James “Wayne” Leonard wins the 2024 CPPT bestbet Jacksonville Mystery Bounty Main Event

After a back and forth heads-up match, James ‘Wayne’ Leonard emerged victorious from the 2024 Card Player Poker Tour, bestbet Jacksonville No-Limit Hold’em Main Event with a buy-in of $1,700. The longtime Jacksonville resident, who now lives in Tampa, defeated a field of 440 entrants to earn his career-best tournament finish of $87,820.

“It could have been him, it could have been me,” Leonard said of his last showdown against Gourg Khanchat. “I’ve been in that situation three or four times in my career, and to have done it once… that’s something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”

Leonard, known to many as “The Irishman,” has definitely had several close losses at this venue. He previously finished third in a $400 RunGood Poker Series Event earlier this year, second with a buy-in of 360 USD in 2019 Summer series, and had another second place finish at a $1,500 buy-in during the 2022 Summer heating. Now he finally made his breakthrough and achieved a spectacular victory on the big stage.

“Bestbet is just amazing,” Leonard said when asked about his long experience at Bestbet Jacksonville. “I remember when they first opened it, and it was just a huge relief to have a poker room like that in Jacksonville… I mean, it’s top notch. You get the best food, the best service. Everyone here treats you with respect. They know your name and they really appreciate the players.”

With this latest result, Leonard’s tournament winnings rose to $375,081. Although he is a dentist by profession, he has been playing poker for more than 25 years.

“Over the last three years, I’ve really invested a lot of time in poker and worked really hard for this win. I’m lucky that I can watch videos of myself to break down some of my tendencies, see what I’m doing and correct those actions and really work on it myself.”

Leonard received 720 Card player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his fourth final table finish this year. With 1,043 total points, he is now in the top 500 of the 2024 POY Race standings presented by Global Poker.

In addition to the top prize, Leonard also secured $29,500 in bounty payouts from his five knockouts during the bounty portion of this tournament. He picked up the third largest bounty up for grabs, a $20,000 payout, along with a $5,000 bounty, two $2,000 bounties, and a $500 payout.

This event had a total prize pool of $662,200, with $220,000 reserved for the bounties. These were all awarded starting on Day 2, with the 55 players who cashed in this event receiving a bounty for each knockout they achieved. Second place Khanchat received the highest bounty of $50,000. Payouts ranged from this highest bounty down to $500.

The big one was drawn!

Gourg Khanchat has won the $50,000 bounty at the 2024 Card Player Poker Tour @bestbet_jax $1,700 Mystery Bounty Main Event. Congratulations to Gourg pic.twitter.com/uvG54lKmaP

— Card Player: The Poker Authority (@CardPlayerMedia) 25 August 2024

The final day of this event began with just five players remaining, with Khanchat in the lead and Leonard in second chip position. Nikhil Sunku)!Nikhil Sunku was the first to be eliminated, with his small stack he went in with K5 against a dominant KQ for Anthony Pathman. Sunku was unable to catch up and was eliminated in ninth place ($8,780).

Yi Chi Li soon followed Zunku to the rail. The Jacksonville regular with the best bet moved all-in when Aj was behind Thad McNulty’s AK and found no help in a queen-high runout. Li earned $11,135 in eighth place.

Juan Tellez’s run ended when his J-10 suited was lapped by Khanchat’s J-9 suited, who had been more or less on top form since hitting the $50,000 bounty on Day 2. Both players had flush draws until the river, but Khanchat’s club prevailed, eliminating Tellez in seventh place ($14,280).

Johnny Pham, a long-time member of the poker industry, lost a large portion of his stack in a clash with Khchat during a six-hand game. He managed a few double-ups, but was soon all-in and in danger again with K6 behind the 1010 by Pathman. Pham failed to hit the board and was eliminated in sixth place ($18,525).

This was McNulty’s third CPPT bestbet jacksonville He reached the final table of the Main Event after finishing fourth in 2019 and ninth in 2023. This time, he finished fifth and received $24,295. This result brought the Jacksonville player’s total winnings to $653,542.

