Luke Brereton Poker Tournament Updates

Luke Brereton Gets Lucky To Bust A Player

Dec 13, '13

Luke Brereton shoved all-in with the A 2 on a 8 5 2 4 board. His opponent called for his tournament life with pocket kings.

Brereton’s bet was around the size of the pot, which was worth around 15,000.

Though he was far behind, he got there on the river when the 3 fell.

Brereton’s opponent was stunned and hit the rail.

Just 89 were left on Day 1A after the aforementioned elimination.

Player Tags: Luke Brereton

Luke Brereton Leads After Day 1B

Dec 14, '13

Day 1B of Card Player Poker Tour Palm Beach Kennel Club is in the books and a new chipleader has emerged in Luke Brereton, who will return as the overall chipleader on Day 2 with a massive stack of 447,900.

The second day one of the $1,100 no-limit hold’em $250,000 guarantee main event drew 126 players and only 22 remained when chips were bagged for the night. Other Day 1B big stacks include Eric Blair with 272,000, Noy Elimeleh with 249,500.

Brereton, who played Day 1A but was eliminated after the registration period ended, steadily built his stack before shooting to the top of the chip counts near the end of the night.

Brereton took in a large pot after picking up quad-deuces after the dinner break to take the chip lead at the time with 236,000. On the final hand of the night Brereton tangled with Elimeleh in a massive pot to earn the overall chiplead. On a K82 flop Elimeleh bet 25,000 and Brereton raised to 58,000. Elimeleh called to see the J on the turn and then checked his option. Brereton bet out 80,000 and Elimeleh tanked before ultimately releasing his hand.

“This is going to be a sick lay down,” Elimeleh said.

The players agreed to show and Brereton flipped over A10 to Elimeleh’s Ace-King and shot up to 447,900 in chips.

Chino Rheem, who bagged just under 400,000 after Day 1A will return the field second in chips when both days combine to a field of 58 players on Day 2.

Cards will be in the air at 1pm EST on Sunday and all the action and live updates will be available on cardplayer.com. The final table will take place on Monday, December 16th and will be live streamed on cardplayer.com as well.

With 287 entries, the main event beat the promised guarantee of $250,000 by $37,000, giving larger days to those fortunate enough to make the money. The final 30 players will receive a piece of the $287,000 prize pool with payouts beginning at $1,926. The eventual winner will not only walk away with $68,191, they will also become the second Card Player Poker Tour champion of Season II.

Day 2 Chip Counts:

Rank	Player	Chip Count
1	Luke Brereton	447,900
2	Chino Rheem	398,100
3	Allan Pecal	275,800
4	Eric Blair	272,000
5	Noy Elimeleh	249,500
6	Andre Crooks	242,400
7	Robert Madela	216,200
8	Jeremy Boston	202,600
9	John McNulty	196,700
10	David O’Shaughnessey	189,000
11	Bruce Lehrman	181,900
12	Tom Gleason	161,500
13	Evan Tietelbaum	161,400
14	Brian Hastings	159,100
15	Sean Winter	157,100
16	Brett Grebow	156,900
17	Michael Landress	152,700
18	Art Azurin	146,000
19	Sean Remz	140,100
20	Zachary Kessler	138,700
21	Luke Graham	136,900
22	Ian O’Hara	123,000
23	Chris Cristillo	122,300
24	Scott Zakheim	106,300
25	Stephen Bokor	101,100
26	Jeffrey Bohanek	99,300
27	Gary Bodley	98,400
28	Caleb Plunkett	94,100
29	Lonnie Heimowitz	93,700
30	Michael Vo	91,500
31	Bob Poolos	89,500
32	Sheldon Gross	88,800
33	Melvin Pickens	85,200
34	Darryll Fish	84,600
35	Gerard Donaghy	84,200
36	Victor Figueroa	83,900
37	Jordan Scott	83,300
38	Marty Hogan	80,200
39	Dion Jagroo	78,200
40	Mitchell Smith	77,300
41	Lee Klosty	77,000
42	David S.	73,300
43	Walden Cooper	72,300
44	Ory Hen	71,500
45	John Dermody	70,700
46	Eric Riley	69,000
47	Chance Kornuth	67,300
48	David Felger	63,900
49	Matt Mendez	61,200
50	Jason Plaxon	57,300
51	Josh Kay	48,700
52	Jerry Willis	48,400
53	Brian Raik	48,100
54	Rem Remington	45,400
55	Daniel Burns	34,000
56	Romeo Neal	33,800
57	Brett Bader	33,700
58	Garrett Lorman	33,400
59	Michael Laake	31,600

Main Event Payout Information:

Place	Payout
1	$68,191
2	$42,142
3	$30,580
4	$22,560
5	$16,920
6	$12,894
7	$9,979
8	$7,842
9	$6,257
10 – 12	$5,066
15 – 13	$4,162
18 – 16	$3,469
21 – 19	$2,932
24 – 22	$2,515
27 – 25	$2,185
30 – 28	$1,926

Player Tags: Chino Rheem,   Luke Brereton

Luke Brereton Jams River

Dec 14, '13

Art Azuran check-called 25,000 from Luke Brereton on the turn with the board reading 6 3 3 3. The K fell on the river and Azuran led out for 50,000 before Brereton moved all in, prompting Azuran to go into the tank for several minutes.

“You got a king?” asked Azuran. “You got the full house?”

“If you don’t have a king, you got to fold,” replied Brereton.

“You’re such a nice guy, I don’t think I have the heart to bust you,” said Azuran.

Azuran asked how much more the all in was and the dealer pulled the 50,000 into the middle and got a count on Brereton’s stack. After finding out it was 180,000 more, Azuran folds A 10 face up and Brereton mucked his hand.

“You aren’t going to show me?” asked Azuran.

“He doesn’t want to show you the bluff,” said another player at the table.

Brereton has 380,000 in chips and is nipping at Chino Rheem’s heels for the overall tournament chip lead.

Player Tags: Luke Brereton,   Art Azuran

Brereton Makes Quads, Sends a Player Home

Dec 14, '13

We missed the exact action, but Luke Brereton’s table all started shouting “high hand” as a player was getting up from his seat and exiting the tournament area.

We saw the pot being pushed Brereton’s way showing pocket deuces against Q-9 on a A-9-2-7-2 board. Brereton is now up to 236,000 in chips and is one of the chip leaders at this point.

Player Tags: Luke Brereton

Luke Brereton Knocks Out Opponent

Dec 14, '13

On a board reading 9 8 3 A K, a player in the blinds bet 12,000 and Luke Brereton shoved.

Brereton’s opponent had around 50,000 left and went into the tank before finally calling. Brereton tabled the 9 9 for a set and was good.

The Brit was up to around 180,000 after the hand.

Player Tags: Luke Brereton

Sean Winter Versus Luke Brereton

Dec 14, '13

Luke Brereton raised to 2,000 from under the gun+1 and Sean Winter called from the cutoff. Dennis Sierra called from the big blind and David S. followed from the big blind.

After a flop of 1082 Sierra and David S. checked from the blinds and Brereton bet 4,000. Winter called and the blinds released. The turn was the 10 and Brereton and Winter checked. The river was the K, Brereton checked, Winters bet 10,600 and Brereton called.

