Poker Hand Matchup: Justin Zaki vs. Joey Weissman
Justin Zaki	Win Pre-Flop	Win Post-Flop	Win Post-Turn
Starting Stack: 2,940,000	48.78 %	91.21 %	95.45 %	Winner!
Joey Weissman	Win Pre-Flop	Win Post-Flop	Win Post-Turn
Starting Stack: 5,905,000	50.22 %	8.79 %	4.55 %

Posted On: Mar 12, 2025

Outcome

Preflop, with two players remaining and blinds of 40,000-80,000 with a big blind ante of 80,000, Justin Zaki limped in from the button. Joey Weissman checked from the big blind. On the flop Weissman checked, and Zaki bet 80,000. Weissman called. On the turn Weissman checked. Zaki bet 215,000, and Weissman called. On the river Weissman bet 550,000. Zaki moved all-in for 2,565,000, and Weissman folded.

Analysis

Joey Weissman attempted to turn a low pocket pair into a bluff in this heads-up pot against Justin Zaki. It was limped preflop, as Weissman elected to use his option to not raise with his pocket fours after Zaki completed the small blind. Zaki flopped middle pair and bet one-third pot when checked to. Weissman check-called with his under-repped pocket pair and the turn brought the 8↔ to put three spades on board. Weissman checked again and Zaki, who had picked up a gutshot straight draw and a one-card flush draw, fired 215,000 into the pot of 400,000. Weissman had a small flush draw of his own in addition to his pair of fours. He called again and the 10 on the river completed Zaki’s straight. Weissman had to now feel that his small pair was simply too far down the relative-hand-strength leaderboard to consider trying to take to showdown. He instead tried to represent the straight that his opponent had, likely hoping to fold Zaki off of his 9-X holdings that hadn’t improved to two pair or better. As it was, Zaki re-shoved for value with his straight, forcing a quick fold from Weissman. Zaki went on to win this event for $417,000, while Weissman secured the player of the series honors with four final tables made across eight events, including one win and three runner-up showings. He walked away with $350,000 for his deep run in this particular tournament, bringing his haul for the festival to $930,600.