Noah Schwartz, a Miami Beach native, won the World Poker Tour bestbet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble on Tuesday, the biggest live tournament event of the week. The tournament pro earned $402,970 and a WPT trophy for the win.
Schwartz entered heads up play almost even in chips with second-place finisher Byron Kaverman.
Schwartz, who beat out 476 other players, held the chip lead for nearly the entire final table. In fact, Kaverman’s elimination of 3rd place finisher Ryan Hartmann only gave him a slight advantage when heads up play started. Kaverman had 7.16m to Schwartz’s 7.1m.
Kaverman had the chip lead for two hands before Schwartz retrieved it, according to hand-by-hand updates on WPT.com.
But the two played only 11 hands together.
On the final hand, Kaverman flopped top two pair, tens and nines, while Schwartz flopped top pair with a queen kicker, turned a flush draw when the money went in, and hit a queen on the river for the win.
Kaverman earned $236,592 for second place.
Schwartz’s first place prize includes an entry into the WPT World Championship at Bellagio in Las Vegas next month.
The win marks Schwartz’s second six-figure cash this year. He finished fourth at the L.A. Poker Classic in February for $355,750.
Here’s how the rest of the top six finishers were paid:
3rd: Ryan Hartmann – $153,403
4th: Hans Winzeler – $106,848
5th: Brian Senie – $77,083
6th: Lee Markholt – $61,819