A local poker player becomes a hometown hero when he bests the Erik Seidel heads-up at the WPT Hollywood Poker Open in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. The final table included other heavy hitters such as William Reynolds, Ali Eslami, and Tom Marchese. Mike Scarborough endured the tough final table and won the top prize only forty minutes from his hometown of Cincinnati.

The tournament went heads-up after Scarborough won a big hand against Reynolds and eventually knocked him out in third place. The heads-up action started with Scarborough having a 4:1 chip advantage over Seidel. Twelve hands later, Scarborough won his first WPT title and $273,664. Scarborough will donate $2,500 of his winnings to the ALS Foundation for a Cure in honor of his stepmother. He also plans to buy a new home for himself and his fiancee.

Seidel has been making 2011 his year as of late. He moved into the top spot on poker’s all-time money leaders with $4.3 million in winnings in 2011 alone. He landed on two final tables at the PCA in addition to final tables at the $100K High Rollers event at the Aussie Million & the $5,000 Heads-Up tournament at the LAPC. He nailed down wins in the Aussie Millions $250K Super High Roller event, the NBC National Heads-Up Championship, and the $25K High Roller event at the LAPC.