John McNulty Wins Card Player Poker Tour Palm Beach Kennel Club Main Event

Pockets Queens was the hand that captured a Card Player Poker Tour title for Jacksonville, Florida native John McNulty during the early evening hours December 16 at Palm Beach Kennel Club.

The 25-year old poker pro bested a field of 287 players in the first ever CPPT Palm Beach Kennel Club $1,100 no-limit hold’em $250,000 guarantee main event and outlasted a final table that included high-stakes cash game pro Brian Hastings and online tournament wizard Eric Blair to capture the $68,191 first-place prize, the CPPT trophy and 456 Card Player Player of the Year points.

The heads-up match came down to McNulty and Luke Brereton in a speedy conclusion to an even faster-paced final table which lasted a mere four and a half hours.

“Luke is an awesome player,” McNulty said after his win. “I ran good against him the whole tournament, on both days you know. That’s it. Your hands just have to hold and you have to get cards to win. It was cool.”

McNulty, who held a two-to-one chiplead to start the final battle, was up to 5.82 million compared to Brereton’s 1.35 million when the final hand began. Brereton got the last of his chips in the middle with AK and McNulty snap called with pocket Queens.

Brereton missed the flop of 864 and stood up from the table to wait for his needed outs. The 2 on the turn left Brereton drawing thin and the 7 on the river brought the end of the three-day tournament with McNulty as the reigning champion. An upbeat and congratulatory Brereton earned $42,142 for his runner-up finish.

“I played Day 1A and I ran up a big stack and I was up to nearly 200,000 which would have been in the top five chip stacks on Day 2 over both flights, but I managed to lose all that over the last two levels of the day,” Brereton said. “The next day I woke up and was in two minds as to take another bullet or not and I went for breakfast and I thought ‘ok, I’ll come and take another bullet’ and fortunately I did.”

For McNulty, the cash was the largest of his career.

“It’s cool, it’s awesome," he said. “I’m sort of stunned right now in the moment. It’s crazy.”

It was a fitting heads-up pairing as McNulty and Brereton were responsible for every bust out from the final table.

Gerard Donaghy, who won his seat to the main event through Palm Beach Kennel Club’s Player of the Month leaderboard in November was the first casualty of the final table.

Donaghy had been crippled by Evan Teitelbaum in an earlier hand and made his move for his tournament life when he open-shoved his last 71,000 to the middle from the hijack seat. McNulty raised to 175,000 from the cutoff but found no callers. The hands were tabled with Donaghy turning over 54 against McNulty’s KQ. The board ran out 103382 and Donaghy made his exit.

However, his $6,257 payday on a complete freeroll was not a bad way to end the tournament.

Next to go were Tom Gleason and Hastings, who were eliminated in a double knock-out hand to Brereton.

The double elimination began when Brereton raised to 50,000 from middle position and Hastings moved all-in for his last 350,000 from the hijack seat. Gleason moved all-in for less from the big blind and Brereton wasted no time making the call. Hastings had made his move with 44, Gleason held QQ and Brereton flipped up the AK. Gleason was ahead but not for long when Brereton picked flopped two pair on a AK8 flop. Brereton’s lead held after the 9 fell on the turn and he picked up the club-flush on a 6 river to eliminate both Hastings and Gleason.

Because he had moved all in with the larger stack, Hastings secured a seventh place finish for $9,947 while Gleason left in eighth place for a $7,842 payday.

“It was a pretty tough table,” Hastings said. “There are a lot of good players at that table.”

A second double knock-out nearly happened, this time at the hands of McNulty, but Ian O’Hara managed to stay alive through the hand with about one and half big blinds.

O’ Hara raised and McNulty just called before Blair got all-in for his last 500,000 with A9 and was called by both O’Hara and McNulty. McNulty held pocked Aces and O’Hara, who barely had McNulty covered, held pocket Kings. Blair’s hand failed to improve when the board ran out AQ589 and he left as the sixth place finisher for $12,894.

Down to almost nothing, O’Hara made his exit not long after when he shoved with 105 and Brereton called with K5. O’Hara never found the needed cards to stay alive and the young pro was eliminated in fifth to the tune of $16,920.

Next to go was Sean Winter, who on Day 2 had been down to nearly nothing and battled back to start the final table second in chips to Teitelbaum. Winter raised to 60,000 from the cutoff and McNulty three-bet to 155,000. Action folded back around to Winter who moved all-in for 1.15 million. McNulty took his time before he called with the 99 and was up against the AQ of Winter. The race began as the dealer spread K74[suit:spade]]7. McNulty chipped up to about 5 million while Winter hit the rail in fourth, collecting $22,560.

Teitelbaum, who began the day as the chipleader saw his tournament life come to an end as the third place finisher for $30,580 when he moved all-in for his last 645,000 with A9 and McNulty called with AJ. A board of J9587 was of not help to the former chipleader and he made his exit.

In all, McNulty eliminated five players from the final table to become to second CPPT champion of Season II.

Here is a look at the payouts and Card Player POY points awarded at this final table: