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Gourg Khanchat Leads Card Player Poker Tour bestbet Jacksonville Mystery Bounty Final Table

bestbet Regular Bags Huge Stack After Drawing $50,000 Mystery Bounty

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Gourg Khanchat came into day 2 of the 2024 Card Player Poker Tour bestbet Jacksonville $1,700 no-limit hold’em main event in 32nd chip position among the remaining 55 contenders. By the time the final table was set, the Jacksonville resident was the runaway chip leader. To make that dream scenario even sweeter, Khanchat (pictured above) also managed to pull the largest bounty that was up for grabs along the way: the $50,000 payout.

This event drew 440 entries, which built a prize pool of $662,200 to more than double the $300,000 guarantee. There was $220,000 set aside for the bounties, with payouts ranging from $500 to $50,000.

In addition to the marquee top payout, Khanchat also pulled a $10,000 and a $500 bounty as well, which means he has locked up $60,500 before even factoring how he finishes at the final table. He and the other eight contenders are all guaranteed at least $8,780 for making it down to the last nine, with $87,820 set to go to the eventual champion.

This format seems to suit Khanchat, as he already finished second in the $1,700 mystery bounty at last year’s World Poker Tour bestbet Scramble festival for a career-best tournament score of $47,726. He would outdo that with a top-two finish in this event.

Thad McNultyKhanchat has 41 percent of the chips in play heading into the final table. The second-largest stack belongs to James Leonard with 2,700,000.

Thad McNulty, who finished fourth in the 2019 CPPT bestbet Jacksonville main event and ninth in this same event last year, bagged up the third-largest stack with 1,175,000. He’ll be looking to add to his $629,247 in prior tournament earnings with another strong showing.

Nikhil Sunku, who finished third in a RunGood Poker Series main event here at bestbet Jacksonville earlier this year, sits in fourth chip position with 985,000.

Johnny Pham is sitting in the middle of the pack with 715,000. This will be the largest live tournament score yet for the longtime poker industry member based out of Las Vegas, regardless of how he finishes at this final table.

Alex Kimpel, who finished fourth in this same event last year for $27,106, is still in with a shot to improve on that showing. He is the shortest stack of the remaining nine, though, with 425,000.

Plenty of notables were among the 46 to hit the rail on day 2, including ten-time World Series of Poker Circuit ring winner Jeffrey Trudeau (55th), 2019 WOSP main event sixth-place finisher Zhen Cai (45th), Toby Boas (40th), Allison Hollander (39th), Angel Boas (31st), 2021 bestbet Jacksonville Trifecta Series main event champion Kelly Joe Andrews (29th), 2021 CPPT bestbet Jacksonville main event fifth-place finisher Jessica Cai (16th),and 2021 CPPT bestbet Jacksonville main event third-place finisher Dustin Holladay (11th).

The day came to a close when Bryan Bennett was eliminated in tenth place ($8,780). In that hand, he raised to 60,000 from the cutoff and James Leonard called on the button. The flop was AClub Suit2Heart SuitADiamond Suit and both players checked. The turn was the 10Heart Suit, Bennett bet 65,000, and Leonard called. The river was the KHeart Suit, Bennett checked, Leonard bet 205,000, and Bennett tanked for a little while before he check-raised all in for about 730,000. Leonard called instantly with AHeart Suit10Spade Suit for aces full of tens, besting Bennett’s KClub Suit9Club Suit to bring day 2 to a close.

For more info for how day 2 played out, check out our live updates right HERE.

The final table begins at 2:00 PM local time on Monday Aug. 26. There will be 12:31 remaining in level 23, which features blinds of 15,000-30,000 with a big blind ante of 30,000. The action will be streamed on bestbetLIVE.

A full accounting of the bounties for this event can be found at the bottom of this article.

Here is a look at the chip counts for the remaining players:

Rank Player Chip Count
1 Gourg Khanchat 5,385,000
2 James Leonard 2,700,000
3 Thad McNulty 1,175,000
4 Nikhil Sunku 985,000
5 Johnny Pham 715,000
6 Anthony Pathman 580,000
7 Juan Tellez 565,000
8 Yi Chi Li 555,000
9 Alex Kimpel 425,000

Seat Draw For The Final Nine

Seat 1: Thad McNulty – 1,175,000
Seat 2: Nikhil Sunku – 985,000
Seat 3: Yi Chi Li – 555,000
Seat 4: Anthony Pathman – 580,000
Seat 5: Gourg Khanchat – 5,385,000
Seat 6: Johnny Pham – 715,000
Seat 7: James Leonard – 2,700,000
Seat 8: Alex Kimpel – 425,000
Seat 9: Juan Tellez – 565,000

Remaining payouts up for grabs:

Place Payout
1 $87,820
2 $58,530
3 $43,190
4 $32,220
5 $24,295
6 $18,525
7 $14,280
8 $11,135
9 $8,780

Here is a look at the bounties paid out on Day 2

$50,000 – Gourg Khanchat
$25,000 – Kennie Garison
$10,000 – Gourg Khanchat
$10,000 – Bryan Bennett
$10,000 – Johnny Pham
$10,000 – Dickie Malone
$5,000 – Thad McNulty
$5,000 – Bryan Bennett
$5,000 – Kennie Garrison
$5,000 – Anthony Pathman
$5,000 – Alex Kimpel
$2,000 – Bryan Bennett (x2)
$2,000 – Kennie 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 – Kennie Garrison
$1,000 – Yi Chi Li
$1,000 – Ken Brosnahan
$1,000 – Jose Reyes
$1,000 – Anthony Pathman
$1,000 – Jared Reinstein
$500 + Draw 1 – Jose Reyes
$500 + Draw 1 – Joshua Adcock
$500 – John Connors (x2)
$500 – Thad McNulty (x2)
$500 – Gourg Khanchat
$500 – Anthony Pathman
$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

The remaining 11 bounties in play are:

$20,000
$5,000 (x3)
$2,000 (x2)
$1,000
$500 (x4)

*James Leonard has two bounties that he has not cashed in yet