John Dipalma Wins the 10th and Final Cruise Package
John Dipalma from the Gameday Bar and Grill in Mansfield, Texas took down the tenth and final $3500 WPT cruise package while outlasting 18 other players during the championship tournament held on our FNP online site on Sunday, February 22nd.
John got off to a slow start, but started catching some hands to build himself up to one of the chip leaders. Once he got the chip lead he was able to maintain it through the rest of the tournament. John was running well too as he was able to get quads twice! Once the tournament was over John was really excited as he said, "I'm going swimming!" Click read more for the full story and blog.
9:20 - It just ended after the third break, we have our 10th and final person going on the cruise. John Dipalma who had Anthony Horton 2-1 in chips during the break hit trip 2's on the turn when Anthony flopped top pair. John had J-2, Anthony had 8-5 and the board read 2-3-5-2-9. John had a great quote after winning the tournament "Looks like I'm going swimming" Yes you are John congratulations!
9:15 - Tina McNabb just busted to John Dipalma. John took most of her chips when he held A-Q to Tina's 10-10. He then finished her off the following hand. It was a great run for Tina who has won a Vegas package from the league previously.
9:07 - Trent Johnson's day ends on the river as he held pocket 6's and went up against John Dipalma's A-4 suited. The river brought the Ace. We are down to three players with first winning the cruise package, second getting $500, and third getting $300.
9:00 - Trent Johnson has just eliminated Jack Lippert and Jeff Busick in three person all in. Jack was short stacked and made a move from the button, Jeff missed his open ended straight draw. Trent took down the 17,000 pot, we are now at the final four. All remaining players John Dipalma, Trent Johnson, Tina McNabb, and Anthony Horton are from Gameday Bar and Grill in Mansfield TX.
8:30 - John Dipalma just eliminated Mike Laracca when they tangled with each other in the blinds. Mike held the best of them pre-flop A-Q to John's A-10. John was able to eliminate Mike by catching a flush on the river. Mike was the league champion at the Dragon bar in session two. Tough way to go.
8:10 - We are at the final table with the second break. Dennis Lusk and Justin Champman were eliminated to John Dipalma when John hit quads for the second time tonight. The pot was 35,000. We are down to 7 players remaining.
- John Dipalma from Gameday in Texas 50,405
- Trent Johnson from Gameday in Texas 34,674
- Jeff Busick from Hightopps in Maryland 30,507
- Anthony Horton from Gameday in Texas 22,548
- Jack Lippert from Attitudes in Florida 21,058
- Tina McNabb from Gameday in Texas 21,000
- Mike Laracca from the Dragon in Kentucky 9,808
8:00 Jeff Busick just eliminated two short stack players, Ed Flynn and Precilla Willey after flopping top set to Precilla's nut flush draw to Ed's 2 over cards. 9 players remaining.
7:47 Hank Smetak has just busted to Trent Johnson when he flopped top-top, but Trent caught open ended straight the turn bring him to over 30,000 in chips.
7:45 - In five minutes we have just lost 4 players. Dave Gaskill, Dave Brown, Don White, and Eddie Huff have all been eliminated. We are down to 12 players.
7:40 - John Dipalma is on a heater as he had pocket Kings and the flop came with 2 kings and the very next hand he tangles with Josh Snyder. The board read 3-9-A-9-7 John took all of Josh chips with his A-K to A-J in a 31,000 pot putting John as the tournament leader by far with over 44,000
7:30 Play is going very slowly as players started with 10k in chips and 15 min blind levels which are long online levels. Gene Gregorio from Gameday in TX fell in 18th place just now getting outkicked on top pair as he was short-stacked.
7:17 OT Hale from Indiana was the first player to bust as he got rivered when it came runner runner flush to his top pair, top kicker holding AK.
7:15 - Josh Snyder hits a royal flush with A-10 of clubs and wins 5892 chips in the process.
7:05 - 1st break - None of the players have busted yet although there are a few with under 5k in chips. The blinds will be 200/400 when we return and Jack is the current chip leader with 26,877.
7:00 - Jack Lippert cruising as he just took some more chips off of John Dipalma from Texas. Jack flopped a flush, while John held top two pair. Jack is now over 27,000 in chips.
6:45 - BIG HAND ALERT - Jack Lippert won the biggest pot of the tourney so far after hitting a full house with JT and the board coming T7T37. He tangled with OT Hale from Indiana after OT had min-raised preflop. They bet back and forth til the river when OT paid off Jack and bringing him to over 20k in chips!
6:35 - Dennis Lusk from Florida just tangled in a big pot with Dave Gaskill from Indiana. Dennis flopped a set against Dave's A-K. Dennis took half of Dave's chips leaving him with under 5,000 and moving Dennis to 2nd overall with 13,000. The current chip leader with over 15,000 is Jack Lippert from Florida.
6:20 - The first blind level has just completed and the early chip leader is Josh Synder from Florida with 12,000 in chips.
The final 19 players are
Jack Lippert - Attitudes - Fort Walton Beach, FL
Dennis Lusk - Attitudes - Fort Walton Beach, FL
Dave Gaskill - Chrome Hog - Lafayette, IN
O.T. Hale - Chrome Hog - Lafayette, IN
Pricilla Wiley - Dragon Bar - Frankfort, KY
Mike Larocca - Dragon Bar - Frankfort, KY
Eddie Huff - J.D. Legends - Nicholasville, KY
Ed Flynn - Jad's Caddyshack - Essex, MD
Jeff Busick - Hightopps - Timonium, MD
Donald White- Jad's Caddyshack - Essex, MD
Josh Synder - Sunshine Bowl - Deland, FL
Hank Smetak - Gameday - Mansfield, TX
John Dipalma - Gameday - Mansfield, TX
Justin Champman - Gameday - Mansfield, TX
David Brown - Gameday - Mansfield, TX
Trent Johnson - Gameday - Mansfield, TX
Anthony Horton - Gameday - Mansfield, TX
Tina McNabb - Gameday - Mansfield, TX
Gene Gregorio - Gameday - Mansfield, TX
Anyone that wants to watch this special online championship is welcome to view the tables. Good luck to the final 19 as one of these players will win a $3,500 poker cruise package, all for playing free poker. They will also join our nine other "Ship It!" winners aboard the Norwegian Spirit in leaving on Sunday, April 12th and will also have a seat at the exclusive 10-player final for the Grand Prize $10,000 Highroller dream poker vacation including two World Series of Poker buy-ins.