Shawn Cunix Wins World Poker Tour Jacksonville BestBet Open

After a roller coaster final table, Shawn Cunix has emerged victorious in the 2012 World Poker Tour Jacksonville BestBet Open main event, earning the title, the $400,000 first-place prize and 672 Card Player Player of the Year points.

A couple weeks prior to the event, Cunix and his son were in an ATV accident, in which the massive machine rolled over and almost landed on Cunix’s son. With his child in danger, Cunix threw himself in between the machine and somehow found the strength to prevent it landing on the boy, breaking his own collarbone in the process. His son escaped unscathed, and Cunix has cited the event as eye-opening. He played through this entire tournament in pain.

“This has been one of the most humbling experiences of my life,” said an emotional Shawn Cunix. “If you put passion into anything, you’re capable of the unbelievable.”

The $5,000 buy-in WPT main event attracted 320 players, building a prize pool of $1.5 million. Cunix had to deal with a stacked final table, including prior WPT winner Will “The Thrill” Failla, who entered the final six in the middle of the pack, but ultimately busted out in sixth place for $54,704 and 224 POY points. This was Failla’s fifth final table finish of the year, and as a result of his consistent success he has moved into 19th place in the overall standings with 1,610 points and year-to-date earnings of $465,170.

Other notables at the final table include runner-up James Calerado, Darren Elias, Daniel Buzgon and Tony Dunst, who works as an analyst for the WPT doing segments for their television broadcasts and the commentary during their live-streaming broadcasts of their final tables. This marked the first time since taking up this role that Dunst was unable to fulfill his duties as an announcer because he was at the final table. He finished in fifth place for $66,532 and 280 points.

Here is a look at the payout and POY point info for the final table:

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