Winters showed two red Queens and Brereton released his hand without showing.

Player Tags: Sean Winter,   Luke Brereton,   Dennis Sierra

Final Table Set For Card Player Poker Tour Palm Beach Kennel Club Main Event

Dec 15, '13

A title and $68,191 is on the line for the final nine players in the Card Player Poker Tour Palm Beach Kennel Club $1,100 no-limit hold’em $250,000 guarantee main event.

Evan Teitelbaum will lead the pack with a stack of 1,200,000 trailed closely by Sean Winter with 1,093,000 and Luke Brereton with 1,039,000. Online pro Eric Blair, who has $1.6 million in online tournament winnings, and WSOP bracelet winner and online high stakes cash games player Brian Hastings are also in the mix along with young pro Ian O’Hare. John McNulty, Gerard Donaghy and Tom Gleason make up the rest of the final table.

No matter who wins, a first-time CPPT champion will be named.

Donaghy, who will come to the final table with 827,000, was a unique entry in the field having won his ticket from Palm Beach Kennel Club’s monthly Player of the Month promotion in November.

Donaghy finished in the top 100 players on the leaderboard and was then entered into a $25,000 freeroll tournament where he won his seat to the CPPT main event, meaning he is truly on a freeroll.

Day 2 moved quickly with 23 of the 59 remaining players taking to the rail in the first two levels of play. The money was reached during Level 18 when David S. was eliminated in a brutal hand on the stone bubble.

S. opened to 12,000 from under the gun and Scott Zakheim raised to 26,000 from middle position. S. re-raised to 76,000 and Zakheim quickly called to see a flop of K88. S. immediately announced he was all-in and Zakheim called even faster. The hands were not immediately tabled as the floor was waiting to see if any other tables had an all-in and a call but the board was still dealt out 54. When the floor gave the ok S. turned over two black Aces and thought he had won the pot.

“No good,” Zakheim said, but S. appeared to have not heard. He began stacking his chips for the dealer to count, thinking Zakheim would match them up and push them his way.

“Your aces are no good man,” another player at the table said.

Zakheim showed two red Kings for a flopped full-house and S. realized his mistake and made his exit. Zakheim was later eliminated as the 22nd place finisher for $2,515.

In addition to Zakheim, Day 2 saw the elimination of two of the biggest names in the field in rapid succession. Chino Rheem, who came into Day 2 second in chips with just under 400,000, and Chance Kornuth both amassed stacks of nearly 800,000 during level 19 and held the top two spots for nearly an hour. But in unexpected fashion, Kornuth and Rheem both hit the rail before the end of Level 20 at the hands of Even Teitelbaum.

Teitelbaum raised under the gun, Ian O’Hara called from late position, Rheem followed from the cutoff and Kornuth did the same out of the big blind. The flop opened Ad8s6s and Kornuth checked, Teitelbaum raised to 32,000, O’Hara called, Rheem released and Kornuth raised to 94,000. O’Hara folded and Teitelbaum made it 232,000 to go. Kornuth announced he was all-in for about 400,000 and Teitelbaum called.

Kornuth had flopped bottom set with 66 against Teitelbaum’s top two pair with A8. Kornuth stayed ahead after the J opened on the turn but saw his day come to an end when the A on the river gave Tietelbaum the full house. Kornuth made his exit as the 23rd place finisher for $2,515.

Rheem quickly followed when he raised to 13,000 and Teitelbaum called from the small blind to see a flop of 985. Teitelbaum led out for 12,000 and Rheem called to see the 9 on the turn. Teitelbaum fired out 27,000 and Rheem called again to see the A on the river. Teitelbaum once again fired out 27,000 and Rheem shoved all in for around 250,000 more. Teitelbaum tanked for a while before making the call with 22. Rheem tabled 74 and hit the rail as the 19th place finisher for $2,932 while Teitelbaum built his stack to about 2 million.

When play resumes Monday, December 16 at 1pm EST tune into cardplayer.com to follow the hand-for-hand updates and the live web stream of the final table to see who will become the next Card Player Poker Tour champion.

Final Table Chip Counts:

1. Evan Teitelbaum – 1,200,000
2. Sean Winter – 1,093,000
3. Luke Brereton – 1,039,000
4. John McNulty – 909,000
5. Gerard Donaghy – 827,0000
6. Brian Hastings – 753,00
7. Eric Blair – 520,000
8. Tom Gleason – 442,000
9. Ian O’Hara – 378,000

Final Table Payouts:

1. $68,191
2. $42,142
3. $30,580
4. $22,560
5. $16,920
6. $12,894
7. $9,947
8. $7,842
9. $6,257

Player Tags: Chino Rheem,   Brian Hastings,   Chance Kornuth,   Eric Blair,   John McNulty,   Sean Winter,   Evan Teitelbaum,   Ian O'Hara,   Luke Brereton,   Tom Gleason

Unofficial Final Table Reached

Dec 15, '13

Here is the seating arrangement for the final ten players.

1. Luke Brereton – 1,000,000
2. Eric Blair – 591,000
3. Jordan Scott – 245,000
4. Brian Hastings – 800,000
5. Evan Teitelbaum – 1,450,000
6. Ian O’Hara – 205,000
7. Sean Winter – 1,050,000
8. Tom Gleason – 485,000
9. Gerard Donaghy – 794,000
10. John McNulty – 458,000

Player Tags: Brian Hastings,   Eric Blair,   John McNulty,   Gerard Donaghy,   Sean Winter,   Evan Teitelbaum,   Ian O'Hara,   Luke Brereton,   Tom Gleason,   Jordan Scott

Brian Hastings Triples Up

Dec 15, '13

A severely short-stacked Brian Hastings tripled-up through the massive stacks of Luke Brereton and Evan Teitelbaum.

Brereton raised to 30,000 from the button and Hastings moved all-in for his last 92,000 from the small blind. Teitelbaum snap-called from the big blind and Brereton did the same.

Teitelbaum and Brereton checked down a board of K Q 5 2 4 but Hastings prevailed when he flipped over A3 for a rivered wheel.

Player Tags: Brian Hastings,   Luke Brereton

Luke Brereton Battles with Evan Teitelbaum

Dec 15, '13

Luke Brereton has been chipping away at the massive stack of Evan Teitelbaum for some time but now the two are nearly even in chips.

Teitelbaum raised to 32,000 from the big blind and Brereton called from the button. The flop fell K105. Teitelbaum check-called Brereton’s 35,000 bet to see the A on the turn. Teitelbaum led out for 100,000 and Brereton raised to 270,000. Teitelbaum called and the K opened on the river.

Teitelbaum wasted no time announcing a massive bet of 380,000, leaving himself only 700,000 behind, and Brereton went into the tank.

“I had you right where I wanted you sir,” Brereton said as he shuffled a few chips. “Just don’t pair the board.”

Brereton eventually released his hand without showing.

“You finally got me,” Brereton said as Teitelbaum raked in his chips.

“Well I only gave you about a million already,” Teitelbaum replied.

“Oh, I think you gave me more than that. But you just got most of it back,” Brereton said.

