He’s a high school football and baseball coach by profession, but Justin Macella of McRae, GA is also now a major tournament poker champion after defeating a field of 327 players to take down the $2,000 bestbet Winter Open Main Event for a career-best $122,017 score.
In an interesting twist that was fitting of some of the crazy events of the tournament, Macella defeated high-stakes cash game player Russell Quick heads-up. Quick was the same player Macella needed to hit a miracle two-outer against on Day 2 to survive when he jammed his ace-five into Quick’s ace-jack and needed not one but two fives to hit to survive after both players paired their kicker on the flop.