Backgammon Grandmaster Zdenek Zizka Wins Maiden Bracelet in $1,000 No-Limit Holdem

Another Impromptu Day 

This event returned for an unscheduled additional day at the Horseshoe and Paris Cardroom, the third tournament in as many days to require overtime.

Only the final three returned to the felt; they were Zizka with 20 blinds, Deeb with 35, and Jeffrey Thoney with 6 blinds. 

Photo Credit: Spenser Sembrat

It wasn’t long into the day’s play when Thoney’s short stack found the middle. He open-ripped ace-deuce off on the button, Deeb called with threes in the small blind. 

The ace-less runout provided no remedy for Thoney, and heads-up play got underway almost immediately. 

A Back-and-Forth Heads-Up

The lead chopped and changed over the opening pots. Zizka took the lead with a pair of aces, having received three streets of value from Deeb. 

Deeb retook the lead, briefly, before Zizka flopped two pair and got paid across the turn and river. He then went on to score a few more pots in quick succession to put a bit of breathing space between himself and Deeb.

Deeb then drew close to level, having won a sizeable pot with a triple-barrel bluff. He moved all in on a flush completing river with jack-ten offsuit, with the ten serving as a flush draw blocker. Zizka folded, and Deeb showed his hand.

Photo Credit: Alicia Skillman

Zizka and Deeb decided to play for it all in a preflop all-in. Zizka had the best of it with king-queen suited, and Deeb had king-jack offsuit. The Czech spiked a queen on the river to reestablish a solid lead over Deeb.

Again, another lead evaporated as Deeb doubled with aces versus ten-nine suited. Deeb limped on the button, Zizka jammed and Deeb snap-called. Zizka paired his nine but couldn’t crack Deeb’s rockets, and play continued.

Zizka Zooms Away With It

Zizka kept up the pressure, taking numerous small pots from Deeb. He tried to mount a comeback before making an ill-timed shove with five-four suited versus a min-open from Zizka. 

Zizka woke up with tens and held across a clean runout to leave Deeb with five big blinds. Deeb then shoved the very next hand with king-jack offsuit, declaring:

Zizka called with jack-seven offsuit and king-high was good. 

hoto Credit: Alicia Skillman

A few hands later, Deeb was all in with king-three offsuit against Zizka’s deuces. Zizka made two pairs across the runout to secure the victory and a maiden bracelet.

Fair Play

The two shook hands and embraced as they celebrated their respective scores. It appears the two opponents enjoyed each other’s company over the latter stages of the tournament. 

Deeb was equally flattering, saying in a post on X:

WSOP 2025: $1,000 No-Limit Holdem Final Table

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Zdenek Zizka		$232,498
2	Shaun Deeb		$154,906
3	Jeffrey Thoney		$112,413
4	Santiago Maglio		$82,480
5	Brian Klish		$61,195
6	Dinesh Singham		$45,917
7	Logan Kim		$34,848
8	Ricky Robinson		$26,754
9	Santiago Plante		$20,781

About The Winner – Who Is Zdenek Zizka?

Zdenek “ZZ” Zizka is a 26-year-old Backgammon Grandmaster and coach, is the creator of BackgammonCoaching.com. He is also the author of the fastest-selling backgammon strategy book, The Zizka Method. In addition to backgammon, Zizka is a crypto enthusiast and a member of the team at Pokerman.cz, a Czech website that covers global poker news.

Photo Credit: Alicia Skillman

He won his first bracelet in Event #84: $1,000 No-Limit Holdem, becoming the first BMAB (Backgammon Masters Awarding Body) Grandmaster titleholder to win a WSOP bracelet.