Player Tags: Evan Teitelbaum,   Luke Brereton

Luke Brereton Gets Lucky To Bust A Player

Dec 13, '13

Luke Brereton shoved all-in with the A 2 on a 8 5 2 4 board. His opponent called for his tournament life with pocket kings.

Brereton’s bet was around the size of the pot, which was worth around 15,000.

Though he was far behind, he got there on the river when the 3 fell.

Brereton’s opponent was stunned and hit the rail.

Just 89 were left on Day 1A after the aforementioned elimination.

Player Tags: Luke Brereton

Luke Brereton Leads After Day 1B

Dec 14, '13

Day 1B of Card Player Poker Tour Palm Beach Kennel Club is in the books and a new chipleader has emerged in Luke Brereton, who will return as the overall chipleader on Day 2 with a massive stack of 447,900.

The second day one of the $1,100 no-limit hold’em $250,000 guarantee main event drew 126 players and only 22 remained when chips were bagged for the night. Other Day 1B big stacks include Eric Blair with 272,000, Noy Elimeleh with 249,500.

Brereton, who played Day 1A but was eliminated after the registration period ended, steadily built his stack before shooting to the top of the chip counts near the end of the night.

Brereton took in a large pot after picking up quad-deuces after the dinner break to take the chip lead at the time with 236,000. On the final hand of the night Brereton tangled with Elimeleh in a massive pot to earn the overall chiplead. On a K82 flop Elimeleh bet 25,000 and Brereton raised to 58,000. Elimeleh called to see the J on the turn and then checked his option. Brereton bet out 80,000 and Elimeleh tanked before ultimately releasing his hand.

“This is going to be a sick lay down,” Elimeleh said.

The players agreed to show and Brereton flipped over A10 to Elimeleh’s Ace-King and shot up to 447,900 in chips.

Chino Rheem, who bagged just under 400,000 after Day 1A will return the field second in chips when both days combine to a field of 58 players on Day 2.

Cards will be in the air at 1pm EST on Sunday and all the action and live updates will be available on cardplayer.com. The final table will take place on Monday, December 16th and will be live streamed on cardplayer.com as well.

With 287 entries, the main event beat the promised guarantee of $250,000 by $37,000, giving larger days to those fortunate enough to make the money. The final 30 players will receive a piece of the $287,000 prize pool with payouts beginning at $1,926. The eventual winner will not only walk away with $68,191, they will also become the second Card Player Poker Tour champion of Season II.

Day 2 Chip Counts:

Rank	Player	Chip Count
1	Luke Brereton	447,900
2	Chino Rheem	398,100
3	Allan Pecal	275,800
4	Eric Blair	272,000
5	Noy Elimeleh	249,500
6	Andre Crooks	242,400
7	Robert Madela	216,200
8	Jeremy Boston	202,600
9	John McNulty	196,700
10	David O’Shaughnessey	189,000
11	Bruce Lehrman	181,900
12	Tom Gleason	161,500
13	Evan Tietelbaum	161,400
14	Brian Hastings	159,100
15	Sean Winter	157,100
16	Brett Grebow	156,900
17	Michael Landress	152,700
18	Art Azurin	146,000
19	Sean Remz	140,100
20	Zachary Kessler	138,700
21	Luke Graham	136,900
22	Ian O’Hara	123,000
23	Chris Cristillo	122,300
24	Scott Zakheim	106,300
25	Stephen Bokor	101,100
26	Jeffrey Bohanek	99,300
27	Gary Bodley	98,400
28	Caleb Plunkett	94,100
29	Lonnie Heimowitz	93,700
30	Michael Vo	91,500
31	Bob Poolos	89,500
32	Sheldon Gross	88,800
33	Melvin Pickens	85,200
34	Darryll Fish	84,600
35	Gerard Donaghy	84,200
36	Victor Figueroa	83,900
37	Jordan Scott	83,300
38	Marty Hogan	80,200
39	Dion Jagroo	78,200
40	Mitchell Smith	77,300
41	Lee Klosty	77,000
42	David S.	73,300
43	Walden Cooper	72,300
44	Ory Hen	71,500
45	John Dermody	70,700
46	Eric Riley	69,000
47	Chance Kornuth	67,300
48	David Felger	63,900
49	Matt Mendez	61,200
50	Jason Plaxon	57,300
51	Josh Kay	48,700
52	Jerry Willis	48,400
53	Brian Raik	48,100
54	Rem Remington	45,400
55	Daniel Burns	34,000
56	Romeo Neal	33,800
57	Brett Bader	33,700
58	Garrett Lorman	33,400
59	Michael Laake	31,600

Main Event Payout Information:

Place	Payout
1	$68,191
2	$42,142
3	$30,580
4	$22,560
5	$16,920
6	$12,894
7	$9,979
8	$7,842
9	$6,257
10 – 12	$5,066
15 – 13	$4,162
18 – 16	$3,469
21 – 19	$2,932
24 – 22	$2,515
27 – 25	$2,185
30 – 28	$1,926

Player Tags: Chino Rheem,   Luke Brereton

Luke Brereton Jams River

Dec 14, '13

Art Azuran check-called 25,000 from Luke Brereton on the turn with the board reading 6 3 3 3. The K fell on the river and Azuran led out for 50,000 before Brereton moved all in, prompting Azuran to go into the tank for several minutes.

“You got a king?” asked Azuran. “You got the full house?”

“If you don’t have a king, you got to fold,” replied Brereton.

“You’re such a nice guy, I don’t think I have the heart to bust you,” said Azuran.

Azuran asked how much more the all in was and the dealer pulled the 50,000 into the middle and got a count on Brereton’s stack. After finding out it was 180,000 more, Azuran folds A 10 face up and Brereton mucked his hand.

“You aren’t going to show me?” asked Azuran.

“He doesn’t want to show you the bluff,” said another player at the table.

Brereton has 380,000 in chips and is nipping at Chino Rheem’s heels for the overall tournament chip lead.

Player Tags: Luke Brereton,   Art Azuran

Brereton Makes Quads, Sends a Player Home

Dec 14, '13

We missed the exact action, but Luke Brereton’s table all started shouting “high hand” as a player was getting up from his seat and exiting the tournament area.

We saw the pot being pushed Brereton’s way showing pocket deuces against Q-9 on a A-9-2-7-2 board. Brereton is now up to 236,000 in chips and is one of the chip leaders at this point.

Player Tags: Luke Brereton

Luke Brereton Knocks Out Opponent

Dec 14, '13

On a board reading 9 8 3 A K, a player in the blinds bet 12,000 and Luke Brereton shoved.

Brereton’s opponent had around 50,000 left and went into the tank before finally calling. Brereton tabled the 9 9 for a set and was good.

The Brit was up to around 180,000 after the hand.

Player Tags: Luke Brereton

Sean Winter Versus Luke Brereton

Dec 14, '13

Luke Brereton raised to 2,000 from under the gun+1 and Sean Winter called from the cutoff. Dennis Sierra called from the big blind and David S. followed from the big blind.

After a flop of 1082 Sierra and David S. checked from the blinds and Brereton bet 4,000. Winter called and the blinds released. The turn was the 10 and Brereton and Winter checked. The river was the K, Brereton checked, Winters bet 10,600 and Brereton called.

