a few hundred players dwindled slowly throughout the day, with Xuan Liu, Olga Iermolcheva, Aaron Massey, Steven "Cuz" Buckner, Stephen Song and Martin Zamani among those to bust.
Action slowed toward the bubble with a half dozen tables remaining and slowed further at the stone bubble with 38 players remaining. During the second hand of hand-for-hand play, William Tweed moved all in for less than three big blinds with Big Slick only for Toby Boas to hunt him down the big blind with nine-three offsuit, according to WPT updates.
A flop featuring a three was bad news for Tweed and a brick runout confirmed his elimination on the stone bubble.
There's still plenty of action to come with Day 2 slated to get underway on Tuesday, April 2 at 8 p.m. local time, giving players ample of time to enjoy a day on the shores of Grand Cayman. Day 2 will play down to a final table of players that will return for Day 3
Each returning player is guaranteed a payday of at leat $9,600 and $285,800 waits up top for the eventual champion. Head to worldpokertour.com for further updates on the Main Event action.
| PLACE | PRIZE (IN USD) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $285,800 | |
| 2 | $190,000 | |
| 3 | $130,000 | |
| 4 | $100,000 | |
| 5 | $75,000 | |
| 6 | $55,000 | |
| 7 | $42,000 | |
| 8 | $34,000 | |
| 9-10 | $28,000 | |
| 11-12 | $24,000 | |
| 13-15 | $20,000 | |
| 16-19 | $17,000 | |
| 20-23 | $14,000 | |
| 24-27 | $12,000 | |
| 28-31 | $10,600 | |
| 32-37 | $9,600 |
*Photos courtesy WPT
With decades of poker experience, Illinois' Monika Heppner is ready to take on the pros, and hopefully get a few photos with them, on the upcoming WPT Voyage after winning a package on ClubWPT.
From March 31 to April 6, 2024, the World Poker Tour (WPT) will take over an entire Virgin Voyages cruise ship for a six-day poker festival that features $1.5 million in guarantees, including a $5,000 buy-in and $1,000,000 guaranteed WPT Main Event.
PokerNews caught up with Heppner, who is originally from Poland, to learn about her poker background and how she got one step closer to achieving her dream of having her name etched on the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup.
Learn the History of the WPT Voyage!
PokerNews: What brought you to the US from Poland?
Heppner: I came from Poland 21 years ago to my mom. Not long after that I met my son's dad. My Boy is 19 now. He is a very special boy, his name is Maxwell and he is autistic. My math genius. He is my number one fan and tells me every day that I will win and he wants to see me on TV.
How did you win your WPT Voyage trip?
I registered on the WPT website and I became a Diamond member. Three months later, I played satellite to a main event where you can win a passport for a Voyage cruise. I qualified for that event, and I took first place. I was so happy and very excited at the same time.
When and how did you learn to play poker?
I was the only girl in the family and I had an older brother and he always wanted a brother, so he raised me like one lol. I played soccer in Poland and we played a lot of card games, one of them was poker.
I never thought I would play later in my life, Then I met my husband and we started playing poker together, We started playing more when we moved to Wisconsin for 4 years so Maxwell could finish high school (that was Covid time). We were playing poker with people we met in a small bar and we became friends. After Covid, I started playing cash games at Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin, IL. I started with $1-$3 and after six months I went to $2-$5 games and I started winning. I started playing WSOP Circuit events. I cashed 80% of them but I haven't won yet. I played a couple events in Florida I played WPT Rock 'N' Roll Poker Open in Hollywood I cashed one.
"I joined a Smoke'n Aces Poker league so much fun. I'm a member of the Women's Poker Association."
I played a couple events in Vegas. I started playing tournaments two years ago, I'm usually a cash player. Since Grand Victoria Casino started playing daily tournaments. I've been playing more often. I joined a Smoke'n Aces Poker league so much fun. I'm a member of the Women's Poker Association.
How long have you been a member of ClubWPT and what inspired you to join in the first place?
I've been a member of ClubWPT for more than a year now. I started playing on WPT for fun and to practice my tournament skills.
Have you ever been on a cruise or poker cruise?
It will be my first cruise, and I think that's my biggest prize in tournaments. I'm very excited that I can meet people I see on the TV. I'm hoping to get even more experience and learn to play better.
WPT Voyage and WPT at Sea — What's the Difference?
What’s your proudest poker accomplishment to date?
I met Chris Moneymaker and I had a chance to play with him, a very nice and respectful person. It was a great experience.
What are you most looking forward to about the WPT Voyage? Are there poker pros you would like to meet or play with?
I would love to meet Phil Ivey I like his style of playing, Daniel Negreanu, Kristen Foxen I love to watch her playing, Erik Seidel is an icon, Jason Koon ... and of course Jennifer Tilly, a great cash player.
I think meeting them and being able to talk with them will be a great chance to learn more about being a great poker player.
My dream... My name on the Mike Sexton trophy.
WPT Voyage: Do You Know Who Sailed Away with the Biggest Poker Prize at Sea?
*Images courtesy Monika Heppner.
The WPT Voyage is now underway and there are plenty of exciting activities planned for the poker players on board. On Tuesday, April 2, those players have a chance to get away from the felt and get out in the sun for some pickleball.
The Vince Van Patten Pickleball Tournament will take place in Grand Cayman on and is open for first-timers and experts alike. Things will kick off at 10 a.m. local time with a session for beginners before a session for intermediate players and above at 12:30 p.m.
Each session will start with interaction and training from WPT's Vince Van Patten, a former tennis pro and current pickleball pro, as well as World #1 Ranked Singles Senior Pickleball Pro Mattias Johannson.
After training, a round-robin tournament will take place with plenty of prizes up for grabs. Some of the side games include Around the World, Beat the Pro, and a Trick Shot Contest.
For more information about the WPT Voyage Pickleball Tournament, which costs $100 to enter, visit wptvoyage.com/pickleball.