Ben Scroggins took part in one of his first live poker tournaments at bestbet Jacksonville again in 2017, with the $20 'College Tournament' buy-in targeting college-age players. The 10-year-old poker player from Atlantic Beach, Jacksonville, has gone further to enter more than 200 tournaments at Jacksonville's bestbet since then, including several deep stints and a win in World Poker Tour qualifying event.
On Monday, Scrogins won his biggest ever tournament title, despite everything in his home territory, breaking a field of 300 entries in Card Player Poker Tour bestbet Jacksonville $2,500 buy-in no hold'em main event buy-in. The Skrogins earned the $088,910 champion after beating World Series of Poker bracelet winner and eightfold WSOP
“Having the entire rail here was even better. I cried for almost a second, but pulled myself together, ”Scrogins said after it was over.
"My experience here has been amazing," said Scrogins when asked about winning the title at Jacksonville's bestbet. “This is my home and I love everyone here. I know most dealers by name and every time I walk in the door I say "Hey Ben, how are you?" This is the basis of the name. It really is like home away from home, I definitely have a second family here. "
This was Scrogins' first six-digit tournament score. His biggest win before this event was winning 2017 Heartland Poker Tour Daytona Beach Kennel Club main event for $088,500. He now has $378,378 in Lifetime Live Tournament Wins.
In addition to the title and a six-figure salary, Scrogins also made 910 Card player Player of the Year points as the champion of this event. It was his first POY qualifying result of the year, but it was enough to move in 162 2nd place in 2017 POY
The final day of the event kicked off with the eight remaining players and Dustin Holladay in the lead. Scrogins was basically a draw for second place with Jessica Cai who recently made the final table at the Palm Beach Summer Classic final table. Day 1A leader Jeremy Joseph was one of the smaller stacks at the table when the game resumed, and was eventually eliminated first after losing most of his stack thanks to pocket jacks against Lamare Davis' straight. Joseph hit the queue in eighth place, earning $10,081 for his deep streak in the event.
Mac Johnson was next to be eliminated. A local player from Jacksonville entered the day as shortest stack but managed to double early to stay alive. His run ended in seventh place when his K.
Joseph Crowley grabbed the last chips in the middle with J
When the final table started, Lamare Davis was second with the smallest stack. Davis struggled to make his way to the final four to cut a healthy payoff in the event. He pushed all in with K on his last hand
An exciting series of hands was played in three-handed action. In one such hand, Cartwright raised to 125,000 on the A button
With this hand, Holladay returned to the lead, but was soon overtaken by Scrogins. Two big stacks ended in a clash of monstrous hands. Scrogins raised to 105,000 on the K button
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