The latest PokerGO Cup trophy was handed to Justin Zaki last night as he conquered one of the toughest final tables of the tournament series so far, taking home over $232,000 in the process. At a final table featuring some of the best players in the world such as Stephen Chidwick, Justin Saliba and Sam Soverel, Zaki’s win represented the fourth-largest cash and the biggest outright ranking win of his poker career so far.

Kid Poker Cashes But Misses the Final

A prizepool of $830,000 was compiled after 83 entrants took part in Event #5, with 12 places paid. Missing out on the money in the most painful position its possible to finish in was PokerGO regular and one of 2023’s most successful players, Chino Rheem. All-in with , Rheem was dominated and defeated by Stephen Chidwick with and as all the chips went into the middle pre-flop, a board of showed Chino the door and put the remaining dozen into profit.

British player Lewis Spencer min-cashed in 12^th place for $20,750 as Joey Weissman won with two pair over two pair. He was followed from the felt by Daniel Negreanu, as the six-time WSOP bracelet winner lost to the eventual winner. All-in with , Kid Poker was well behind his caller Zaki, who held . The flop of kept Zaki well in the lead. Zaki had to sweat after a landed on the turn but only a queen or ace would allow Negreanu to survive and the was not one of his five outs.

Last night’s Event #4 winner Cary Katz busted in 10^th place for $24,900 – the same amount won by Negreanu – after he lost a coinflip to Weissman. The latter seemed to have it all his own way at that time but that changed when Jonathan Little got there with against Weissman’s to double back into contention. Despite taking those chips from Weissman, Little then lost with the best hand, and when his was eclipsed by Chidwick’s on the flop of , a turn and sent Little to the rail for $24,900 too.

Saliba Slain as Zaki Rises

Down to the final eight, Dan Shak was the next player to lose his tournament life as the high roller regular cashed for $33,200. All-in with , he couldn’t hit against Zaki’s and the eventual winner even made a set on the board of . The last seven players reached the final day but one more player still needed to be eliminated before the final six were confirmed for Day 2. That person was Ariel Mantel, who walked into a brick wall and slid out in 7^th for $33,200. All-in with , Mantel was snap-called by Weissman with and despite two hearts landing, one on the flop and the turn, the river was blank and Mantel was the final player to be busted before the overnight chipcounts.

Heading into the final day, Stephen Chidwick led the field with 2.69 million chips, leading from Weissman with 2.15m. It was the Dutchman Joris Ruijs who busted in sixth place, earning $41,500 when his was dominated and defeated by Stephen Chidwick’s .

Justin Saliba is known as one of poker’s most professional players, but he also fell to Zaki. All-in on a flop of with , Saliba was well behind Zaki’s . The turn and river did nothing to save Saliba and he left in fifth place for $58,100.

Weissman Falls Short of the Win

Down to four players, it was Sam Soverel who lost out. All-in with when short, Soverel couldn’t double-up, as Weissman’s prevailed on a board of that flirted with a straight draw for the eliminated Soverel. He cashed for $78,850 as Weissman took the lead with 4.34 million chips.

Three-handed play lasted almost an hour before British poker hero Stephen Chidwick was busted for $107,900. All-in with , Chidwick was up against it when Weissman called with and the board of sent Chidwick home and put Weissman into the final duel, with Zaki holding a 2:1 chip lead.

Both men held the chip lead heads-up but when Zaki had the lead and picked up and got Weissman to commit his chips with . A ten-high board gave Zaki the biggest ranking title win of his poker career to date.

This was the moment that Zaki claimed victory.

Justin Zaki (@Justin_Zaki) defeats @JoeyWeissman and earns his first PGT title in PokerGO Cup Event #5!

The title comes with a $232,400 first-place prize as well as 232 PGT points to move him into fourth on the series leaderboard.

📺 – Event Replay: https://t.co/yX4uhzpKzx pic.twitter.com/6VL2rH5S7T

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) February 1, 2024

Afterwards, Zaki was delighted to have sealed the win after his huge premium vs. premium final showdown.

Took down the @PokerGO 10k for 232k. Nice start to the year

— Justin Zaki (@Justin_Zaki) February 1, 2024

With that victory, Zaki topped Event #5’s payouts and put himself up to fourth on the overall leadrabor after five event sof the ight scheduled. Jonathan Little still leads the way to the $25,000 Championship Bonus with 277 points to Zaki’s 232.