Winters showed two red Queens and Brereton released his hand without showing.

Player Tags: Sean Winter,   Luke Brereton,   Dennis Sierra

Final Table Set For Card Player Poker Tour Palm Beach Kennel Club Main Event

Dec 15, '13

A title and $68,191 is on the line for the final nine players in the Card Player Poker Tour Palm Beach Kennel Club $1,100 no-limit hold’em $250,000 guarantee main event.

Evan Teitelbaum will lead the pack with a stack of 1,200,000 trailed closely by Sean Winter with 1,093,000 and Luke Brereton with 1,039,000. Online pro Eric Blair, who has $1.6 million in online tournament winnings, and WSOP bracelet winner and online high stakes cash games player Brian Hastings are also in the mix along with young pro Ian O’Hare. John McNulty, Gerard Donaghy and Tom Gleason make up the rest of the final table.

No matter who wins, a first-time CPPT champion will be named.

Donaghy, who will come to the final table with 827,000, was a unique entry in the field having won his ticket from Palm Beach Kennel Club’s monthly Player of the Month promotion in November.

Donaghy finished in the top 100 players on the leaderboard and was then entered into a $25,000 freeroll tournament where he won his seat to the CPPT main event, meaning he is truly on a freeroll.

Day 2 moved quickly with 23 of the 59 remaining players taking to the rail in the first two levels of play. The money was reached during Level 18 when David S. was eliminated in a brutal hand on the stone bubble.

S. opened to 12,000 from under the gun and Scott Zakheim raised to 26,000 from middle position. S. re-raised to 76,000 and Zakheim quickly called to see a flop of K88. S. immediately announced he was all-in and Zakheim called even faster. The hands were not immediately tabled as the floor was waiting to see if any other tables had an all-in and a call but the board was still dealt out 54. When the floor gave the ok S. turned over two black Aces and thought he had won the pot.

“No good,” Zakheim said, but S. appeared to have not heard. He began stacking his chips for the dealer to count, thinking Zakheim would match them up and push them his way.

“Your aces are no good man,” another player at the table said.

Zakheim showed two red Kings for a flopped full-house and S. realized his mistake and made his exit. Zakheim was later eliminated as the 22nd place finisher for $2,515.

In addition to Zakheim, Day 2 saw the elimination of two of the biggest names in the field in rapid succession. Chino Rheem, who came into Day 2 second in chips with just under 400,000, and Chance Kornuth both amassed stacks of nearly 800,000 during level 19 and held the top two spots for nearly an hour. But in unexpected fashion, Kornuth and Rheem both hit the rail before the end of Level 20 at the hands of Even Teitelbaum.

Teitelbaum raised under the gun, Ian O’Hara called from late position, Rheem followed from the cutoff and Kornuth did the same out of the big blind. The flop opened Ad8s6s and Kornuth checked, Teitelbaum raised to 32,000, O’Hara called, Rheem released and Kornuth raised to 94,000. O’Hara folded and Teitelbaum made it 232,000 to go. Kornuth announced he was all-in for about 400,000 and Teitelbaum called.

Kornuth had flopped bottom set with 66 against Teitelbaum’s top two pair with A8. Kornuth stayed ahead after the J opened on the turn but saw his day come to an end when the A on the river gave Tietelbaum the full house. Kornuth made his exit as the 23rd place finisher for $2,515.

Rheem quickly followed when he raised to 13,000 and Teitelbaum called from the small blind to see a flop of 985. Teitelbaum led out for 12,000 and Rheem called to see the 9 on the turn. Teitelbaum fired out 27,000 and Rheem called again to see the A on the river. Teitelbaum once again fired out 27,000 and Rheem shoved all in for around 250,000 more. Teitelbaum tanked for a while before making the call with 22. Rheem tabled 74 and hit the rail as the 19th place finisher for $2,932 while Teitelbaum built his stack to about 2 million.

When play resumes Monday, December 16 at 1pm EST tune into cardplayer.com to follow the hand-for-hand updates and the live web stream of the final table to see who will become the next Card Player Poker Tour champion.

Final Table Chip Counts:

1. Evan Teitelbaum – 1,200,000
2. Sean Winter – 1,093,000
3. Luke Brereton – 1,039,000
4. John McNulty – 909,000
5. Gerard Donaghy – 827,0000
6. Brian Hastings – 753,00
7. Eric Blair – 520,000
8. Tom Gleason – 442,000
9. Ian O’Hara – 378,000

Final Table Payouts:

1. $68,191
2. $42,142
3. $30,580
4. $22,560
5. $16,920
6. $12,894
7. $9,947
8. $7,842
9. $6,257

Player Tags: Chino Rheem,   Brian Hastings,   Chance Kornuth,   Eric Blair,   John McNulty,   Sean Winter,   Evan Teitelbaum,   Ian O'Hara,   Luke Brereton,   Tom Gleason

Unofficial Final Table Reached

Dec 15, '13

Here is the seating arrangement for the final ten players.

1. Luke Brereton – 1,000,000
2. Eric Blair – 591,000
3. Jordan Scott – 245,000
4. Brian Hastings – 800,000
5. Evan Teitelbaum – 1,450,000
6. Ian O’Hara – 205,000
7. Sean Winter – 1,050,000
8. Tom Gleason – 485,000
9. Gerard Donaghy – 794,000
10. John McNulty – 458,000

Player Tags: Brian Hastings,   Eric Blair,   John McNulty,   Gerard Donaghy,   Sean Winter,   Evan Teitelbaum,   Ian O'Hara,   Luke Brereton,   Tom Gleason,   Jordan Scott

Brian Hastings Triples Up

Dec 15, '13

A severely short-stacked Brian Hastings tripled-up through the massive stacks of Luke Brereton and Evan Teitelbaum.

Brereton raised to 30,000 from the button and Hastings moved all-in for his last 92,000 from the small blind. Teitelbaum snap-called from the big blind and Brereton did the same.

Teitelbaum and Brereton checked down a board of K Q 5 2 4 but Hastings prevailed when he flipped over A3 for a rivered wheel.

Player Tags: Brian Hastings,   Luke Brereton

Luke Brereton Battles with Evan Teitelbaum

Dec 15, '13

Luke Brereton has been chipping away at the massive stack of Evan Teitelbaum for some time but now the two are nearly even in chips.

Teitelbaum raised to 32,000 from the big blind and Brereton called from the button. The flop fell K105. Teitelbaum check-called Brereton’s 35,000 bet to see the A on the turn. Teitelbaum led out for 100,000 and Brereton raised to 270,000. Teitelbaum called and the K opened on the river.

Teitelbaum wasted no time announcing a massive bet of 380,000, leaving himself only 700,000 behind, and Brereton went into the tank.

“I had you right where I wanted you sir,” Brereton said as he shuffled a few chips. “Just don’t pair the board.”

Brereton eventually released his hand without showing.

“You finally got me,” Brereton said as Teitelbaum raked in his chips.

“Well I only gave you about a million already,” Teitelbaum replied.

“Oh, I think you gave me more than that. But you just got most of it back,” Brereton said.

