GPI First Look: WPT bestbet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble

Two months after its last North-American tour stop in Atlantic City, the World Poker Tour is back with four consecutive events on the continent – the WPT bestbet Jacksonville Fall Poker Scramble kicks things off:

SCHWARTZ DEFENDS TITLE

Last year, Noah Schwartz (GPI#13) finally broke through after years of success on the circuit without a major title. Schwartz’s first big was made even more special as he won it in his home state.

Just a few short years ago state laws prevented the WPT and other tours from presenting major tournaments in Florida – times have certainly changed, and quickly, as Florida has become the hotbed of tournament poker in the United States.

Back to Schwartz who returns to defend his title in Jacksonville with a little extra hardware – a WSOP bracelet that he won last month in Enghien-les-Bains. Schwartz would defeat Ludovic Lacay heads-up in the PLO Mixed-Max event.

REPEAT WON’T COME EASY

We hope that Schwartz wasn’t expecting this tournament to be a walk in the park as there will be a lot of big names hoping to take the title away from the Florida man.

We’ve received confirmation that world #2 Marvin Rettenmaier is indeed in Jacksonville. We can’t confirm that he’ll be in the field yet but unless he’s just visiting Jacksonville for fun, then you can count on the Mad one to make a run here in Jax and attempt to overtake Daniel Negreanu (GPI#1) atop the GPI300 standings. Kid Poker has elected to take November off so this could be a perfect opportunity for Rettenmaier to step in at the right moment.

Although unconfirmed, Florida natives Jason Mercier (GPI#10), John Racener (GPI#510) and Brian Hastings (GPI#480) are just a few of the big name Floridians who usually make the last-minute trek to WPT events held in Florida, we’ll have to wait and see if they join the action either Friday or Saturday.

Todd Terry, Joe Kuether, Justin Zaki, Matt Waxman, Jared Jaffee, Aaron Massey, Jordan Cristos, David Tuthill and Mukul Pahuja are a few members of the GPI300 also expected to be part of the action.

The action kicks off today at Noon ET with Day 1A. Day 1B action is set for Saturday also at Noon. This is a re-entry event.

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*Tournament held at the Orange Park Kennel Club in Jacksonville