Imagine being on a cruise ship surrounded by the top poker players on Earth. After all, what better setting is there for poker than the Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines ship Voyager of the Seas? You can rock climb, ice skate, rocket down a water slide, then pony up $7,500 and enter a World Poker Tour event. In the inaugural PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, or PCA as it is known, Gus Hansen once again proved he’s one of the top pros in poker. He battled his way through what is quite possibly the toughest final table ever assembled in a major poker tournament, rivaled by The Big Game in Las Vegas, Joining Hansen at the televised final table were Hoyt Corkins, Daniel Negreanu, Michael Benedetto, John D’Agostino, and Remco Schrijvers. Hansen took home $430,780 for his efforts and recorded his third WPT title. The 2004 PCA occurred during the second season of the WPT. Hansen won two events during season one: the L.A. Poker Classic and Bellagio Five Diamond World Poker Classic.
Corkins entered the final day as the chip leader, but took a horrendous beat when play was down to just two remaining. The PokerStars recap of the event does a fantastic job of describing the action: “The defining hand of the tournament came when Hoyt raised to 43K and Gus pushed all-in for about 400K. Hoyt quickly called and showed Ac-9c. Gus could only produce Td-9d, leaving him in deep trouble. The flop was all spades - Q-9-3, and since neither man had a spade, only a ten or a miracle runner-runner straight could help Gus now, as Hoyt had him outchipped. But that miraculous ten came straight on the turn, the 2c on the river didn’t matter, and Gus Hansen had a new lease on poker life.”
Corkins cashed for $290,065. Just a few months prior, he took home over a million dollars and his first WPT title at the Foxwoods World Poker Finals. Corkins is a WSOP bracelet winner, his first coming in 1992. Negreanu rounded out one of the most talented top three combatants in WPT history. He’s one of the most visible poker players you’ll find and, at the time of the 2004 PCA, was a two-time WSOP bracelet winner (winning events in 1998 and 2003). Negreanu would go on to win another bracelet in 2004, four months after the final cards were dealt on the Voyager of the Seas.
Benedetto finished in fourth place, taking home $132,600. The newcomer onto the poker scene qualified through PokerStars and lost straight over straight to Hansen, sending him to the rails. D’Agostino was a newcomer when the 2004 PCA kicked off. He’d finish sixth in the 2004 United States Poker Championship (Corkins placed third in that event). Schrijvers, also a PokerStars qualifier, was eliminated by Hansen on the fifth hand of the tournament.
Bill Gazes, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Shawn “westtexasman” Rice, and Paul Wolfe all cashed as well. There were 221 entrants total. Hansen’s win also nets him a $25,000 entry into the 2004 WPT Championship at Bellagio.