Blake Ellinghaus Wins WPT bestbet Scramble Main Event for $294,900

Blake Ellinghaus is a World Poker Tour champion. The Plainfield, Illinois player won the $5,000 buy-in WPT bestbet Scramble Main Event at bestbet Jacksonville, topping a 294-entry field that built a prize pool of $1,337,700 against a $1 million guarantee, according to Card Player.

Ellinghaus banked $294,900 for the win, his first major tournament title. The result also puts his name on the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup, the trophy awarded to WPT main event winners.

“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 run, Ellinghaus’ largest cash had been a win in a $400 event at the Daytona Beach Poker Open worth just over $34,000. He now has more than $400,000 in career earnings and picked up 912 Card Player Player of the Year points for the victory, his fourth final table of the year, putting him within reach of the top 400 in the 2026 POY standings presented by CoinPoker.

Final table action at bestbet Jacksonville

The event ran across three starting flights and paid the top 37 finishers. Florida regular Raminder Singh went out in seventh for $43,500 after his flopped full house lost to a turned full house from Michael Macchia. Ellinghaus then took a big step forward six-handed, winning a top-pair battle against Hugh Membrino to send him out in sixth for $57,000.

Macchia fell in fifth for $75,000 after his pocket nines lost to the pocket aces of Jared Reinstein, the 2017 Card Player Poker Tour bestbet Jacksonville main event champion. Skyler Dennis busted in fourth for $100,000 when his short-stacked shove with A-6 ran into Ellinghaus’ pocket queens. Bryan Paris went out in third for $135,000 after an all-in with pocket nines lost to Ellinghaus’ pocket jacks, which improved to a full house.

Heads-up finish against Jared Reinstein

Ellinghaus carried roughly a 5:1 chip lead into heads-up play against Reinstein, who clawed back with consecutive doubles before the final hand. Ellinghaus limped with 6-4, and after a J-8-5 flop, a 3 turn and a raise to 850,000 that Reinstein called, the river brought a 7 that gave Ellinghaus a straight. Reinstein called an all-in shove with his rivered pair of sevens to end the tournament and took home $184,000, the largest cash of his 58 recorded live tournament results.