The first-ever Card Player Poker Tour bestbet Jacksonville main event, held back in 2013, ended with TK Miles accepting an even split of the remaining prize money with Harvey Vandeven, who had more than a 2.5:1 lead at the time. Nine years later, Miles managed to make it back down to heads-up play in another CPPT bestbet Jacksonville main event. Once again, a heads-up deal was struck. This time, though, it was Miles who walked away with the title.

The 2022 running featured a $3,000 buy-in. With 224 total entries, the prize pool grew to $604,800. Miles held the chip lead when the field was narrowed down to the final two, and struck a deal that saw him secure the title and $121,480 in prize money, while 10-time World Series of Poker Circuit gold ring winner Jeff Trudeau took home $109,321 as the runner-up.

“It feels great. Happy to win,” said Miles after coming out on top.

This was the ninth-largest score of Miles’ career, and his 16th recorded tournament title. The Flordia native now has more than $4.75 million in lifetime earnings to his name after this victory.

In addition to the title and the money, he also earned 576 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his first title and seventh final-table finish of the year. With 1,670 points and in $233,233 year-to-date earnings, Miles now sits in 189th place in the 2022 POY race standings presented by Global Poker.

This tournament ran over the course of four days. After the two starting flights, day 2 began with 64 players remaining. Only the top 28 made the money, and plenty of notables fell before the bubble burst, including Kelley Slay, David Tuthill, Nghia Le, and bracelet winner Byron Kaverman.

Big names that made the money, but fell short of the final table, included the likes of Toby Boas (27th), Hunter Cichy (26th), Kelly Slay (23rd), 2019 WPT bestbet Bounty Scramble champion Josh Adkins (22nd), 2021 third-place finisher of this event Dustin Holladay (17th), two-time WPT champion Sam Panzica (15th), and Andrew Ostapchenko (12th).

The final day began with Miles in the lead and Trudeau in second chip position. The first player to hit the rail on the final day was Chongyou Chen. The event no. 2 champion and $1,700 mystery bounty event runner-up got all-in on a K4210 turn and was called by both TK Miles and John O’Neal. After a 4 river, Miles bet 300,000 and sent O’Neal into the tank. O’Neal eventually folded top pair with a queen kicker and Miles revealed A4 for the ace-high flush. Chen had 87 for a lower flush and was sent to the rail with $17,417 for his eighth-place finish.

A three-way all-in spelled the end of Jacksonville local John O’Neal. he got all-in preflop with AK facing the pocket queens of Dustin Nelson and the pocket tens of Pablo Crump. The board ran out J86Q9 and Crump rivered a straight to scoop the pot. O’Neal was knocked out in seventh place ($22,220), while Nelson slid to the bottom of the chip counts. O’Neal increased his career live tournament earnings to more than $352,000 with this score.

Nelson was the next to fall. He managed one double-up after losing the three-way all-in, but then ran A-10 into the pocket queens of Trudeau and was unable to come from behind. The $28,749 he earned for his sixth-place showing increased his lifetime earnings to more than $830,000.

Fred Paradis, who finished as the runner up in the World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Tampa main event for $441,686 just over two months ago, was knocked out in fifth place when his pocket nines were unable to outdraw the pocket aces of Matthew Leecy. Paradis earned $37,712 for his deep run in this tournament, surpassing $1 million in career cashes in the process.

Four-handed play was a marathon affair, with many swings along the way. More than four hours after Paradis was sent to the rail, the resilient Pablo Crump’s run in this event finally came to an end.Crump was all-in and at risk a handful of times at this final table, and managed to survive each of them up until when his pocket nines faced off against the A-Q of Miles. Crump was ahead going into the river, but a queen on the end eliminated him in fourth place ($50,149). This was the largest live tournament score of his career, topping the $26,249 he earned for winning a WSOP Circuit $600 pot-limit Omaha event at Harrah’s Cherokee last winter.

Three-handed play didn’t last nearly as long. With the blinds having grown large over the course of the long final table, the action was briskly paced. In what would turn out to be the final hand of the night, Miles raised to 250,000 from the button with QQ and Leecy reraised all in for 2,020,000 from the big blind with J10. Miles quickly called and the 642K5 runout saw Leecy eliminated in third place ($67,592). The Ottawa, KS native now has more than $1.1 million in lifetime earnings to his name.

Miles was set to enter heads-up play with 5,660,000 to Trudeau’s 3,300,000. Before play began, though, the two agreed to a chop based on ICM. The pair shook on the deal, bringing the tournament to an end.

With the $109,321 he secured in the deal, Trudeau’s career earnings grew to $2,917,485. This was his sixth-largest score yet.

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

The final two players decided to chop before the start of heads-up play. Here is a look at their chip counts when they decided to chop:

T.K. Miles – 5,660,000 (47 bb)
Jeffrey Trudeau – 3,300,000 (27 bb)

Here is the final prize money they agreed to chop:

1st: T.K. Miles – $121,480
2nd: Jeffrey Trudeau – $109,321

Miles was crowned the champion of the CPPT bestbet Jacksonville Main Event, and in addition to his prize money he took home the trophy and another tournament title in his poker career.

Stay tuned for a recap of the final table a short time from now along with a winner photo. This concludes our live updates from the CPPT bestbet Jacksonville Main Event.

Blinds are up to 60,000-120,000 with a 120,000 big blind ante.

Matthew Leecy -3,655,000
TK Miles – 3,180,000
Jeff Trudeau – 2,125,000

Pablo Crump raised to 1.56 million under the gun, and T.K. Miles reraised over the top of him from the button to isolate. Everyone else folded so the two remaining players revealed their cards.

Miles: AQ
Crump: 99

Board: K62JQ

Crump was eliminated in fourth place, good for $50,149, and Miles stacked up 5.62 million.

T.K. Miles – 5,620,000 (56 bb)
Pablo Crump – Eliminated in Fourth Place ($50,149)