The World Poker Tour returned once again to bestbet Jacksonville in 2025. The northeastern Florida poker hotspot first hosted the tour back in 2012 with the debut of the WPT bestbet Scramble. A year before that, the bestbet Orange Park poker room hosted the second-ever WPT event held in the state. Since then, the stop has been held in the larger bestbet Jacksonville room in the spring of 2012.
The latest iteration of this marquee tournament attracted 327 entries at $5,000 a piece, surpassing the $1 million guarantee to create a final prize pool of $1,487,850. After two starting flights and three more days of combined-field action, Connor Rash emerged as the champion. The Tallahassee resident was awarded $315,350 as the champion, including a $10,400 seat into the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas in December.
In addition to the money and the honor of having his name etched onto the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup, Rash also secured 960 Card Player Player of the Year points. This was his second POY-qualified score of 2025.
Prior to this triumph, Rash’s biggest tournament score was an eighth-place finish in the 2024 World Series of Poker $10,000 six-max championship, earning $78,455. With this win, he surpassed $1 million in lifetime earnings, with his total now sitting at $1,007,637.
Smith Surges Early
The final day began with six players remaining and Rash in the lead. Rash hit a speed bump in the first couple of orbits, losing a preflop race with pocket tens against the A-K suited of Byron Kaverman. Not long after that, 2024 WPT Rock’n’Roll Poker Open champion Dylan Smith won a big one with a rivered full house, sevens full of kings, besting the pocket queens of Rash to further eat away at the top stack.
Smith then scored the first knockout of the day to move into the top spot on the chip counts. His pocket eights held against the pocket sevens of Jessica Dawley. Smith flopped a set and held from there to eliminate Dawley in sixth place ($65,000). The bracelet winner now boasts nearly $1.3 million in career cashes after this latest deep run.
Smith picked up an even larger pocket pair for his next elimination. His Q♠Q♣ bested the A♠6♥ of short stack Matthew Ahern to narrow the field to four. The board came down J♥10♠5♣2♣2♠ to send Ahern packing with $85,000. This was far and away the largest score yet for the 21-year-old.
Rash’s Rush
Rash won a big clash with Smith early in four-handed play, showing down a wheel against the top pair, top kicker of his opponent to move back in front. Four-handed play continued for several hours, and while a couple of short-stack double-ups checked Rash’s momentum slightly, he was still the clear leader when the next key confrontation went down.
Smith min-raised to 160,000 with A♣9♥ from under the gun and Rash defended his big blind with J♥7♥. The flop came down A♥10♥5♦ and Rash checked. Smith checked behind and the 6♣ rolled off on the turn. Rash led out for 660,000 with his flush draw. Smith called with top pair and the 3♥ on the river completed Rash’s flush. He fired 2,000,000 on the end and Smith thought it over for a while before making the call to slide to 40 big blinds. Rash’s stack surged to 137 big blinds after the hand.
Kaverman then doubled through Smith, who doubled through Rash. The stalemate finally broke when Russell Dizer’s A♥8♥ squared off against the 7♣6♣ of Rash, shoved from the cutoff. Dizer made the call from the small blind for just over 15 big blinds. The 10♣5♦4♠8♣K♦ runout saw Rash turn an eight-high straight to take the pot. Dizer earned $112,000 for his fourth-place showing, surpassing the $22,300 he took home for a 24th-place finish in this year’s World Series of Poker $777 buy-in seven-max event.
Kaverman Knocked Out In Third
Byron Kaverman
Rash entered three-handed action with just over 70 percent of the total chips in play. The final trio battled for around seven orbits, with plenty of shoves made along the way. The next knockout saw Kaverman call off his last 10 big blinds with A♣K♦ from the big blind facing a button rip from Rash, who was dominated with K♣5♥.
Rash flopped a five and held from there, with the final board reading Q♥5♠2♠2♦10♦. Kaverman earned $150,000 as the third-place finisher. The 2015 WSOP $10,000 six-max championship winner now has nearly $21.9 million in lifetime cashes to his name.
With that, Rash took better than a 7:1 chip lead into heads-up play with Smith.
Final Showdown For The Title
Smith found an early double-up with 4♠4♥ outracing A♦7♣. Neither player improved and Smith doubled to 36 big blinds. Rash still had 127 to work with after losing that pot, though.
The gap was narrowed even further when Smith went for a big value bet with tens and sevens and received a hero call from Rash, who had second pair with a deuce kicker. With that, Rash’s advantage was down to roughly 3:2.
Just six deals later, the final hand of the tournament arrived. Rash limped from the button with 9♠8♥ and Smith checked holding 7♥5♣. The flop came down 10♠7♠5♥ to give Smith two pair and Rash an open-ended straight draw. Both players checked, though, and the J♥ turn completed Rash’s draw. Smith checked and Rash bet 150,000. Smith check-raised to 1,160,000. Rash then three-bet to 3,500,000 and Smith shoved for 7,500,000 , which was quickly called. Smith was in need of a seven or five on the end, but the K♦ rolled off instead to bring the event to a close.
Smith was awarded $200,000 as the runner-up. This pushed his career earnings past the $5.1 million mark. The 800 POY points that came with this deep run moved him into 70th place in the overall standings presented by CoinPoker. He’s now made 10 final tables, with two titles won along the way.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points |
| 1 | Connor Rash | $315,350 | 960 |
| 2 | Dylan Smith | $200,000 | 800 |
| 3 | Byron Kaverman | $150,000 | 640 |
| 4 | Russell Dizer | $112,000 | 480 |
| 5 | Matthew Ahern | $85,000 | 400 |
| 6 | Jessica Dawley | $65,000 | 320 |
Photo credits: World Poker Tour.
Check out a replay of the final table stream below:
