Last night saw Justin Zaki add a Poker Masters trophy and $244,400 to his resume after defeating Jeremy Ausmus heads-up in event #3 of the highstakes series.
The second $10k buy-in of the eight-tournament PokerStars NAPT-sponsored festival saw 94 entries, slightly down on yesterday’s 100, but again jam-packed with big names.
Bill Klein was the one to miss out on the 14 paid spots, running into a bigger ace when he came along for the ride with Michael Brinkenhoff…
Klein: A♣ J♦
Brinkenhoff: A♦ K♠
Flop: A♠ 4♠ 4♥
Klein understandably 3-bet all-in and was quickly called, upon which he received the bad news…
Turn: 5♠
River: 10♣
That left the rest with $23,500 locked up and the vision of 10x that sum up top still to fight for.
Foxen and Negreanu fall short of final table
Kristen Foxen wouldn’t get further than 11th place and a $28,200 payday after Zaki’s big slick toppled her pocket jacks, while Daniel Negreanu’s Purple Jacket ambitions were thwarted when his pocket 5s versus AJ race was met by an ace and a jack in the window.
It wasn’t his 9th spot bustout that left him feeling disgusted, however…
Imagine you are a millionaire playing a $10k buy in at PokerGo Studio, you order two FREE Fijis from the cocktail waitress.
In your hand is a $5 bill, you go to your pocket and pull out a wad of $100 bills and in there you dig to find two dirty $1 bills.
Waitress comes back… pic.twitter.com/ydE0ct1Lpn
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) September 13, 2024
Seven players returned for day two and the final table, with Ren Lin looking to improve on his 6th place finish in event #2, but it wasn’t to be, losing out in a race against Jeremy Ausmus.
Next to fall was Jim Collopy, his 10♦ J♦ outflopping Brinkenhoff’s big slick but unable to hold, as was Cary Kazt with the bigger ace against Zaki.
Victoria Livschitz is no stranger to deep runs in PGT events, with three wins already in various tournaments, but yesterday she would have to settle for 4th place and $84,600 after losing flush over flush to Zaki.
Brinkenhoff’s tournament came down to a classic race after 4-bet shoving blind-on-blind against Zaki…
Brinkenhoff: 3♠ 3♥
Zaki: A♦ K♣
Flop: K♦ J♣ 4♦
Turn: Q♣
River: K♠
Heads-up comeback?
That meant third place and $112,800 for Brinkenhoff, leaving Zaki to face Ausmus heads-up with a 7:2 chip lead. An early comeback gave Ausmus hope but these was abruptly dashed in the following, final, hand…
Ausmus: A♠ Q♣
Zaki: 4♥ 4♦
Flop: 6♦ 4♣ 2♦
Turn: 5♠
River: 10♣
That was enough to give Zaki the win and leapfrog him into second spot in the race to the Purple Jacket, inbetween the victors of events 1 and 3, Spencer Champlin and Jeremy Becker.
2024 Poker Masters Event #3 Final Table Payouts
| Place | Name | Country | Payouts | PGT Points |
| 1st | Justin Zaki | USA | $244,400 | 244 |
| 2nd | Jeremy Ausmus | USA | $155,100 | 155 |
| 3rd | Michael Brinkenhoff | USA | $112,800 | 113 |
| 4th | Victoria Livschitz | USA | $84,600 | 85 |
| 5th | Cary Katz | USA | $65,800 | 66 |
| 6th | Jim Collopy | USA | $47,000 | 47 |
| 7th | Ren Lin | China | 37,600 | 38 |
Poker Masters Purple Jacket Leaderboard
| 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 |
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