Martin Zamani Wins Latest Poker Masters High Roller For $223,100

Martin Zamani is the latest champion to be decided at the 2022 Poker Masters high-stakes tournament festival. The two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner defeated a field of 97 entries in event no. 6, a $10,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament. He earned $223,100 as the champion, the third-largest live score of his career. He now has more than $4 million in lifetime cashes to his name.

Zamani also secured 540 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his second POY-qualified score of the year, with his first being a final-table finish in a $5,000 buy-in event at the Lucky Hearts Poker Open at the Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood back in January.

The 223 PokerGO Tour points he secured as the top finisher in this event were enough to move him into second place in the race for the Poker Masters Purple Jacket. He trails only Jeremy Ausmus, who won the kickoff event and finished seventh in event no. 2.

This was the largest turnout yet for the 2022 poker Masters festival. It resulted in a prize pool of $970,000 which was paid out among the top 14 finishers. Notables like bracelet winner Amit Lehavot (14th), bracelet winner Mitch Halverson (12th), two-time bracelet winner Jim Collopy (11th), and four-time bracelet winner Ben Yu (10th) all made it inside the money before falling late on day 1.

The second and final day of action began with nine players remaining and Masashi Oya in the lead. Zamani started out in fourth chip position. Dan Shak was the first to fall, running pocket sevens into pocket tens (9th – $38,800). Recent WSOP Online bracelet winner Jesse Lonis was the next to fall. He got A-K suited in preflop against the pocket jacks of Masashi Oya and was unable to win the flip. He earned $38,000 and 90 POY points for his 14th POY-qualified final-table finish of the year. As a result, he now sits in 59th place in the 2022 POY race standings, which are sponsored by Global Poker.

Bracelet winner Ken Aldridge’s run in this event came to an end when his pocket aces were cracked by the J-10 of World Poker Tour champion Matthew Wantman. The flop gave Wantman two pair, which remained best by the river to send Aldridge packing in seventh place ($48,500).

Masashi Oya began the day as the chip leader, and remained at the top of the leaderboard when six-handed play began. He lost a chunk of his stack doubling up short stack Jared Jaffee, a WPT champion and bracelet winner. He then lost a preflop coin flip for the vast majority of his stack, with pocket nines being outraced by the A-Q of Zamani. The last couple blinds of Oya also went to Zamani, with J-8 besting A-5 for the rest of it. Oya earned $58,200 as the sixth-place finisher.

Anthony Hu got his last eight or so big blinds in with A-J facing the A-Q suited of Jaffee and the pocket kings of Zamani. The river brought an ace to give Jaffee two pair for the win, eliminating Hu in fifth place in the process. Hu took home $77,600 for what was his second final-table appearance of the series, while Jaffee essentially pulled even with Zamani.

Wantman got his last 2.5 big blinds in preflop with K-4. He was called in two spots, with Jaffee’s Q-10 suited making a flush to win the pot on the end. Wantman secured $97,000 and 270 POY points for his eighth final table of the year. He now sits in 33rd place on the POY leaderboard heading into the final quarter of 2022.

Bracelet winner Justin Saliba ran pocket eights into the pocket nines of Jaffee preflop to finish third ($116,400). The 360 points he earned catapulted him into 61st place in the standings.

With that, heads-up play began with Zamani holding 6,400,000 to Jaffee’s 5,725,000. it only took roughly half an hour for a champion to be decided. Zamani pilled out to a 2:1 lead, but Jaffee’s A-9 held against A-4 suited to see him double into the lead. The tables turned again when Zamani raised with A-Q from the button and then called when Jaffee shoved with A-6 from the big blind. After Zamani’s hand held up, he took more than a 3:1 chip lead.

In the final hand, Jaffee shoved from the button with AJ for around 13 big blinds. Zamani called with Q9 and the board ran out K10939 to see Zamani dodge a flush draw and overcards to improve to trip nines on the river. Jaffee earned $155,200 as the runner-up finisher, increasing his lifetime earnings to more than $5.8 million.

Here is a look at the payouts and rankings points awarded at the final table:

Photo credits: PokerGO / Antonio Abrego.

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