Justin Macella wins the Bestbet Winter Open Main Event

THE best bet Jacksonville Winter Open earlier this week, Justin Macella won $122,017 and his first tournament title. The Georgia native made his third and largest tournament cashes by far, and now holds $151,889 in career earnings.

Despite the six-figure rating, it doesn’t look like the coach will be switching careers to playing tournament poker any time soon. “No, no, I’m a high school coach, an old football and baseball coach. I do it on the side just to try and add some extra change and have some fun from time to time. No, I’m not going to go pro or anything like that” Marcella told al PokerNews reporters after his victory.

The tournament had a prize pool worth $580,425 with two initial flights attracting a total of 327 entrants. The top 41 players all cashed at least $3,577 in prize money. There were only 48 players who returned for day two of the tournament, and the prize bubble burst just before play began. It took just eight hours to get to the final table of nine which took place on February 6th.

The final table featured a talented group of players, but two of the tournament pros among the final nine fell early when Maxwell Young busted in eighth place and David Tuthill in seventh. The final table took six hours to unfold in front of the cameras of the live stream of best live bet.

The final heads-up came down to Macella and high-stakes cash player Russell Quick. The two had clashed several times over the course of the tournament, and Macella had this to say about the dynamic during the final match. “It’s been fun, we have similar styles in that we’re both fearless, no matter what two cards we’re holding, we’re willing to shuffle and hit points, so it’s been a lot of fun,” Macella said.

In the final hand, Macella’s J-9 hit another jack on the turn to beat Quick’s A-8 after all the chips had gone in preflop. Quick received $81,343 for his deep run in the tournament, and his career tournament winnings are now up to $128,477.

Some other notables who cashed in the event included Rodney Turvin (10th), Charles Campos (12th), Kelley Slay (15th), Clyde Maliauka (21st), Brett Feder (24th), Jacob Ferro ( 28th), Sean Conklin (29th ) and Fred Paradis (35th).

Card player has a long history of Card player poker round stops at bestbet Jacksonville, with nine events hosted together dating back to 2013.

Here’s a look at payments and POY extension points awarded at the final table:

BestBet Jacksonville’s next big tournament series runs from March 23 to April 2 and includes a $1,200 no-limit hold’em main event with a $300,000 guaranteed prize pool.

Photo copyright: best bet jacksonville twitter account.