2021 bestbet Jacksonville Spring Series

bestbet Jacksonville Spring Series $2,500 Main Event
Day: 2
Event Info

2021 bestbet Jacksonville Spring Series

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
kj
Prize
$180,986
Event Info
Buy-in
$2,500
Prize Pool
$898,242
Entries
401
Level Info
Level
28
Blinds
50,000 / 100,000
Ante
100,000
Players Info - Day 2
Entries
54
Players Left
1

bestbet Jacksonville Spring Series $2,500 Main Event

Day 2 Completed

Hal Rotholz Wins 2021 bestbet Jacksonville Spring Series $2,500 Main Event ($180,986)

Level 28 : 50,000/100,000, 100,000 ante
Hal Rotholz, photo c/o bestbet Jacksonville/Johnny Pham
Hal Rotholz, photo c/o bestbet Jacksonville/Johnny Pham

The 2021 bestbet Jacksonville Spring Series $2,500 Main Event drew 401 entries and generated a prize pool of $898,242 with 54 players coming back for Sunday's Day 2 to play down to one. In the end, Hal Rotholz was that one, and it earned him a $180,986 payday.

Rotholz advanced to Day 2 from the second of two starting flights and entered play with a slightly above-average stack of 234,000. Two hours into the day, he had nearly doubled that to climb into the top 10 in chips, and he climbed to the top five by the second break of the day before grinding his way through the final three tables. From there, he came into the final table sixth in chips, and just about everything went his way from there.

2021 bestbet Spring Series Main Event Final Table Results

PlacePlayerHometownPrize
1Hal RotholzNew York, New York$180,986
2Jake FerroSyracuse, New York$120,658
3Kyle CartwrightArlington, Tennessee$88,761
4Johnny LandrethLanett, Alabama$66,069
5David JacksonJacksonville, Florida$49,767
6Brian ArbaughAkron, Ohio$37,941
7Stephen StroutSt. Augustine, Florida$29,280
8Dustin HolladayMurrells Inlet, South Carolina$22,876

Day 2 Recap

The 54 players that returned did so just three places away from making the money. Ken Taffaro was the shortest stack entering the day, doing so with 10 big blinds but finding himself unable to pick up anything of note. He was one of the first two eliminations on the day, bringing about hand-for-hand play with the bubble bursting just two hands in when Aaron Thivyanathan and Filipp Khavin both were eliminated on the same hand to split a first-level payout.

Eliminations then came at a steady pace before roughly a full level went by with 39 players remaining. Within the next half an hour, Day 1a chip leader Nick Raio, Jack Sumner, and Justin Zaki busted (35-37th), and the tournament reached four tables shortly thereafter with sixth-place finisher Brian Arbaugh atop the counts with a stack just shy of 1 million.

Just one more 40-minute level needed to occur for the three-table redraw, with James Calderaro and Byron Kaverman being the first two to fall thereafter. Arbaugh remained near the top of the counts with Jake Ferro beginning his ascent around that time just the same, and the two wound up at the same table when the final 16 were reached. Ferro was fairly active with everyone at his table and wound up chipping up to 2.175 million by the time the final table was reached.

As for the other table in play at the time, start-of-day chip leader and third-place finisher Kyle Cartwright also continued to accumulate chips throughout the day and continued to climb as play got short-handed. He then took a few hits to his stack but found a double and picked up where he had previously left off to take a chip-leading stack of 2.39 million into the final eight.

From Eight to One

Johnny Landreth came into the final table as the shortest stack with 400,000 midway through a big blind of 40,000. He doubled on the very first hand of play when he picked up two kings in the big blind and Ferro was priced in to call after opening with nine-five suited on the button. Shortly thereafter, January's Winter Open Main Event 10th-place finisher Dustin Holladay cold-called with two queens behind a three-bet from Ferro in a hand that saw four clubs come on board. Ferro had two kings with both players holding a club and Holladay was left short.

Holladay then picked up ace-king and shoved. David Jackson re-jammed with pocket jacks and Arbaugh called all in with king-queen, giving Holladay to have a chance at tripling. He flopped a king but Arbaugh turned a queen to send him out in eighth. Stephen Strout then became short and was the next to fall at Ferro's expense, with Arbaugh going out a few hands later after running a failed bluff attempt into Landreth.

