Jacksonville, FL (Nov. 14, 2023) – Frederic Normand has earned the title of WPT® bestbet Scramble Champion. The 27-year-old from Quebec City came away with his first World Poker Tour® victory, a spot on the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup, and the grand prize of $351,650, which includes a $10,400 seat to the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas.
“It feels surreal because you know in tournaments with variance it’s very hard to win in the end. So much has to go your way. I feel very grateful,” said Normand, following his win. “One of my best friends won it last year, Eliot, so I’m going after him this year,” he mentioned when asked about his freshly acquired WPT World Championship seat.
A total of 365 entrants from two starting flights – 165 in Day 1A and 200 in Day 1B – made up the $5,000 buy-in Championship event at the bestbet Jacksonville card room. The field generated a prizepool of $1,660,750, which paid out the top 46 finishers.
“It was a pleasure to be back at bestbet Jacksonville, which got its start on the World Poker Tour back in 2016,” said WPT CEO Adam Pliska. “Congratulations to Frederic for his triumph in the Championship event and new place on the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup.”
Heng Zhang finished as the runner-up, earning a payout of $226,700. Busting out ahead of Zhang was Toby Boas (3rd place – $166,800), Michael Frierson (4th place – $123,900), Ian O’Hara (5th place – $92,900) and rounding out the final table was Brian Senie (6th place – $70,400).
Other notable players to cash were Founder and CEO of Faded Spade Tom Wheaton (11th place) 2023 WPT Rolling Thunder Champion Scott Eskenazi (18th place), two-time WPT winner, and current leader of the 2023 WPT Player of the Year race, Bin Weng (22nd place), WPT Ambassador Andrew Neeme (36th place), and Jerry Wong (44th place).
Next stop on the Main Tour is the WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood in South Florida. The festival begins Wednesday and runs till Nov. 29. The $3,500 buy-in Championship event will take place Nov. 24-29.
All photos from WPT bestbet Scramble can be accessed via our Flickr Page.
For more information regarding this and all World Poker Tour events, visit WPT.com.
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