Player Tags: Evan Teitelbaum,   Luke Brereton

Luke Brereton Gets Lucky To Bust A Player

Dec 13, '13

Luke Brereton shoved all-in with the A 2 on a 8 5 2 4 board. His opponent called for his tournament life with pocket kings.

Brereton’s bet was around the size of the pot, which was worth around 15,000.

Though he was far behind, he got there on the river when the 3 fell.

Brereton’s opponent was stunned and hit the rail.

Just 89 were left on Day 1A after the aforementioned elimination.

Player Tags: Luke Brereton

Luke Brereton Leads After Day 1B

Dec 14, '13

Day 1B of Card Player Poker Tour Palm Beach Kennel Club is in the books and a new chipleader has emerged in Luke Brereton, who will return as the overall chipleader on Day 2 with a massive stack of 447,900.

The second day one of the $1,100 no-limit hold’em $250,000 guarantee main event drew 126 players and only 22 remained when chips were bagged for the night. Other Day 1B big stacks include Eric Blair with 272,000, Noy Elimeleh with 249,500.

Brereton, who played Day 1A but was eliminated after the registration period ended, steadily built his stack before shooting to the top of the chip counts near the end of the night.

Brereton took in a large pot after picking up quad-deuces after the dinner break to take the chip lead at the time with 236,000. On the final hand of the night Brereton tangled with Elimeleh in a massive pot to earn the overall chiplead. On a K82 flop Elimeleh bet 25,000 and Brereton raised to 58,000. Elimeleh called to see the J on the turn and then checked his option. Brereton bet out 80,000 and Elimeleh tanked before ultimately releasing his hand.

“This is going to be a sick lay down,” Elimeleh said.

The players agreed to show and Brereton flipped over A10 to Elimeleh’s Ace-King and shot up to 447,900 in chips.

Chino Rheem, who bagged just under 400,000 after Day 1A will return the field second in chips when both days combine to a field of 58 players on Day 2.

Cards will be in the air at 1pm EST on Sunday and all the action and live updates will be available on cardplayer.com. The final table will take place on Monday, December 16th and will be live streamed on cardplayer.com as well.

With 287 entries, the main event beat the promised guarantee of $250,000 by $37,000, giving larger days to those fortunate enough to make the money. The final 30 players will receive a piece of the $287,000 prize pool with payouts beginning at $1,926. The eventual winner will not only walk away with $68,191, they will also become the second Card Player Poker Tour champion of Season II.

Day 2 Chip Counts:

Rank	Player	Chip Count
1	Luke Brereton	447,900
2	Chino Rheem	398,100
3	Allan Pecal	275,800
4	Eric Blair	272,000
5	Noy Elimeleh	249,500
6	Andre Crooks	242,400
7	Robert Madela	216,200
8	Jeremy Boston	202,600
9	John McNulty	196,700
10	David O’Shaughnessey	189,000
11	Bruce Lehrman	181,900
12	Tom Gleason	161,500
13	Evan Tietelbaum	161,400
14	Brian Hastings	159,100
15	Sean Winter	157,100
16	Brett Grebow	156,900
17	Michael Landress	152,700
18	Art Azurin	146,000
19	Sean Remz	140,100
20	Zachary Kessler	138,700
21	Luke Graham	136,900
22	Ian O’Hara	123,000
23	Chris Cristillo	122,300
24	Scott Zakheim	106,300
25	Stephen Bokor	101,100
26	Jeffrey Bohanek	99,300
27	Gary Bodley	98,400
28	Caleb Plunkett	94,100
29	Lonnie Heimowitz	93,700
30	Michael Vo	91,500
31	Bob Poolos	89,500
32	Sheldon Gross	88,800
33	Melvin Pickens	85,200
34	Darryll Fish	84,600
35	Gerard Donaghy	84,200
36	Victor Figueroa	83,900
37	Jordan Scott	83,300
38	Marty Hogan	80,200
39	Dion Jagroo	78,200
40	Mitchell Smith	77,300
41	Lee Klosty	77,000
42	David S.	73,300
43	Walden Cooper	72,300
44	Ory Hen	71,500
45	John Dermody	70,700
46	Eric Riley	69,000
47	Chance Kornuth	67,300
48	David Felger	63,900
49	Matt Mendez	61,200
50	Jason Plaxon	57,300
51	Josh Kay	48,700
52	Jerry Willis	48,400
53	Brian Raik	48,100
54	Rem Remington	45,400
55	Daniel Burns	34,000
56	Romeo Neal	33,800
57	Brett Bader	33,700
58	Garrett Lorman	33,400
59	Michael Laake	31,600

Main Event Payout Information:

Place	Payout
1	$68,191
2	$42,142
3	$30,580
4	$22,560
5	$16,920
6	$12,894
7	$9,979
8	$7,842
9	$6,257
10 – 12	$5,066
15 – 13	$4,162
18 – 16	$3,469
21 – 19	$2,932
24 – 22	$2,515
27 – 25	$2,185
30 – 28	$1,926

Player Tags: Chino Rheem,   Luke Brereton

Luke Brereton Jams River

Dec 14, '13

Art Azuran check-called 25,000 from Luke Brereton on the turn with the board reading 6 3 3 3. The K fell on the river and Azuran led out for 50,000 before Brereton moved all in, prompting Azuran to go into the tank for several minutes.

“You got a king?” asked Azuran. “You got the full house?”

“If you don’t have a king, you got to fold,” replied Brereton.

“You’re such a nice guy, I don’t think I have the heart to bust you,” said Azuran.

Azuran asked how much more the all in was and the dealer pulled the 50,000 into the middle and got a count on Brereton’s stack. After finding out it was 180,000 more, Azuran folds A 10 face up and Brereton mucked his hand.

“You aren’t going to show me?” asked Azuran.

“He doesn’t want to show you the bluff,” said another player at the table.

Brereton has 380,000 in chips and is nipping at Chino Rheem’s heels for the overall tournament chip lead.

Player Tags: Luke Brereton,   Art Azuran

Brereton Makes Quads, Sends a Player Home

Dec 14, '13

We missed the exact action, but Luke Brereton’s table all started shouting “high hand” as a player was getting up from his seat and exiting the tournament area.

We saw the pot being pushed Brereton’s way showing pocket deuces against Q-9 on a A-9-2-7-2 board. Brereton is now up to 236,000 in chips and is one of the chip leaders at this point.

Player Tags: Luke Brereton

Luke Brereton Knocks Out Opponent

Dec 14, '13

On a board reading 9 8 3 A K, a player in the blinds bet 12,000 and Luke Brereton shoved.

Brereton’s opponent had around 50,000 left and went into the tank before finally calling. Brereton tabled the 9 9 for a set and was good.

The Brit was up to around 180,000 after the hand.

Player Tags: Luke Brereton

Sean Winter Versus Luke Brereton

Dec 14, '13

Luke Brereton raised to 2,000 from under the gun+1 and Sean Winter called from the cutoff. Dennis Sierra called from the big blind and David S. followed from the big blind.

After a flop of 1082 Sierra and David S. checked from the blinds and Brereton bet 4,000. Winter called and the blinds released. The turn was the 10 and Brereton and Winter checked. The river was the K, Brereton checked, Winters bet 10,600 and Brereton called.