Cartwright then began to pull away with five remaining until Jackson got two black queens all in preflop against the pocket jacks of Rotholz. Three diamonds on the flop gave Rotholz a flush draw that got there on the river to eliminate Jackson in fifth and put Rotholz into the chip lead temporarily, but Cartwright got it back and built on it from there by eliminating Landreth in fourth.

Unfortunately for Cartwright, variance took a turn for the worst and the momentum went all Ferro's way. Eventually, a blind-on-blind situation between the two saw Ferro limp-jam ace-queen into Cartwright's pocket kings and a queen on the flop was accompanied by another on the river to give Ferro trips and send him into heads-up play with a massive chip lead.

However, on the first hand of heads-up play, Ferro flopped a flush draw and Rotholz flopped top pair. Stacks went in with Ferro having a shot to end it all in one hand but he did not fill up and Rotholz pulled close to even. Rotholz then took the chip lead for a bit before Ferro took three hands in quick succession to pull back ahead.

But it was all Rotholz from there. Ferro limped and then three-bet on the button with ace-king only to see Rotholz four-bet jam with queen-jack. Once again, Ferro's shot at victory was shattered as Rotholz flopped top two pair and turned a full house to take a huge lead. Ferro then found himself under 20 big blinds and re-shoved queen-jack into Rotholz's king-jack with a clean runout resulting in Rotholz earning all the chips, the trophy, and the top prize of the tournament.

bestbet Jacksonville Spring Series Winners

The 11-event series proved to be a big success catering to a combined 2,310 entries and awarding $1,712,974 in prize money. Here's a look at all those who captured titles:

TournamentEntriesPrize PoolWinnerPrize
Event #1: $560 NLH741$363,104Kenneth Brossoit$51,180
Event #2: $360 PLO112$34,160Armando Figueroa$9,339
Event #3: $460 NLH w/ $100 Bounties194$58,200Alex Ortiz$13,330
Event #4: $260 NLH190$41,800Bryan Brozman$9,906
Event #5: $360 NLH Monster Stack194$59,170Billy Cashwell$13,784
Event #6: $260 NLH Turbo w/ $50 Bounties83$14,110Steve Zhang$3,735
Event #7: $360 NLH Ladies49$14,945Stella Davila$5,028
Event #8: $1,200 NLH 6-Max134$142,040David Dowdy$32,011
Event #9: $360 HORSE45$13,725Charles Janney$4,100
Event #10: $500 NLH The bestbet 500167$73,480Nabil "Doc" Hirezi$15,775
bestbet Spring Series $2,500 Main Event401$898,240Hal Rotholz$180,986

Tags: Aaron ThivyanathanBrian ArbaughByron KavermanDavid JacksonDustin HolladayFilipp KhavinHal RotholzJack SumnerJake FerroJames CalderaroJohnny LandrethJustin ZakiKen TaffaroKyle CartwrightNick RaioStephen Strout

Jake Ferro Eliminated in 2nd Place ($120,658)

Level 28 : 50,000/100,000, 100,000 ante
Jake Ferro
Jake Ferro

Hal Rotholz raised to 225,000 on the button with {k-Diamonds}{j-Spades} and Jake Ferro three-bet shoved his remaining 1.75 million into the middle in the big blind with {q-Clubs}{j-Diamonds} and Rotholz called upon receiving confirmation of the amount.

Ferro was in trouble with his dominated hand and no help came on the runout {5-Spades}{6-Diamonds}{a-Spades}{4-Hearts}{2-Diamonds} to result in his runner-up finish in the 2021 bestbet Jacksonville Spring Series $2,500 Main Event, good for $120,658. Meanwhile, Hal Rotholz has claimed the trophy and top prize of $180,986.

A recap of the tournament will be posted in the near future, so be sure to stick around.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Hal Rotholz us
Hal Rotholz
10,050,000
1,750,000
1,750,000
Profile photo of Jake Ferro us
Jake Ferro
Busted

Tags: Hal RotholzJake Ferro

Rotholz Doubles for a Big Lead

Level 28 : 50,000/100,000, 100,000 ante

Jake Ferro completed on the button with {a-Diamonds}{k-Spades} and saw Hal Rotholz raise his option to 250,000 with {q-Hearts}{j-Hearts} in the big blind. Ferro three-bet to 850,000 and Rotholz four-bet jammed for 3.75 million, with Ferro immediately calling.

