The Card Player Poker Tour (CPPT) is currently holding its Big Poker Oktober festival at The Bike in California and things are going better than expected. The 17-event series is seeing impressive 
turnouts and awarding cash at every turn. It began on October 1 and, by the time it wraps up on October 21, over $1.7 million will have been awarded. If the prize pools of the rest of the events are anything like that of the inaugural event, that number is going to go through the roof.
The inaugural event was a $245 buy-in NLHE tournament with a $500,000 guarantee. It didn’t take long for the guarantee to be topped, as a total of 2,274 entries were recorded, of which 116 were direct buy-ins to Day 2 at $1,800 a pop. The amount of players buying in allowed the prize pool to swell to $644,177.
Triet Nguyen ultimately emerged as the winner of the event. With the field down to three, a deal was struck that saw him take first place and $78,222 and Ronald West take second with $77,060. David Fernandez rounded it out in third with $62,260.
The final table saw a few regulars back in the action. With five WSOP bracelets to his name, Allen Cunningham made a deep run, but was sent packing in sixth place with $19,210. Vinny Vinh, who has been around for over 15 years and has over $2.5 million in live winnings to his credit, exited in fourth place with $30,620.
There were also a couple of relative newcomers at the final table, as well. Peter Cross, who scored his first cash just two years ago, according to Hendon Mob, picked up $24,520 when he was pushed out in fifth place. Huy Minh Nguyen was the first to be eliminated at the final table, exiting in ninth place with $8,765.
There are still a number of tournaments left, including the $1,100 buy-in NLHE Main Event. The tournament offers a guarantee of $500,000, but this will almost certainly be exceeded. The same event last year attracted 550 entries and created a prize pool of $673,180. First place was finally won by Andrew Wisdom, who took home $165,025.
In addition, there are eight other events that will offer guaranteed prize pools. Of these, two have guarantees of $500,000 or more. There is still time to head to The Bike for a little poker fun, but time’s running out.