Winters showed two red Queens and Brereton released his hand without showing.

Player Tags: Sean Winter,   Luke Brereton,   Dennis Sierra

Final Table Set For Card Player Poker Tour Palm Beach Kennel Club Main Event

Dec 15, '13

A title and $68,191 is on the line for the final nine players in the Card Player Poker Tour Palm Beach Kennel Club $1,100 no-limit hold’em $250,000 guarantee main event.

Evan Teitelbaum will lead the pack with a stack of 1,200,000 trailed closely by Sean Winter with 1,093,000 and Luke Brereton with 1,039,000. Online pro Eric Blair, who has $1.6 million in online tournament winnings, and WSOP bracelet winner and online high stakes cash games player Brian Hastings are also in the mix along with young pro Ian O’Hare. John McNulty, Gerard Donaghy and Tom Gleason make up the rest of the final table.

No matter who wins, a first-time CPPT champion will be named.

Donaghy, who will come to the final table with 827,000, was a unique entry in the field having won his ticket from Palm Beach Kennel Club’s monthly Player of the Month promotion in November.

Donaghy finished in the top 100 players on the leaderboard and was then entered into a $25,000 freeroll tournament where he won his seat to the CPPT main event, meaning he is truly on a freeroll.

Day 2 moved quickly with 23 of the 59 remaining players taking to the rail in the first two levels of play. The money was reached during Level 18 when David S. was eliminated in a brutal hand on the stone bubble.

S. opened to 12,000 from under the gun and Scott Zakheim raised to 26,000 from middle position. S. re-raised to 76,000 and Zakheim quickly called to see a flop of K88. S. immediately announced he was all-in and Zakheim called even faster. The hands were not immediately tabled as the floor was waiting to see if any other tables had an all-in and a call but the board was still dealt out 54. When the floor gave the ok S. turned over two black Aces and thought he had won the pot.

“No good,” Zakheim said, but S. appeared to have not heard. He began stacking his chips for the dealer to count, thinking Zakheim would match them up and push them his way.

“Your aces are no good man,” another player at the table said.

Zakheim showed two red Kings for a flopped full-house and S. realized his mistake and made his exit. Zakheim was later eliminated as the 22nd place finisher for $2,515.

In addition to Zakheim, Day 2 saw the elimination of two of the biggest names in the field in rapid succession. Chino Rheem, who came into Day 2 second in chips with just under 400,000, and Chance Kornuth both amassed stacks of nearly 800,000 during level 19 and held the top two spots for nearly an hour. But in unexpected fashion, Kornuth and Rheem both hit the rail before the end of Level 20 at the hands of Even Teitelbaum.

Teitelbaum raised under the gun, Ian O’Hara called from late position, Rheem followed from the cutoff and Kornuth did the same out of the big blind. The flop opened Ad8s6s and Kornuth checked, Teitelbaum raised to 32,000, O’Hara called, Rheem released and Kornuth raised to 94,000. O’Hara folded and Teitelbaum made it 232,000 to go. Kornuth announced he was all-in for about 400,000 and Teitelbaum called.

Kornuth had flopped bottom set with 66 against Teitelbaum’s top two pair with A8. Kornuth stayed ahead after the J opened on the turn but saw his day come to an end when the A on the river gave Tietelbaum the full house. Kornuth made his exit as the 23rd place finisher for $2,515.

Rheem quickly followed when he raised to 13,000 and Teitelbaum called from the small blind to see a flop of 985. Teitelbaum led out for 12,000 and Rheem called to see the 9 on the turn. Teitelbaum fired out 27,000 and Rheem called again to see the A on the river. Teitelbaum once again fired out 27,000 and Rheem shoved all in for around 250,000 more. Teitelbaum tanked for a while before making the call with 22. Rheem tabled 74 and hit the rail as the 19th place finisher for $2,932 while Teitelbaum built his stack to about 2 million.

When play resumes Monday, December 16 at 1pm EST tune into cardplayer.com to follow the hand-for-hand updates and the live web stream of the final table to see who will become the next Card Player Poker Tour champion.

Final Table Chip Counts:

1. Evan Teitelbaum – 1,200,000
2. Sean Winter – 1,093,000
3. Luke Brereton – 1,039,000
4. John McNulty – 909,000
5. Gerard Donaghy – 827,0000
6. Brian Hastings – 753,00
7. Eric Blair – 520,000
8. Tom Gleason – 442,000
9. Ian O’Hara – 378,000

Final Table Payouts:

1. $68,191
2. $42,142
3. $30,580
4. $22,560
5. $16,920
6. $12,894
7. $9,947
8. $7,842
9. $6,257

Player Tags: Chino Rheem,   Brian Hastings,   Chance Kornuth,   Eric Blair,   John McNulty,   Sean Winter,   Evan Teitelbaum,   Ian O'Hara,   Luke Brereton,   Tom Gleason

Unofficial Final Table Reached

Dec 15, '13

Here is the seating arrangement for the final ten players.

1. Luke Brereton – 1,000,000
2. Eric Blair – 591,000
3. Jordan Scott – 245,000
4. Brian Hastings – 800,000
5. Evan Teitelbaum – 1,450,000
6. Ian O’Hara – 205,000
7. Sean Winter – 1,050,000
8. Tom Gleason – 485,000
9. Gerard Donaghy – 794,000
10. John McNulty – 458,000

Player Tags: Brian Hastings,   Eric Blair,   John McNulty,   Gerard Donaghy,   Sean Winter,   Evan Teitelbaum,   Ian O'Hara,   Luke Brereton,   Tom Gleason,   Jordan Scott

Brian Hastings Triples Up

Dec 15, '13

A severely short-stacked Brian Hastings tripled-up through the massive stacks of Luke Brereton and Evan Teitelbaum.

Brereton raised to 30,000 from the button and Hastings moved all-in for his last 92,000 from the small blind. Teitelbaum snap-called from the big blind and Brereton did the same.

Teitelbaum and Brereton checked down a board of K Q 5 2 4 but Hastings prevailed when he flipped over A3 for a rivered wheel.

Player Tags: Brian Hastings,   Luke Brereton

Luke Brereton Battles with Evan Teitelbaum

Dec 15, '13

Luke Brereton has been chipping away at the massive stack of Evan Teitelbaum for some time but now the two are nearly even in chips.

Teitelbaum raised to 32,000 from the big blind and Brereton called from the button. The flop fell K105. Teitelbaum check-called Brereton’s 35,000 bet to see the A on the turn. Teitelbaum led out for 100,000 and Brereton raised to 270,000. Teitelbaum called and the K opened on the river.

Teitelbaum wasted no time announcing a massive bet of 380,000, leaving himself only 700,000 behind, and Brereton went into the tank.

“I had you right where I wanted you sir,” Brereton said as he shuffled a few chips. “Just don’t pair the board.”

Brereton eventually released his hand without showing.

“You finally got me,” Brereton said as Teitelbaum raked in his chips.

“Well I only gave you about a million already,” Teitelbaum replied.

“Oh, I think you gave me more than that. But you just got most of it back,” Brereton said.

