WPT bestbet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble, Day 2 Recap

By BJ Nemeth

Here’s a look back at some of the highlights from Day 2 of the WPT bestbet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble.

The most notable milestone reached when the field burst the money bubble belonged to WPT Champions Club member Lee Markholt — it was the record 23rd cash of his World Poker Tour career. Nobody else has more than 20.

Markholt survived Day 2, and while he is short on chips, he is long on experience.

One player who didn’t reach the money was Gregory Brewer, who finished Day 1B with 34,600 in chips, but never showed up for Day 2. He lost a little more than half his stack in the first level, and was completely blinded out during the second level.

In Florida, the legal gambling age is 18 years old (in most states it is 21), so the bestbet casino offers a bonus prize to the under-21 player that goes deepest in the tournament — a customized surfboard.

George Sinistaj is the last under-21-year-old standing, but he’s not done yet. Still alive with 28 players remaining, Sinistaj still has his eyes on the WPT Final Table.

Joseph Elpayaa took a big chip lead in the middle of the day, and was near the top of the counts the rest of the way. Elpayaa finished the day on top of the leaderboard with 924,000.

Another player who acquired a lot of chips was Mohsin Charania, who prefers stacking his chips skyscraper-style, in tall, separated towers. Charania, who final tabled WPT Paris two months ago, is still alive with an above-average stack.

Shaun Deeb (standing) wasn’t expecting Joseph Elpayaa to move all in against him after a flop of [Ah10s9h]. Deeb thought for a while before calling with [Kh4h] for the nut flush draw, and he was ahead of Elpayaa’s [8h7h] (lower flush draw, open-ended straight draw).

But the turn card was the [Jd], and Elpayaa won the pot with a jack-high straight to eliminate Deeb.

WPT Reporter Diana Cox gives a mid-day video update as the field approaches the money bubble.

As it turned out, there wasn’t much of a bubble at all, as the 47th- and 46th-place finishers busted almost simultaneously. The remaining 45 players reached the money without the need for hand-for-hand play, guaranteed at least $7,632.

The biggest cooler of the day was in a hand between Matt Waxman (left) and Jon Aguiar (right). Aguiar flopped quad deuces, and Waxman turned aces full.

Aguiar raised all in on the river, and Waxman sensed he may have been beat, but said he just couldn’t fold in that spot with aces full. Aguiar got the double up, and Waxman was crippled and eliminated in 37th place a short while later.

Remember Ed Blount? Blount (standing) was the player who survived Day 1A with 45 big blinds, but decided to re-enter on Day 1B, believing he could improve on that. He did — he finished Day 1B with a little more than 100 big blinds.

Well, the strategy appears to have worked, because Blount not only made the money, but he is still alive with 28 players remaining.

Justin Zaki (left) faces off against Lee Markholt (foreground right) in a hand late on Day 2. While Markholt has the career lead for WPT cashes, Zaki is the King of Florida when it comes to the World Poker Tour.

There have been six WPT events in this state since Florida modified its gambling laws a few years ago to allow major tournaments. Zaki has now cashed in four out of those six WPT Florida events.

John Racener was the Day 1B chipleader, and he carried his momentum thru Day 2 to finish with an above-average stack. The 2010 WSOP Main Event runner-up is hoping to make the second WPT Final Table of his career.

Noah Schwartz won a huge pot late in the day, and he thought he would finish as the chipleader. He also had a big bet with someone that he would head into Day 3 with more chips than Joe Elpayaa. But Elpayaa also increased his stack late in the day, and Schwartz came up 8,000 short of him — less than two big blinds.

Diana Cox interviews the ClubWPT Player of the Day James Calderaro at the end of Day 2. Calderaro final tabled the last WPT event here at the bestbet casino in Jacksonville, finishing second to earn $236,560.