Justin Zaki has won the $25,000 buy-in finale at the 2025 PokerGO Cup, earning $417,000 as the champion. This was the third-largest score of the Floridian poker pro’s career. He now has more than $6.5 million in lifetime earnings after this triumph.
Zaki defeated PokerGO Cup series champion Joey Weissman heads-up for the title. This was Zaki’s fifth recorded tournament victory across 270 in-the-money finishes.
The win came with 420 Card Player Player of the Year points. This was Zaki’s second final table of 2025, having placed third in a $10,000 buy-in event at the lucky Hearts Poker Open for $94,700 and 280 points. He now sits inside the top 100 on the POY leaderboard presented by Global Poker.
The first knockout of the day saw short-stacked Jesse Lonis get his last ten big blinds in with K-7 trailing the A-4 of Clemen Deng in a battle of the blinds. Deng made aces and eights to win the pot, sending Lonis to the rail in seventh place. The two-time bracelet earned $59,000 for this finish, growing his career haul to more than $14.8 million in the process.
Michael Berk called off his last 11 or so big blinds with A-Q facing a small-blind shove from Christian Roberts, who held K-3. Roberts drilled top pair on the flop and held from there to send Berk home with $81,125. This was already his fourth final-table finish of the year. With 1,450 POY points, he is now the 11th-ranked player on the overall leaderboard.
Five-handed play lasted for around 90 minutes. Eventually, bracelet winner Christian Roberts found himself at risk with A
Q facing the J
10 of Zaki, which was raised from the small blind then four-bet shoved over the top of Robert’s three-bet. The board came down AJ7
5
10 and Zaki made two pair on the end to eliminate Roberts in fifth place ($110,625). This was the second final-table finish of the series for Roberts, who now has more than $1.9 million in career earnings.
The very next deal saw super-short-stack Sam Soverel pick up QQ and get all-in for his last four blinds. Unfortunately for the two-time bracelet winner, he was up against the AA of Weissman. Neither player connected with the board and Soverel was bounced in fourth place ($147,500). He is now on the verge of hitting $25 million in lifetime cashes.
Stream the final table now. https://t.co/JJUkxh5nRE pic.twitter.com/rpAwmpncbL
— PokerGO (@PokerGO) February 21, 2025
Deng called off his last 9 big blinds with K5 from the big blind facing a small-blind shove from Weissman, who held AK. Weissman flopped an ace to extend his advantage, and Deng was drawing dead by the turn. He secured $206,500 as the third-place finisher, the fourth-largest payday of his career.
Heads-up play began with Zaki out in front with 5,100,000 to Weissman’s 3,745,000.
Weissman was able to battle his way into the lead in time for the final two to hash out a deal that redistributed the remaining prize money a bit, locking up at least $350,000 with $417,000 and the trophy up top.
Not too long after the deal came the crucial hand of the showdown. Weissman limped in from the button for 100,000 total with 1010 and Zaki raised to 400,000 holding A10. Weissman three-bet to 1,000,000 and Zaki four-bet shoved for 3,925,000 total. Weissman called, having his opponent covered by 900,000. The board came down KJ8Q4 and Zaki came from behind to make an ace-high straight to double into a commanding lead.
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JoeyWeissman</a> is human after all! <a href="https://twitter.com/Justin_Zaki?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">Justin_Zaki spikes the turn during heads-up play.Stream the final table on PokerGO. https://t.co/JJUkxh4Q26 pic.twitter.com/ScpCVHUrkP
— PokerGO (@PokerGO) February 21, 2025
It didn’t take long for Zaki to convert that lead into the title. A few minutes later Weissman shoved from the button for his last seven big blinds with K2 and Zaki called with 107. The flop came down 1010A to all but seal it for Zaki. The 6 turn and 6 river gave him a full house for the win, ending Weissman’s fourth final-table appearance of the series in second place.
With one win, two runner-up finishes, and a third-place showing, Weissman was the clear winner in the series-long points race. He finished with 758 points and $930,600 in total earnings for the festival. With 907 total PokerGO Tour points on the year, Weissman has moved into first place in the season-long PGT standings as well.
Weissman also shot into the lead in the POY rankings, with seven total final tables and one title so far in 2025. He has already accumulated 2,477 points and over $1 million in POY earnings. The bracelet winner now has nearly $8.8 million in lifetime cashes.
Final Table Results:
| Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points | PGT Points |
| 1 | Justin Zaki | $417,000 | 420 | 283 |
| 2 | Joey Weissman | $350,000 | 350 | 177 |
| 3 | Clemen Deng | $206,500 | 280 | 124 |
| 4 | Sam Soverel | $147,500 | 210 | 89 |
| 5 | Christian Roberts | $110,625 | 175 | 66 |
| 6 | Michael Berk | $81,125 | 140 | 49 |
| 7 | Jesse Lonis | $59,000 | 105 | 35 |
Here are the top ten in the final PokerGO Cup series standings:
| Rank | Player | Points | Titles | Cashes | Winnings |
| 1 | Joey Weissman | 758 | 1 | 4 | $930,600 |
| 2 | Eric Blair | 568 | 2 | 3 | $645,850 |
| 3 | Michael Moncek | 484 | 1 | 3 | $483,750 |
| 4 | Kristen Foxen | 332 | 1 | 3 | $401,300 |
| 5 | Sergio Aido | 327 | 1 | 2 | $345,300 |
| 6 | Adam Hendrix | 316 | 1 | 1 | $316,050 |
| 7 | Keith Lehr | 283 | 0 | 4 | $352,275 |
| 8 | Justin Zaki | 283 | 1 | 1 | $417,000 |
| 9 | Patrick Leonard | 244 | 0 | 3 | $288,550 |
| 10 | Michael Berk | 224 | 0 | 4 | $288,500 |
Photo credit: PokerGO / Alicia Skillman.
