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bestbet Jacksonville Winter Open Kickoff Event Draws Nearly 1,100 Entries

Florida Local Hunter Wroten Came Out On Top In The $400 Event, Earning $72,205 For The Win

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North Florida poker mainstay bestbet Jacksonville is currently hosting the 2025 Winter Open tournament series, with eight events spanning Jan. 23 – Feb. 2. The $400 buy-in no-limit hold’em kickoff event drew a sizable field of 1,064 entries, easily surpassing the $200,000 guarantee for the tournament to build a final prize pool of $345,800.

The tournament sported six starting flights, with two a day from Jan. 23-25. The top 105 finishers made the money, with five-figure paydays for the last five contenders.

The largest payout was ultimately captured by Hunter Wroten. The nearby St. Augustine, FL resident walked away with $72,205 as the champion. This was his second win at the venue, having taken down a $660 buy-in six-max event at the 2024 Card Player Poker Tour stop last August. He now has nearly $134,000 in recorded tournament earnings to his name.

Wroten entered the final table as the chip leader, with Joseph Jordan not far behind. Those two big stacks clashed in a massive coin flip midway through the final table, with Wroten’s pocket jacks holding up against Joseph’s A-K to see him take a big lead heading into the back half of the day.

Wroten knocked out Reece Crews in fifth place ($11,293). Daniel McGrath (4th – $16,083) soon joined Crews on the rail, with his K-2 unable to come from behind against the A-K of Huston Vandoren.

Jordan’s last stand saw QClub Suit10Club Suit fall against the ADiamond SuitJClub Suit of Wroten. Neither player improved on a paired eight-high runout and Jordan was eliminated in third place ($25,800).

Heads-up play began with roughly a 5:2 advantage for Wroten over Vandoren. In the final hand, Vandoren shoved from the button for 5,075,000 (around 13 big blinds) with KClub Suit3Heart Suit and Wroten called with JHeart SuitJDiamond Suit. The board came down 8Heart Suit7Heart Suit7Club SuitQDiamond Suit3Club Suit and Wroten’s pocket pair held to earn him the pot and the title. Vandoren was awarded $42,980 as the runner-up finisher.

Check out a full replay of the final table on bestbet LIVE below:

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Place Player Earnings POY Points
1 Hunter Wroten $72,205 384
2 Huston Vandoren $42,980 320
3 Joseph Jordan $25,800 256
4 Daniel McGrath $16,083 192
5 Reece Crews $11,293 160
6 Gregory Goater $9,582 128
7 Andrew Brown $8,213 96
8 Dalip Madnani $6,844 64
9 Anderson Premdas $5,817 32

Photo credit: bestbet Jacksonville.