Rita Keldani Wins 2021 Card Player Poker Tour Palm Beach Kennel Club Main Event

The 2021 Card Player Poker Tour Palm Beach Kennel Club series came to an exciting conclusion this weekend with Rita Keldani winning the main event of the eight-tournament festival. A total of 298 entries were made in the $350 buy-in no-limit hold’em event, blowing away the $25,000 guarantee to create a final prize pool of $91,050. Keldani emerged victorious with the title and the largest share of the money: $20,750.

In addition to the top prize, the Delray Beach resident was also awarded 182 Card Player Player of the Year points. As a result of her victory, she has won her way into 13th place in the early 2021 POY race standings, which are sponsored by Global Poker.

A total of 998 entries were made across the eight events of this CPPT series at The Poker Room at Palm Beach Kennel Club, with $177,205 in total prize money paid out along the way. Every single event on the schedule featured a guarantee, with all eight being easily surpassed due to big turnouts.

The series-ending main event kicked off with the first of two starting days on Jan. 8 at 12:15 p.m. local time. Day 1B began at the same time on the following day. The two flights attracted 298 total entries, with each player beginning with 20,000 in chips and blinds staring at 100-100. By the time the two starting flights concluded, just 36 players remained with a shot at the title.

The top 30 finishers made the money in this event, with a min-cash being worth $615. The final table players all secured themselves at least a $2,005 payday for their deep run in this event, with the top two finishers both earning five-figure paydays.

The final heads-up battle for the title came down to Keldani and Dimitry Agrachov. Keldani won out in the end, with Agrachov taking home $14,605 and 152 POY points as the runner-up.

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

With the main event now in the books, here is a look back at the results from the opening seven events of this eight-tournament series:

The kickoff event was a $125 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament. The $5,000 guarantee was more than quadrupled when 207 entries were made before registration closed, building a final prize pool of $20,080. The top 21 finishers made the money in this event, with the largest share going to eventual champion Rudy Vasquez. He defeated David Maddox heads-up to secure the title and the top payout of $5,384.

The next event on the schedule was a $230 buy-in no-limit hold’em event that ran on Jan. 2. The tournament attracted 147 entries to blow away the $10,000 guarantee, creating a final prize pool of $28,520 that was paid out to the top 15 finishers. Eddie Uehara emerged victorious with the title, topping Gerald Farber to earn $8,232.

Event 3 saw 87 players post the $125 buy-in for another no-limit hold’em event. As a result the prize pool grew to $8,440, more than four times the size of the $2,000 guarantee. The final-table finishers made the money in this event, with Marquire Ware taking home $2,785 as the last player standing.

The first non-NLH event of the series took place on Jan. 4. The $125 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. tournament attracted 45 mixed-game competitors, more than doubling the $2,000 guarantee to create a $4,365 prize pool. Richard Ganesh was the champion in the end, securing $1,688 for the win.

Adam Schoenfeld, the former host of Card Player TV’s ‘The Scoop’ video show, finished fifth for $480.

The next event was a $125 buy-in no-limit hold’em turbo held on Jan. 5. The fast-paced tournament saw 72 total entries made to build a pot of $6,980. The top eight finishers made the money, with Tiago Aguiar earning $2,448 as the eventual champion.

Next up on the schedule was the $230 buy-in pot-limit Omaha eight-or-better event. The tournament’s $3,000 guarantee was more than doubled when 38 players turned out, creating a prize pool of $7,370 to be paid out to the top 4 finishers.

Sosa Joaquin emerged victorious with the title and the top prize of $3,420.

The final preliminary event of the series was the $3,000 guaranteed $125 buy-in no-limit hold’em event. A turnout of 104 entries saw the prize pool surge to $10,400, with the top 12 finishers cashing. The biggest chunk of that money went to Jordan Tuschak, who secured $3,121 by overcoming Timothy Kotocavage for the win.

Steven Fostoff earned his third cash of the series by finishing seventh in this event. He cashed for more than $3,500 across the three final-table finishes he made in the span of a week.