Rotholz had Ferro drawing dead by the turn as the runout came {j-Clubs}{q-Spades}{3-Spades}{j-Spades}{9-Clubs} and now has more than a three-to-one chip lead over Ferro.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Hal Rotholz us
Hal Rotholz
7,600,000
3,275,000
3,275,000
Profile photo of Jake Ferro us
Jake Ferro
2,450,000
-3,275,000
-3,275,000

Tags: Hal RotholzJake Ferro

Ferro Takes Back the Lead

Level 28 : 50,000/100,000, 100,000 ante

Hand #1: Jake Ferro completed with {j-Diamonds}{10-Clubs} on the button and Hal Rotholz checked his option with {9-Diamonds}{4-Hearts}. Action checked through a flop of {5-Diamonds}{9-Spades}{5-Hearts}. Neither player improved on the turn {a-Diamonds} and Rotholz checked. Ferro bet 100,000 and Rotholz check-raised to 275,000.

Ferro three-bet to 500,000 and Rotholz called, bringing the river {10-Hearts} to improve Ferro to the best hand. Both players checked and Ferro took down the pot.

"I knew you hit it," Rotholz said of the river card and laughed.

Hand #2: A couple of hands later, Ferro completed on the button with {a-Clubs}{10-Hearts} and Rotholz checked his option with {6-Diamonds}{3-Diamonds}. Rotholz flopped trips on {6-Clubs}{6-Hearts}{10-Spades} and checked, with Ferro checking behind.

Rotholz led out for 100,000 on the turn {10-Diamonds} and Ferro raised to 275,000 after hitting tens full. Rotholz called, bringing the river {q-Hearts} where Rotholz led out for 300,000 and saw Ferro raise to 1.1 million. Rotholz found a fold and Ferro took down anothe rpot.

Hand #3: Rotholz raised to 225,000 on the button with {q-Diamonds}{5-Spades} and Ferro defended his big blind with {10-Hearts}{4-Hearts} to bring the flop {3-Diamonds}{6-Hearts}{10-Spades}. Ferro check-called another 250,000 and then checked again on the turn {6-Diamonds}. Rotholz fired a second barrel for 450,000 and Ferro check-raised to 950,000, taking down the pot upon receiving a fold from Rotholz.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Jake Ferro us
Jake Ferro
5,725,000
1,700,000
1,700,000
Profile photo of Hal Rotholz us
Hal Rotholz
4,325,000
-1,700,000
-1,700,000

Tags: Hal RotholzJake Ferro

Rotholz Takes the Lead

Level 28 : 50,000/100,000, 100,000 ante

Hal Rotholz raised {10-Clubs}{4-Clubs} on the button to 225,000 and Jake Ferro defended his big blind with {9-Clubs}{6-Diamonds}. Both players checked the flop {2-Diamonds}{k-Diamonds}{7-Hearts} and Ferro led out for 125,000 on the turn {8-Diamonds}. Rotholz raised to 350,000, receiving a call from Ferro before blasting a missed river and forcing a fold from Ferro to take down the pot.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Hal Rotholz us
Hal Rotholz
6,025,000
1,580,000
1,580,000
Profile photo of Jake Ferro us
Jake Ferro
4,025,000
-1,580,000
-1,580,000

Tags: Hal RotholzJake Ferro

Rotholz Doubles Right Away To Pull Stacks Closer

Level 28 : 50,000/100,000, 100,000 ante

Hal Rotholz raised on the button to 220,000 with {k-Hearts}{5-Diamonds} and Jake Ferro defended his big blind with {7-Clubs}{5-Clubs}. The flop came {3-Clubs}{k-Clubs}{2-Hearts} and Ferro checked to Rotholz, who made a continuation-bet of 200,000. Ferro called.

The turn fell {2-Spades} and Ferro checked again. Rotholz continued, firing a second barrel of 460,000 and Ferro check-raised to 1.1 million. Rotholz came over the top, three-bet jamming for 2.405 million and Ferro called with a shot to end it all.

No club came on the river {3-Diamonds} though, and Rotholz scored the dub.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Jake Ferro us
Jake Ferro
5,605,000
-1,670,000
-1,670,000
Profile photo of Hal Rotholz us
Hal Rotholz
4,445,000
1,670,000
1,670,000

Tags: Hal RotholzJake Ferro

Level: 28

Blinds: 50,000/100,000

Ante: 100,000

Heads-Up Play Begins

Level 27 : 40,000/80,000, 80,000 ante
Heads-Up Play
Heads-Up Play

Under two minutes remain in Level 27 and heads-up play between Jake Ferro and Hal Rotholz is underway on the live stream.