Nabil Hirezi Reflects 10 Years After WPT ‘1-Outer’ in Jacksonville

Ten years ago, Nabil Hirezi got to live every poker player’s dream – walking into his hometown poker room and emerging a champion on the World Poker Tour.

It was made all the more special because Hirezi did it by closing out his victory in one of the most memorable final hands in WPT history.

“Doc,” as he came to be known, was (and remains to this day) a full-time dentist in the Jacksonville area who plays most of his poker at bestbet Jacksonville. At the tail end of WPT Season XII, Hirezi was one of 258 entrants in the WPT Jacksonville bestbet Open – and he got in for a highly discounted price.

“The funny thing is, I came into that tournament on a satellite,” said Hirezi. “Somebody won a seat for a $350 satellite, and he gave it to me for $175. There were only two seats to be won, $3,500 each, and I got one of those seats.”

Hirezi’s journey to a WPT title almost never got off the ground. Playing on Day 1B of the tournament, Hirezi’s stack was whittled down to a few of the smallest denomination chips on the table.

“I was left in the main event, you will not believe it, with three green chips – only 75 left in my stack,” said Hirezi. “And I came back, and I won the WPT.”

By the time Hirezi maneuvered his way through three days of poker at bestbet Jacksonville and onto the final table of six, he held a pretty comfortable chip lead. But his competition for the WPT Jacksonville bestbet Open couldn’t have been much tougher. There was WPT Champions Club member Jordan Cristos, who was looking to win his second title of Season XII. Hirezi also had to deal with former WPT Player of the Year Faraz Jaka, and perpetual WPT title contender James Calderaro.

Hirezi ended up heads-up with Calderaro, and while Caldo held the chip lead at the very start, Hirezi took over on hand one and wasn’t at risk of losing it until the final hand of the tournament.

On the surface, an all-in coin flip between and pocket tens wouldn’t seem to be the kind of hand to stand out among 22 seasons of the World Poker Tour. But the runout and the environment surrounding this WPT Jacksonville bestbet Open final table made it all happen.

Calderaro spiked a on the flop, but with three hearts on the flop and another on the turn, Hirezi was left with a single card that would crown him the champion (along with nine hearts that would’ve made it a chopped pot).

As Tony Dunst called the action on the livestream, there was a sudden explosion of excitement as the dealer placed the exact one-outer that Hirezi was after.

“Actually, I think they were more excited than I was for a moment,” Hirezi said of the crowd surrounding him. “The guy was calling from the back, ‘Ten of spades! Ten of spades!’ He was a dealer, here on his off day to watch. And it was the ten of spades. I almost stood on the table.”

After a moment to process, Hirezi thrust his arms into the air in exuberance, and the substantial rail of local supporters, which was positioned just a few feet from the edge of the table, swarmed him. Each of them had hugs for the man who had just conquered his hometown event in Jacksonville.

Over the ensuing years, Hirezi has enjoyed a certain status every time he steps foot inside bestbet Jacksonville. He’s also continued to rack up wins locally on a smaller scale, and set himself apart with victories in a handful of other tournaments at the venue, including a WPTDeepStacks side event back in 2018.

“In reality, of course, I have a picture on the wall,” said Hirezi. “That has to be special. Second, I’m still the one with the highest amount of trophies here – I have eight trophies. When somebody else gets eight trophies here, I told the bosses that I will retire. There’s only one guy who has four trophies right now, so I still have a long way to go for someone to kick my ass.”

Now in his late 60s, Hirezi doesn’t play as much poker as he once did, but still makes the time and maintains the connections in Jacksonville’s poker scene that were quite evident on that fateful night of his victory. His presence on Day 1B of the Season XXII edition of the WPT bestbet Scramble was, in fact, far from a guarantee.

“I’m still really enjoying coming here on my off moments – I only come to play on the weekends, you know, because I still work full time,” said Hirezi. “I have really good friends here. People are very supportive. I was not planning to play because I didn’t think I’d have time to play a satellite this year. Thursday, I found time to play a single satellite, by chance. Somebody gave me a ticket and said, ‘If you win [again], just remember me. He gave me the ticket, and I won another seat.”

Hirezi’s chances at a repeat performance were dashed on Saturday, but he still fondly holds onto the memories and the connections forged during his run to WPT victory. Like many who crossed paths with the legendary Mike Sexton over the years, meeting and befriending the man during his run to victory remains a life highlight.

“I love WPT,” said Hirezi. “I miss the guy, Mike, of course – he was such a great friend. He would call me, any tournament that was happening, ask me, ‘Are you coming?’ He was a great one, one of the best, WSOP or WPT, we ever had in poker. His personality, character, the kindness. He was a good-hearted man. Poker misses him.”