Justin Zaki scored one of many largest paydays of his match poker profession on Tuesday, Aug. 11. The Floridian poker professional overcame a discipline of 40 entries within the 2026 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open $25,000 no-limit maintain’em excessive curler to safe the trophy and the highest payout of $391,550.
This was the fifth-biggest money but for the Tampa resident. His prime rating stays the $496,801 he earned for a runner-up end in a $10,000 turbo bounty occasion on the 2023 World Series of Poker. This newest win pushed Zaki’s lifetime earnings to simply shy of $8.1 million.
In addition to the title and the cash, Zaki additionally scored 420 Card Player Player of the Year factors because the final participant standing. This was his second title and tenth final-table end of 2026. With 2,772 complete factors, he now sits in 63rd place within the general POY rankings introduced by CoinPoker.
Big Names Run Deep
This occasion sported a $1,000,000 prize pool, which was in the end break up amongst the highest 5 finishers. Bracelet winner and four-time World Poker Tour champion Brian Altman was knocked out on the bubble shortly after he ran pocket tens into the pocket kings of Zaki.
Brock Wilson
Bracelet winner and SHRPO primary occasion Eleventh-place finisher Roman Hrabec then bowed out in fifth place, incomes $80,000 for his efforts. David D’Alessandro obtained the final of his chips in preflop with A♠J♥ main the A♣8♠ of Brock Wilson. The latest WSOP primary occasion Sixteenth-place finisher got here from behind, although, rivering aces and eights to win the pot and slim the sector to 3. D’Alessandro settled for $110,000 because the fourth-place finisher.
Joseph McGuire (third – $150,000) misplaced the vast majority of his stack when A-Q clashed with Wilson’s pocket kings. Zaki took his closing couple of blinds not lengthy after that to enter heads-up play with greater than a 3:1 chip benefit.
The closing two struck a deal that redistributed the remaining prize cash, leaving the title and $70,000 to play for. Zaki was in a position to shut it out, successful the ultimate hand with A♠10♠ in opposition to Q♠J♦. The A♦5♣4♣8♥5♠ runout ship Wilson packing with the $268,450 he negotiated for. Wilson’s profession earnings grew to over $14.7 million consequently.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points |
| 1 | Justin Zaki | $391,550 | 420 |
| 2 | Brock Wilson | $268,450 | 350 |
| 3 | Joseph McGuire | $150,000 | 280 |
| 4 | David D’Alessandro | $110,000 | 210 |
| 5 | Roman Hrabec | $80,000 | 175 |
Photo credit: Seminole Hard Rock Poker Blog
