bestbet Winter Open to Crown a Champion Monday
What’s already been a wild and entertaining week of poker in Jacksonville culminates Monday with the final table of the $2,000 bestbet Winter Open Main Event.
The final nine players have all clinched at least $12,201 for their efforts, but they all have their eyes on the $122,017 first prize and the beautiful crystal trophy.
The final table, which begins at 2 p.m. local time and will be streamed on bestbet’s YouTube channel should be an entertaining one. It will feature a great mix of seasoned professionals and amateurs.
bestbet Winter Open Main Event Final Table Seat Draw
| Seat | Name | Hometown | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Frierson | Jacksonville, FL | 1,425,000 | 71 |
| 2 | Bryce McVay | Tampa, FL | 365,000 | 18 |
| 3 | Russell Quick | Jacksonville, FL | 1,800,000 | 90 |
| 4 | Toby Boas | Sylva, NC | 630,000 | 31 |
| 5 | Thomas Carroll | N. Augusta, SC | 690,000 | 34 |
| 6 | Aftab Patni | Orlando, FL | 700,000 | 35 |
| 7 | Justin Macella | McRae, GA | 2,635,000 | 131 |
| 8 | Maxwell Young | Portland, OR | 920,000 | 46 |
| 9 | David Tuthill | St. Petersburg, FL | 620,000 | 31 |
The Final Nine
The less experienced tournament contingent will be led by the chip leader, Justin Macella, who’s lone recorded tournament result is a second-place finish for $28,532 during the bestbet Spring Series in 2021.
Macella comes into play with 2,635,000 chips, over 800,000 more than Russell Quick in 2nd place (1,800,000), and Michael Frierson in 3rd with 1,425,000. Frierson is another talented local amateur player, who has already passed his largest-ever tournament score this week. Aftab Patni (5th - 700,000) comes in having more than doubled his career tournament earnings with his run so far and will be looking to extend that number significantly.
They’ll have several well-tenured professionals looking to chase them down. Maxwell Young enters in 4th place with 920,000 chips and he brings a winning pedigree with a pair of WSOP Circuit rings along with other major wins and almost $2.4 million in career tournament earnings.
The entertaining Thomas Carroll starts 6th, bringing 690,000 chips to the final table. He has a couple of smaller wins to his name along with an 11th-place finish in the 2022 Lucky Hearts Main Event for his largest score of $77,215.
Toby Boas (7th - 620,000) and David Tuthill (8th - 610,000) are also on the lower half of the leaderboard, but with experienced tournament resumes that total a combined $3.4 million with multiple titles to their names, their 31 big blinds each are more than capable of making a run at the title Monday.
The short stack entering the day is Bryce McVay (365,000) with 18 big blinds. A first or second-place finish for McVay would vault him over the $1 million career tournament earnings mark.
Final Table Payouts
| PLACE | PAYOUT |
|---|---|
| 1 | $122,017 |
| 2 | $81,343 |
| 3 | $59,679 |
| 4 | $44,339 |
| 5 | $33,366 |
| 6 | $25,437 |
| 7 | $19,648 |
| 8 | $15,379 |
| 9 | $12,201 |
Along with the live stream, PokerNews will have reports on the same 30-minute delay so as not to spoil the bestbetLIVE stream. Keep it locked here for all the excitement as a champion is crowned at the bestbet Winter Open Main Event.