Jared Jaffee took a huge chip lead into the final table of the World Poker Tour (WPT) bestbet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble Main Event Tuesday and went virtually wire-to-wire for as easy a victory as one will see on the Tour. For the win, Jaffee cashed a check for $252,749.
It was a breakthrough of sorts for Jaffee, as he had twice before made the final table of a World Poker Tour event only to fall just short of the title. In 2010, he placed 4th in the WPT Southern Poker Championship Championship Event, earning $135,079, and then 5th in the Legends of Poker Championship Event, good for $86,000. This is his first major title of any kind; the closest he had gotten was this past summer when he finished 3rd in the $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em Four-Handed Event at the World Series of Poker for $129,447.
The chip counts to start the final table:
1. Jared Jaffee — 3,650,000
2. Margo Costa — 1,720,000
3. Michael Horchoff — 1,525,000
4. Corrie Wunstel — 1,495,000
5. Blake Purvis — 1,400,000
6. Randall Price — 940,000
Jaffee got work right away at the final table yesterday, knocking out short stack Randall Price in 6th place on just the 7th hand. All-in pre-flop, Price had little chance with his Tens against Jaffee’s Aces. At that point, Jaffee was up over 4,200,000; nobody else had eclipsed 2,000,000 yet.
It took several more orbits for the next elimination, which came on Hand 40. Corrie Wunstel moved all-in pre-flop with A-J and could not improve after Jaffee called with pocket Nines. With 5,700,000, Jaffee now had more chips than everyone else combined.
A few hands later, Margo Costa’s dream of becoming the first female winner of an open WPT event ended, as Blake Purvis eliminated her in 4th place when his Sevens held up against her K-T. All of a sudden, Jaffee’s lead was almost gone, down to less than 200,000 over Purvis.
Once Purvis eliminated Michael Horchoff in 3rd place, he supplanted Jaffee as the chip leader, going into heads-up play ahead 5,390,000 to 5,340,000. And just as the lead was tiny, so was the length of time he had it. Jaffee regained the lead on the very first hand of heads-up play and never looked back.
Purvis didn’t go away quietly, as it took about 40 hands to end the tournament, but Jaffee never really had much of any trouble. On the final hand, Purvis raised pre-flop to 250,000 and Jaffee called. When the flop was dealt J♦-J♥-6♥, both players started raising each other out of their shorts until all the chips were in the middle of the table. Jaffee turned over 2♥-4♥ for the flush draw, while Purvis revealed A♥-A♠. The turn was the 6♣, changing nothing, but the Q♥ appeared on the river, completing Jaffee’s flush and giving him his first WPT title.
World Poker Tour bestbet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble Main Event – Final Table Results
1. Jared Jaffee — $252,749
2. Blake Purvis — $166,139
3. Michael Horchoff — $106,904
4. Margo Costa — $79,114
5. Corrie Wunstel — $59,335
6. Johnny Price — $47,468
