The World Poker Tour returned to northern Florida’s premier poker hotspot as summer wound down for the 2026 WPT bestbet Scramble. The centerpiece of the 16-event series was the $1 million guaranteed $5,000 no-limit hold’em main event. A total of 294 entries were made across three starting flights at bestbet Jacksonville, making for a final prize pool of $1,337,700. After six total days of play, it was Blake Ellinghaus who ultimately emerged with the largest share of that sum.
The Plainfield, Illinois resident topped a tough final table to earn $294,900 and his first major tournament title. As a result, his name has been added to the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup.
“It’s the coolest accomplishment in poker that you can think of,” Ellinghaus told WPT reporters after his win. “To be on a trophy with all of the legends of the game. I’m so happy.”
Before this, Ellinghaus’ top score had been a win in a $400 event at the Daytona Beach Poker Open for just over $34,000. Now, he’s a WPT champion with over $400,000 in career earnings to his name.
This victory also came with 912 Card Player Player of the Year points. With four final tables on the year, he now sits within reach of the top 400 in the 2026 POY standings presented by CoinPoker.
Deep Runs And Early Final-Table Finishers
The top 37 finishers made the money in this event, with TK Miles (37th), Toby Boas (31st), and Tyler Phillips (30th) among the early knockouts after the bubble burst. Other big names who ran deep included Ray Qartomy (34th), Andrew Ostapchenko (29th), Jessica Cai (18th), and Justin Zaki (11th).
Local fixtures Kelly Slay (9th – $29,000) and Edward Mroczkowski (8th – $34,000) fell just short of the final day, with the last six set when Florida tournament scene endboss Raminder Singh bowed out in seventh place ($43,500). Singh was eliminated in brutal fashion, with his flopped threes full of kings bested by the turned aces full of Michael Macchia.
Ellinghaus held the chip lead to start, with Macchia as the closest competition. Ellinghaus pulled even further ahead when his kicker played in a battle of the top pairs against Hugh Membrino after a couple of hours of six-handed battling. The chips went in on a queen-high flop, and Ellinghaus’ A♣Q♠ remained best by the end to send Membrino packing in sixth place ($57,000).
Soon after that, Macchia was at risk with pocket nines trailing pocket aces for local grinder Jared Reinstein. The 2017 Card Player Poker Tour bestbet Jacksonville main event champion held through a king-high runout to narrow the field to four. Macchia earned $75,000 for his fifth-place showing.
From Four To One
Skyler Dennis was ground down to 14 big blinds by the time his final hand arrived. He three-bet shoved from the big blind with A♠6♥ over Ellinghaus’ button raise to 2.25 big blinds. Ellinghaus quickly called with Q♥Q♦ and the J♥J♣2♣2♥8♦ runout earned him the pot and the chip lead. Dennis walked away with $100,000 as the fourth-place finisher.
The next elimination also saw Ellinghaus dealt a premium pocket pair. He three-bet shoved from the big blind with pocket jacks and Bryan Paris, who opened the button with pocket nines, called all-in for just shy of 22 big blinds. Ellinghaus was ahead preflop, and his advantage only expanded with a jack-high flop. He improved to jacks full of threes by the river to send Paris to the rail in third place ($135,000).
With that, Ellinghaus took roughly a 5:1 chip lead into heads-up play with Reinstein. After a bit of a feeling-out period, the shorter stack managed to find back-to-back doubles to close the gap considerably.
The final hand began with an Ellinghaus limp for 150,000 on the button with 6♥4♦. Reinstein checked his option with 7♥6♦ and the flop came down J♠8♦5♥. It checked to the 3♦ turn and Reinstein bet 200,000. Ellinghaus raised to 850,000 and Reinstein called. The 7♣ river gave Ellinghaus a straight. He moved all-in when checked to, and Reinstein, after some thought, called with his rivered pair of sevens to bring the tournament to a close.
Reinstein earned $184,000 as the runner-up, the largest yet among his 58 recorded live tournament cashes.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points |
| 1 | Blake Ellinghaus | $294,900 | 912 |
| 2 | Jared Reinstein | $184,000 | 760 |
| 3 | Bryan Paris | $135,000 | 608 |
| 4 | Skyler Dennis | $100,000 | 456 |
| 5 | Michael Macchia | $75,000 | 380 |
| 6 | Hugh Membrino | $57,000 | 304 |
| 7 | Raminder Singh | $43,500 | 228 |
| 8 | Edward Mroczkowski | $34,000 | 152 |
| 9 | Kelly Slay | $29,000 | 76 |
Photo credit: World Poker Tour.