McNulty was sent home when he went all-in with J.9 on a 1044J Board. He had KJand the 3 In the end there was no help. The field was reduced to four participants.

Alex Kimpel finished fourth at this event in 2023. Incredibly, that was also his final placing this year. Kimpel went all-in with A4 leads the 76 of Khanchat, but the J7243 The runout left Khanchat with a pair of sevens and elimination, while Kimpel secured $32,220 for the last of his two consecutive final tables in the tournament.

The next knockout hand began with Pathman going all-in from the button with 8 for 510,000.5. Khanchat raised to 1,050,000 from the small blind, but Leonard 4-bet shoved to 5,445,000 from the big blind. Khanchat thought twice before making his A5. Leonard revealed the QQ.

The AK8 Flop gave Pathman a pair some hope, but the 2 Turn and 7 brought no further help. Pathman earned $43,190 in third place, his highest score on the tour to date.

Heads-up action began with Leonard holding 7,105,000 and Khanchat holding 5,980,000. Khanchat was able to close the gap and then take the lead in the early stages. He had extended his lead to around 3:1 when the next big clash came around. All chips went preflop with Leonard’s QJ behind the AJ by Khanchat. The board brought 109874 and Leonard flopped a straight to get back to roughly equal.

Leonard then extended his own lead when a very similar situation played out. Khanchat was all-in with K10 in poor shape against the KQThis time Khanchat fired a Broadway shot on the turn to take the lead again.

Finally, Leonard was able to regain the lead for the last time. On the last hand, Khanchat raised from the button with A to 480,000.3 and Leonard made a 3-bet shove with A5 from the big blind. Khanchat went all-in for 5,430,000.

The AQ456 Runout gave Leonard aces and fives for the win. Khanchat earned $58,530 as the runner-up. This was the second time he finished in that position in a $1,700 Mystery Bounty event at bestbet Jacksonville. He had previously done so during the 2023 World Poker Tour After this last big win, he now has $107,861 in career tournament winnings.

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

Here is an overview of the full list of bounties paid out:

$50,000 – Gourg Khanchat
$25,000 – Kennie Garison
$20,000 – James Leonard
$10,000 – Gourg Khanchat
$10,000 – Bryan Bennett
$10,000 – Johnny Pham
$10,000 – Dickie Malone
$5,000 – Thad McNulty (x2)
$5,000 – James Leonard
$5,000 – Gourg Khanchat
$5,000 – Bryan Bennett
$5,000 – Kenny Garrison
$5,000 – Anthony Pathman
$5,000 – Alex Kimpel
$2,000 – Bryan Bennett (x2)
$2,000 – James Leonard (x2)
$2,000 – Kenny Garrison
$2,000 – John Connors
$2,000 – Nikhil Sunka
$2,000 – Tommy Doyle
$2,000 – Christian Johnson
$2,000 – Kelly Joe Andrews
$2,000 – Jessica Cai
$1,000 – Johnny Pham (x2)
$1,000 – John Connors (x2)
$1,000 – Kyle Terrel
$1,000 – Juan Tellez
$1,000 – Kenny Garrison
$1,000 – Yi Chi Li
$1,000 – Ken Brosnahan
$1,000 – Jose Reyes
$1,000 – Anthony Pathman (x2)
$1,000 – Jared Reinstein
$500 + Draw 1 – Jose Reyes
$500 + Drawing 1 – Joshua Adcock
$500 – John Connors (x2)
$500 – Thad McNulty (x2)
$500 – Gourg Khanchat (x2)
$500 – Anthony Pathman (x3)
$500 – James Leonard
$500 – Yi Chi Li
$500 – Johnny Pham
$500 – Jose Reyes
$500 – Danny Clarkson
$500 – Renee Bacherman
$500 – Dante Cianfarra
$500 – Nicholas Chong
$500 – Joshua Adcock