Watch anywhere.
On multiple devices.
Related Articles
Long-time circuit grinder and Florida native Justin Zaki put on a nearly wire-to-wire performance to capture his second career PGT title in Event #3: $10,100 No-Limit Hold'em of the 2024 Poker Masters presented by PokerStars NAPT.
Zaki collected the trophy and the $244,400 first-place prize after defeating fellow pro Jeremy Ausmus heads up in an exciting final hand that saw the two players all in preflop while fairly close in chips. The win propelled Zaki's career earnings to nearly $6,000,000 according to The Hendon Mob. It also moves Zaki into second place on the Purple Jacket Leaderboard, nipping at the heels of event number two winner, Jeremy Becker.
Zaki came close to winning the PokerGo Cup earlier this year but was edged out by fellow pro, Jonathan Little, in an exciting finish that came down to the final hand of the final event. Zaki's king-seven suited failed to improve against Little's ace-three suited after both players flopped a pair. With five events left to play, including one that kicked off today, it's fair to assume Zaki will be looking to right that ship.
Zaki entered the day as the chip leader, but was in danger early on of becoming the table short stack after a hand with Michael Brinkenhoff, where Brinkenhoff was able to outdraw his top pair on the river in an all in pot. Zaki check-raised all in with queen-eight offsuit on a queen-jack-three board and was called by the ace-king suited of Brinkenhoff. Brinkenhoff was able to spike an ace on the river to put a sizeable dent in Zaki's stack. But Zaki clawed his way back to find himself with a nearly four-to-one chip lead at the start of heads-up play against Ausmus.
The second $10,000 buy-in event of the Poker Masters series attracted a 94-entrant field, which created a $940,000 prize pool that paid the final 14 players, including Nicholas Seward, David Coleman, Kristen Foxen, Aram Zobian, and Daniel Negreanu, who finished in the money.
The action started quickly and after making the final table in event number two, Ren Lin was hoping to top his sixth-place finish this time around. However, he was unable to do so when he got it all in with poket sixes against the king-queen offsuit of Ausmus. Ausmus was able to spike a king on the flop to send Lin out the door in seventh place.
Jim Collopy was the sixth-place finisher when he moved all in from the button with jack-ten of diamonds and was called by Brinkenhoff in the small blind with ace-king offsuit. Collopy was able to find a ten on the flop, but could not fade the over cards of Brinkenhoff, as the ace of diamonds fell on the river. Collopy would collect $47,000.
PokerGo Veteran Cary Katz came into the final table as one of the middling stacks but couldn’t find his footing early on and became short fairly quickly. Although he got it in good with ace-ten offsuit against Zaki’s ace-three suited, Zaki was able to outflop Katz and hold to eliminate him in fifth place.
It was a very swingy day for Victoria Livschitz. She came into the final table second in chips, but after losing early pots to Katz and Zazki, she became one of the low stacks and was forced to resort mainly a shove or fold strategy. Livschitz would be all in on a few separate occasions for her tournament life and was able to fade elimination, but things came to a head in a pot with Zaki where both players made a flush and Livschitz called off her remaining chips against Zaki's river raise. Unfortunately, Livschitz’s flush was second best and she was eliminated in fourth place for nearly $85,000.
The third-place finisher was Brinkenhoff. Brinkenhoff also had an up-and-down day but found himself as the chip leader early on when he was able to outdraw the top pair of Zaki by spiking an ace on the river in an all in pot. His day came to an end however when he four-bet shoved pocket three's from the small blind over the three-bet of Zaki in the big blind. Zaki's ace-king was able to spike a king on the flop and send Brinkenhoff home with a payday of more than $112,000.
Heads-up play started with Zaki having a sizeable chip lead over Ausmus, and although Ausmus doubled twice to nearly even the match, once with king-nine offsuit to the king-deuce offsuit of Zaki, and again with ace-four offsuit to Zaki's king-nine, things came to a head when Zaki shipped in pocket fours preflop and Ausmus called with ace-queen offsuit. Zaki would flop a set and go on to hold to eliminate Ausmus in second place and grab the second PGT title of his career.
With his second-place finish, Ausmus has now amassed over a staggering $12,000,000 in his PGT career.
2024 Poker Masters Event #3 Final Table Payouts
| Place | Name | Country | Payouts | PGT Points |
| 1st | Justin Zaki | United States | $244,400 | 244 |
| 2nd | Jeremy Ausmus | United States | $155,100 | 155 |
| 3rd | Michael Brinkenhoff | United States | $112,800 | 113 |
| 4th | Victoria Livschitz | United States | $84,600 | 85 |
| 5th | Cary Katz | United States | $65,800 | 66 |
| 6th | Jim Collopy | United States | $47,000 | 47 |
| 7th | Ren Lin | China | 37,600 | 38 |
Poker Masters Purple Jacket Leaderboard
Some new names have been added to the leaderboard. Jeremy Becker remains in the top spot, but after today's win, Justin Zaki is now close behind. Spencer Champlin moves down a spot and Nicholas Seward continued his streak of cashes to remain in seventh position. Jessica Vierling rounds out the top ten and with five events still to play, will look to move up positions.
| Rank | Player | Points | Wins | Cashes | Winnings |
| 1st | Jeremy Becker | 255 | 1 | 1 | $255,000 |
| 2nd | Justin Zaki | 244 | 1 | 1 | $190,475 |
| 3rd | Spencer Champlin | 190 | 1 | 1 | $165,000 |
| 4th | Michael Moncek | 165 | 0 | 1 | $115,000 |
| 5th | Jeremy Ausmus | 155 | 0 | 1 | $112,050 |
| 6th | Micheal Brinkenhoff | 123 | 0 | 2 | $98,250 |
| 7th | Nicholas Seward | 122 | 0 | 3 | $97,750 |
| 8th | Sean Winter | 115 | 0 | 1 | $90,000 |
| 9th | Dylan Linde | 112 | 0 | 2 | $52,000 |
| 10th | Jessica Vierling | 98 | 0 | 1 | $50,000 |
Connect with PokerGO.com on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. Watch daily poker clips on the PokerGO YouTube channel. Join the conversation on the PokerGO Discord server. You can save $20 off an annual subscription to PokerGO.com by using the code “PGT2024” at checkout.
Related Articles
