bestbet - Jacksonville, FL
February 25-28, 2016
$350 Regional Event: 690 Entrants
Blake Whittington Wins $350 MSPT Regional at bestbet Jacksonville, $45,492!
Event #1 of the Mid-States Poker Tour stop at bestbet Jacksonville – the $350 buy-in, $100,000 guaranteed Regional – began with 690 entries, but after 14 hours of play on Day 2, only one remained in 24-year-old professional poker player Blake Whittington, who took home $45,492 and a coveted trophy.
Amazingly, the win marked Whittington's seventh career victory and his third at bestbet Jacksonville. The first two came back in 2012 within a week of each other and marked the first two cashes of his career. Since then, he's won a World Series of Poker Circuit ring, taken down a World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open preliminary event, and won a couple events at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.
Whittington's final table experience paid off in a big way. He entered the final table of ten as chip leader, and while he would relinquish it, he regained his composure four handed and put on a masterful display of what it means to play shorthanded poker, which included pulling out to a big chip lead and subjecting his opponents to relentless pressure.
One by one he ran over his opponents which included Neil Autrey (4th - $$11,016), who he had to spike a lucky ace to eliminate; the card dead Cody Durden (3rd - $16,728); and James Blick (2nd - $27,540), who gave Whittington a run for his money during heads-up play only to fall when he failed to complete a flush draw.
Final Table Results
1- Blake Whittington (Jacksonville, FL) - $45,492
2 - James Blick (Hanahan, SC) - $27,540
3 - Cody Durden (Knoxville, GA) - $16,728
4 - Neil Autrey (Crawfordville, FL) - $11,016
5 - Ken Baker (Jacksonville, FL) - $7,956
6 - Eric Yim (Fayetteville, FL) - $6,528
7 - Marc Heng (Bryceville, FL) - $5,508
8 - George Galloway (Florence, SC) - $4,488
9 - Jeff Reese (Jacksonville, FL) - $3,672
10 - Jeff Olive (Jacksonville, FL) - $3,060
Notable Finishes: Chris Love (11th - $2,448), Brandon Maner (18th - $1,632), Cory Biddle (31st - $1,224), MSPT Pro Matt Alexander (41st - $1,020)
Whittington will be at the MSPT bestbet Jacksonville all week and has plans to play the $1,100 Main Event, which begins on Friday. For more on the remaining scheducle, click here.