Donavon Wright Wins Card Player Poker Tour bestbet Jacksonville Kickoff Event

The first event of the 2022 Card Player Poker Tour bestbet Jacksonville series is officially in the books. The festival kicked off with a $400 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament that ran from Oct. 27-30. A total of 811 entries were made across the six starting flights, building a total prize pool of $263,575. In the end, Donavon Wright emerged victorious with the title and the top prize of $45,247.

This was Wright’s first recorded live tournament title and by far his largest score yet. The Columbia, South Carolina native now has more than $57,000 in lifetime cashes to his name.

In addition to the trophy and the money, Wright also earned 365 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his first-ever POY-qualified score. Wright came into the final table with the chip lead. The bestbet LIVE streaming coverage of the final table began with just eight players remaining. David Salisbury was the first to fall, with his A-Q losing a preflop race to the pocket nines of William Farnan. The turn gave Farnan nines full to leave Salisbury drawing dead. He earned $6,103 as the eighth-place finisher.

Volodymr Tamarovych got all-in with KSpade SuitQHeart Suit trailing the ADiamond SuitKClub Suit of Farnan. An ace on the turn left Tamarovych in rough shape, and a blank on the river sent him to the rail in seventh place ($7,826).

Daniel Williams called of the last of his short stack with KHeart Suit5Club Suit in a battle of the blinds and found himself dominated by the KDiamond SuitQDiamond Suit of Adel Jo. Neither player improved and Williams’ run ended in sixth place ($10,151).

Stephanie Napier was the last female player left in the field. She found a double up with pocket tens shortly after Williams was eliminated, but was soon all-in and at risk again. The second time around her pocket sixes were unable to win a race against the K-10 of Jo, who turned a pair of kings. Napier took home $13,314 as the fifth-place finisher.

David Trager shoved the last of his stack in preflop from the small blind with AHeart Suit6Club Suit. Wright looked down at ADiamond Suit8Heart Suit and went into the tank before making the call for a huge chunk of his stack. Both players flopped a pair of aces, but Wright’s eight-high kicker played by the river to knock Trager out in fourth place ($17,658).

Farnan called off his last 4.5 big blinds with KHeart Suit10Club Suit from the big blind, only to find that he was up against 10Heart Suit10Diamond Suit for Wright from the button. Farnan flopped a straight draw to go with his one overcard, but he was unable to improve any further and was eliminated in third place. He was awarded $23,678 for his deep run in this event, increasing his lifetime career earnings to more than $141,000.

With that, heads-up play was set with Wright holding 8,285,000 to Jo’s 7,780,000. The two made a deal that locked up $35,000 for both players, leaving the remaining $10,247 dollars and the trophy. They went on to battle for more than an hour. Wright extended his lead to more than a 2:1 advantage by the time the final hand was dealt. With blinds at 200,000-400,000 with a 400,000 big blind ante, Jo shoved from the button for 3,855,000 holding ADiamond Suit7Club Suit. Wright called with ASpade SuitJClub Suit and the board ran out KSpade Suit9Heart Suit9Diamond Suit6Spade Suit2Heart Suit to lock up the pot and the title for Wright. Jo walked away with the $35,000 he negotiated for in the deal, growing his career earnings to nearly $430,000 in the process.

Check out all the final table action from the bestbet LIVE broadcast below, and make sure to make your way to bestbet Jacksonville to get in on the action. There are still 14 of the 16 scheduled events left to enter, including the $3,000 buy-in CPPT bestbet Jacksonville main event that will run from Nov. 11-14. For more info on the series, click HERE.

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

Place Player Earnings POY Points
1 Donavon Wright $45,247 365
2 Adel Jo $35,000 304
3 William Farnan $23,678 243
4 David Trager $17,658 182
5 Stephanie Napier $13,314 152
6 Daniel Williams $10,151 122
7 Volodymr Tamarovych $7,826 91
8 David Salisbury $6,103 61
9 Lisa Buck $4,815 30

Photo provided by bestbet Jacksonville.