Player Tags: Evan Teitelbaum,   Luke Brereton

Luke Brereton Gets Lucky To Bust A Player

Dec 13, '13

Luke Brereton shoved all-in with the A 2 on a 8 5 2 4 board. His opponent called for his tournament life with pocket kings.

Brereton’s bet was around the size of the pot, which was worth around 15,000.

Though he was far behind, he got there on the river when the 3 fell.

Brereton’s opponent was stunned and hit the rail.

Just 89 were left on Day 1A after the aforementioned elimination.

Player Tags: Luke Brereton

Luke Brereton Leads After Day 1B

Dec 14, '13

Day 1B of Card Player Poker Tour Palm Beach Kennel Club is in the books and a new chipleader has emerged in Luke Brereton, who will return as the overall chipleader on Day 2 with a massive stack of 447,900.

The second day one of the $1,100 no-limit hold’em $250,000 guarantee main event drew 126 players and only 22 remained when chips were bagged for the night. Other Day 1B big stacks include Eric Blair with 272,000, Noy Elimeleh with 249,500.

Brereton, who played Day 1A but was eliminated after the registration period ended, steadily built his stack before shooting to the top of the chip counts near the end of the night.

Brereton took in a large pot after picking up quad-deuces after the dinner break to take the chip lead at the time with 236,000. On the final hand of the night Brereton tangled with Elimeleh in a massive pot to earn the overall chiplead. On a K82 flop Elimeleh bet 25,000 and Brereton raised to 58,000. Elimeleh called to see the J on the turn and then checked his option. Brereton bet out 80,000 and Elimeleh tanked before ultimately releasing his hand.

“This is going to be a sick lay down,” Elimeleh said.

The players agreed to show and Brereton flipped over A10 to Elimeleh’s Ace-King and shot up to 447,900 in chips.

Chino Rheem, who bagged just under 400,000 after Day 1A will return the field second in chips when both days combine to a field of 58 players on Day 2.

Cards will be in the air at 1pm EST on Sunday and all the action and live updates will be available on cardplayer.com. The final table will take place on Monday, December 16th and will be live streamed on cardplayer.com as well.

With 287 entries, the main event beat the promised guarantee of $250,000 by $37,000, giving larger days to those fortunate enough to make the money. The final 30 players will receive a piece of the $287,000 prize pool with payouts beginning at $1,926. The eventual winner will not only walk away with $68,191, they will also become the second Card Player Poker Tour champion of Season II.

Day 2 Chip Counts:

Rank	Player	Chip Count
1	Luke Brereton	447,900
2	Chino Rheem	398,100
3	Allan Pecal	275,800
4	Eric Blair	272,000
5	Noy Elimeleh	249,500
6	Andre Crooks	242,400
7	Robert Madela	216,200
8	Jeremy Boston	202,600
9	John McNulty	196,700
10	David O’Shaughnessey	189,000
11	Bruce Lehrman	181,900
12	Tom Gleason	161,500
13	Evan Tietelbaum	161,400
14	Brian Hastings	159,100
15	Sean Winter	157,100
16	Brett Grebow	156,900
17	Michael Landress	152,700
18	Art Azurin	146,000
19	Sean Remz	140,100
20	Zachary Kessler	138,700
21	Luke Graham	136,900
22	Ian O’Hara	123,000
23	Chris Cristillo	122,300
24	Scott Zakheim	106,300
25	Stephen Bokor	101,100
26	Jeffrey Bohanek	99,300
27	Gary Bodley	98,400
28	Caleb Plunkett	94,100
29	Lonnie Heimowitz	93,700
30	Michael Vo	91,500
31	Bob Poolos	89,500
32	Sheldon Gross	88,800
33	Melvin Pickens	85,200
34	Darryll Fish	84,600
35	Gerard Donaghy	84,200
36	Victor Figueroa	83,900
37	Jordan Scott	83,300
38	Marty Hogan	80,200
39	Dion Jagroo	78,200
40	Mitchell Smith	77,300
41	Lee Klosty	77,000
42	David S.	73,300
43	Walden Cooper	72,300
44	Ory Hen	71,500
45	John Dermody	70,700
46	Eric Riley	69,000
47	Chance Kornuth	67,300
48	David Felger	63,900
49	Matt Mendez	61,200
50	Jason Plaxon	57,300
51	Josh Kay	48,700
52	Jerry Willis	48,400
53	Brian Raik	48,100
54	Rem Remington	45,400
55	Daniel Burns	34,000
56	Romeo Neal	33,800
57	Brett Bader	33,700
58	Garrett Lorman	33,400
59	Michael Laake	31,600

Main Event Payout Information:

Place	Payout
1	$68,191
2	$42,142
3	$30,580
4	$22,560
5	$16,920
6	$12,894
7	$9,979
8	$7,842
9	$6,257
10 – 12	$5,066
15 – 13	$4,162
18 – 16	$3,469
21 – 19	$2,932
24 – 22	$2,515
27 – 25	$2,185
30 – 28	$1,926

Player Tags: Chino Rheem,   Luke Brereton

Luke Brereton Jams River

Dec 14, '13

Art Azuran check-called 25,000 from Luke Brereton on the turn with the board reading 6 3 3 3. The K fell on the river and Azuran led out for 50,000 before Brereton moved all in, prompting Azuran to go into the tank for several minutes.

“You got a king?” asked Azuran. “You got the full house?”

“If you don’t have a king, you got to fold,” replied Brereton.

“You’re such a nice guy, I don’t think I have the heart to bust you,” said Azuran.

Azuran asked how much more the all in was and the dealer pulled the 50,000 into the middle and got a count on Brereton’s stack. After finding out it was 180,000 more, Azuran folds A 10 face up and Brereton mucked his hand.

“You aren’t going to show me?” asked Azuran.

“He doesn’t want to show you the bluff,” said another player at the table.

Brereton has 380,000 in chips and is nipping at Chino Rheem’s heels for the overall tournament chip lead.

Player Tags: Luke Brereton,   Art Azuran

Brereton Makes Quads, Sends a Player Home

Dec 14, '13

We missed the exact action, but Luke Brereton’s table all started shouting “high hand” as a player was getting up from his seat and exiting the tournament area.

We saw the pot being pushed Brereton’s way showing pocket deuces against Q-9 on a A-9-2-7-2 board. Brereton is now up to 236,000 in chips and is one of the chip leaders at this point.

Player Tags: Luke Brereton

Luke Brereton Knocks Out Opponent

Dec 14, '13

On a board reading 9 8 3 A K, a player in the blinds bet 12,000 and Luke Brereton shoved.

Brereton’s opponent had around 50,000 left and went into the tank before finally calling. Brereton tabled the 9 9 for a set and was good.

The Brit was up to around 180,000 after the hand.

Player Tags: Luke Brereton

Sean Winter Versus Luke Brereton

Dec 14, '13

Luke Brereton raised to 2,000 from under the gun+1 and Sean Winter called from the cutoff. Dennis Sierra called from the big blind and David S. followed from the big blind.

After a flop of 1082 Sierra and David S. checked from the blinds and Brereton bet 4,000. Winter called and the blinds released. The turn was the 10 and Brereton and Winter checked. The river was the K, Brereton checked, Winters bet 10,600 and Brereton called.

