Joey Weissman slams door on PokerGO Cup with runner-up finish

The curtain dropped on the PokerGO Cup and Joey Weissman is the overall champion after a runner-up finish in the eighth and final event of the series. 

The final event carried a buy-in of $25,200, the largest of the PokerGO Cup, and 59 entries went through the window to build a prize pool that clicked just over $1.4 million. Its champion, Florida's Justin Zaki, won $417,000 after a heads-up deal narrowed the top two payouts in the midst of a back-and-forth final battle. 

Weissman won the PokerGO Cup race with four cashes and one victory, closing the door on runners-up Eric Blair and Texas Mike Moncek before cards were in the air on Thursday. The stellar effort yields a big PokerGO Cup trophy and a $25,000 PGT Passport. 

Justin Zaki will take the Event #8 trophy back to Florida.

Lonis, Berk clear out

Day 2 started with Weissman unbagging the chip lead ahead of Zaki and Christian Roberts at a final table that also included Clemen Deng, Jesse Lonis, and Michael Berk. 

Lonis started the day at the bottom and he didn't waste any time, getting it in with king-seven against Deng's ace-four. An ace on the flop put Lonis on ice and he was the first to go in seventh place. 

Berk followed Lonis out the door a short time later and Weissman remained on top of the counts until Zaki closed the cap with a big pot from Roberts. Roberts was wounded and gained a few chips back before an opportunity to double through Zaki with ace-queen. 

Zaki pulled ahead at the expense of Christian Roberts.

Zaki chips up big

Zaki had opened from the small blind and Roberts three-bet before Zaki shoved. Roberts called and showed his , while Zaki had the inferior . The flop of put Roberts in the driver's seat before the runout finished and to give Zaki two pair and a big pot. Roberts hit the bricks in fifth and Zaki had a big advantage ahead of four-handed play. 

Soverel found a spot on the short stack with , but Weissman had to bust him in fourth. Deng followed a few moments later, also to Weissman and heads-up play was all set up with Zack holding the lead. 

Heads-up double comeback

Weissman pulled ahead of Kristen Foxen on the overall PGT points leaderboard with the runner-up finish.

Weissman battled back to near even in the first part of heads-up play and the final two made a deal to adjust the prize pool. 

After the deal, Weissman pulled ahead momentarily before Zaki fought back to near even. A big clash decided it all when Zaki took a shot with ace-ten. 

Weissman had limped and Zaki raised, prompting a three-bet. Zaki shoved with and Weissman called with to play for almost all of the chips. 

The board ran out and Zaki turned Broadway to close the door on Weissman for the PokerGO Cup finale victory. 

PokerGO Cup Event #8 ($25,200) final table results

^{Photos courtesy of PokerGO/Alicia Skillman}