‘Knuckledhead’ Thad McNulty Can Always Count on bestbet Success

Competition drives a certain type of person to thrive, and it’s safe to say Thad McNulty falls into that category.

It started in his high school days at Trinity Prep in Central Florida and continued through his collegiate years at Harvard as McNulty spent that time racking up varsity letters and victories as the captain of the track teams. He returned to Florida after college, moved to Jacksonville, and raised four third-generation Floridians in the area.

Now, in his early 60s, McNulty stokes his competitive fire these days at the poker table – primarily at his local poker room, bestbet Jacksonville. Playing a style of tournament poker described by others at bestbet as “fearless,” once he gets some chips in a tournament he tends to make the most of it.

“I love making deep tournament runs,” McNulty said. “I don’t play cash at all. It’s just not a thrill to me. A chance to make big money is nice, but really, it’s just the thrill of going deep and the competition.”

McNulty has enjoyed four separate cashes in WPT events at bestbet Jacksonville over the last 11 years. Astonishingly, all four of McNulty’s four WPT bestbet results have fallen into an unusually tight range – no better than 10th, and no worse than 21st.

His most recent deep run came to a close on Monday in the WPT bestbet Scramble, as he ran out of steam in 13th place on Day 3. But before McNulty found his end at the hands of three-time WPT champion Eric Afriat, he made his presence felt throughout the tournament, including holding the chip lead at the end of Day 1B.

For McNulty, tournament poker exists as a hobby and a way to step away from his day-to-day life in the financial services industry. And while he doesn’t rate himself at par with the professionals he sparred with during his time in the WPT bestbet Scramble, the act of battling with them at the table is a worthy test of his wits and skill.

“I feel like this – I’m a knucklehead,” McNulty said of his poker acumen. “They’re all these young guys and these pros and, you know, I just do this for kicks. I’ve got a day job. I think poker helps keep me sharp, mixing it up with these guys.”

McNulty has tournament poker results dating back to 2011, which is shortly after he took up playing the game. After graduating from Harvard in the early 1980s, McNulty’s recollection of his earliest days in poker is thanks in part to a different card game he learned three decades prior.

“The famous Harvard and MIT blackjack team in ‘Bringing Down the House’ and the movie ‘21’ – I was on the team,” said McNulty. “I’ve always been, you know, a card player with instincts, but I was just never into poker. The funny thing is, my son knew nothing about that – I never talked about blackjack, but he was in high school when Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker, and he got hooked and started playing. He got good, he played the poker circuit for a bit, and he taught me how to play.”

Thad’s son Court, who started logging results a year prior to his dad, put together a solid poker resume of his own including a Card Player Poker Tour Main Event win in West Palm Beach back in 2013.

These days Court’s settled into a career of his own, and like his dad, each poker trip and tournament played becomes a special occasion – a chance to battle it out and test their mettle against the best poker players in the world.

“It’s a great father-son thing. We go and play tournaments together,” said McNulty. “He’s working too, so he doesn’t play much anymore. But this summer, we went and played the WSOP Main Event, and it was the only event either one of us played in Las Vegas for the whole series. But we each cashed and that was a real thrill.”

Along the way to his 13th-place finish in the WPT bestbet Scramble, McNulty once again felt the kind of competitive surge of adrenaline that keeps him coming back to bestbet Jacksonville, again and again. He doesn’t play too many daily tournaments anymore, but any time a bigger tournament or festival is scheduled, McNulty tries his best to get into the fray at least once or twice a month.

“It’s a good poker room, a good crowd,” said McNulty. “And a lot of hotshots come in.”

But there isn’t much that hits as hard as when a $5K WPT event rolls through town – and McNulty will be ready to do it all again the next time the tour comes around.