Winters showed two red Queens and Brereton released his hand without showing.

Player Tags: Sean Winter,   Luke Brereton,   Dennis Sierra

Final Table Set For Card Player Poker Tour Palm Beach Kennel Club Main Event

Dec 15, '13

A title and $68,191 is on the line for the final nine players in the Card Player Poker Tour Palm Beach Kennel Club $1,100 no-limit hold’em $250,000 guarantee main event.

Evan Teitelbaum will lead the pack with a stack of 1,200,000 trailed closely by Sean Winter with 1,093,000 and Luke Brereton with 1,039,000. Online pro Eric Blair, who has $1.6 million in online tournament winnings, and WSOP bracelet winner and online high stakes cash games player Brian Hastings are also in the mix along with young pro Ian O’Hare. John McNulty, Gerard Donaghy and Tom Gleason make up the rest of the final table.

No matter who wins, a first-time CPPT champion will be named.

Donaghy, who will come to the final table with 827,000, was a unique entry in the field having won his ticket from Palm Beach Kennel Club’s monthly Player of the Month promotion in November.

Donaghy finished in the top 100 players on the leaderboard and was then entered into a $25,000 freeroll tournament where he won his seat to the CPPT main event, meaning he is truly on a freeroll.

Day 2 moved quickly with 23 of the 59 remaining players taking to the rail in the first two levels of play. The money was reached during Level 18 when David S. was eliminated in a brutal hand on the stone bubble.

S. opened to 12,000 from under the gun and Scott Zakheim raised to 26,000 from middle position. S. re-raised to 76,000 and Zakheim quickly called to see a flop of K88. S. immediately announced he was all-in and Zakheim called even faster. The hands were not immediately tabled as the floor was waiting to see if any other tables had an all-in and a call but the board was still dealt out 54. When the floor gave the ok S. turned over two black Aces and thought he had won the pot.

“No good,” Zakheim said, but S. appeared to have not heard. He began stacking his chips for the dealer to count, thinking Zakheim would match them up and push them his way.

“Your aces are no good man,” another player at the table said.

Zakheim showed two red Kings for a flopped full-house and S. realized his mistake and made his exit. Zakheim was later eliminated as the 22nd place finisher for $2,515.

In addition to Zakheim, Day 2 saw the elimination of two of the biggest names in the field in rapid succession. Chino Rheem, who came into Day 2 second in chips with just under 400,000, and Chance Kornuth both amassed stacks of nearly 800,000 during level 19 and held the top two spots for nearly an hour. But in unexpected fashion, Kornuth and Rheem both hit the rail before the end of Level 20 at the hands of Even Teitelbaum.

Teitelbaum raised under the gun, Ian O’Hara called from late position, Rheem followed from the cutoff and Kornuth did the same out of the big blind. The flop opened Ad8s6s and Kornuth checked, Teitelbaum raised to 32,000, O’Hara called, Rheem released and Kornuth raised to 94,000. O’Hara folded and Teitelbaum made it 232,000 to go. Kornuth announced he was all-in for about 400,000 and Teitelbaum called.

Kornuth had flopped bottom set with 66 against Teitelbaum’s top two pair with A8. Kornuth stayed ahead after the J opened on the turn but saw his day come to an end when the A on the river gave Tietelbaum the full house. Kornuth made his exit as the 23rd place finisher for $2,515.

Rheem quickly followed when he raised to 13,000 and Teitelbaum called from the small blind to see a flop of 985. Teitelbaum led out for 12,000 and Rheem called to see the 9 on the turn. Teitelbaum fired out 27,000 and Rheem called again to see the A on the river. Teitelbaum once again fired out 27,000 and Rheem shoved all in for around 250,000 more. Teitelbaum tanked for a while before making the call with 22. Rheem tabled 74 and hit the rail as the 19th place finisher for $2,932 while Teitelbaum built his stack to about 2 million.

When play resumes Monday, December 16 at 1pm EST tune into cardplayer.com to follow the hand-for-hand updates and the live web stream of the final table to see who will become the next Card Player Poker Tour champion.

Final Table Chip Counts:

1. Evan Teitelbaum – 1,200,000
2. Sean Winter – 1,093,000
3. Luke Brereton – 1,039,000
4. John McNulty – 909,000
5. Gerard Donaghy – 827,0000
6. Brian Hastings – 753,00
7. Eric Blair – 520,000
8. Tom Gleason – 442,000
9. Ian O’Hara – 378,000

Final Table Payouts:

1. $68,191
2. $42,142
3. $30,580
4. $22,560
5. $16,920
6. $12,894
7. $9,947
8. $7,842
9. $6,257

Player Tags: Chino Rheem,   Brian Hastings,   Chance Kornuth,   Eric Blair,   John McNulty,   Sean Winter,   Evan Teitelbaum,   Ian O'Hara,   Luke Brereton,   Tom Gleason

Unofficial Final Table Reached

Dec 15, '13

Here is the seating arrangement for the final ten players.

1. Luke Brereton – 1,000,000
2. Eric Blair – 591,000
3. Jordan Scott – 245,000
4. Brian Hastings – 800,000
5. Evan Teitelbaum – 1,450,000
6. Ian O’Hara – 205,000
7. Sean Winter – 1,050,000
8. Tom Gleason – 485,000
9. Gerard Donaghy – 794,000
10. John McNulty – 458,000

Player Tags: Brian Hastings,   Eric Blair,   John McNulty,   Gerard Donaghy,   Sean Winter,   Evan Teitelbaum,   Ian O'Hara,   Luke Brereton,   Tom Gleason,   Jordan Scott

Brian Hastings Triples Up

Dec 15, '13

A severely short-stacked Brian Hastings tripled-up through the massive stacks of Luke Brereton and Evan Teitelbaum.

Brereton raised to 30,000 from the button and Hastings moved all-in for his last 92,000 from the small blind. Teitelbaum snap-called from the big blind and Brereton did the same.

Teitelbaum and Brereton checked down a board of K Q 5 2 4 but Hastings prevailed when he flipped over A3 for a rivered wheel.

Player Tags: Brian Hastings,   Luke Brereton

Luke Brereton Battles with Evan Teitelbaum

Dec 15, '13

Luke Brereton has been chipping away at the massive stack of Evan Teitelbaum for some time but now the two are nearly even in chips.

Teitelbaum raised to 32,000 from the big blind and Brereton called from the button. The flop fell K105. Teitelbaum check-called Brereton’s 35,000 bet to see the A on the turn. Teitelbaum led out for 100,000 and Brereton raised to 270,000. Teitelbaum called and the K opened on the river.

Teitelbaum wasted no time announcing a massive bet of 380,000, leaving himself only 700,000 behind, and Brereton went into the tank.

“I had you right where I wanted you sir,” Brereton said as he shuffled a few chips. “Just don’t pair the board.”

Brereton eventually released his hand without showing.

“You finally got me,” Brereton said as Teitelbaum raked in his chips.

“Well I only gave you about a million already,” Teitelbaum replied.

“Oh, I think you gave me more than that. But you just got most of it back,” Brereton said.

Player Tags: Evan Teitelbaum,   Luke Brereton