Zamani Wins Poker Masters Title; McCormack Leaving ARIA Poker for MGM Resorts

Martin Zamani

The 2022 Poker Masters at PokerGO Studio at ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas has awarded seven winners so far, and among them is Martin Zamaniwho took down Event #6: $10,000 No Limit Hold’em to win $223,100.

Zamani, who now has $3.2 million in Hendon Mob Earnings, has been in the poker spotlight since earlier this year when he accused Bryn Kenney of running a cult-like online poker cheating operation.

Zamani picked up his first Poker Masters title and joined other recent winners including Adam Hendrix other Andrew “Lucky Chewy” Lichtenberger.

Read how Ethan “Rampage” Yau won his first Poker Masters Title!

First Poker Masters Title

Though he was already a known high-stakes player, Zamani became a household name in April when he alleged that Kenney had, among other things, hired “horses” to work together as a group and collude in online poker games.

Zamani admitted to being a part of the alleged group of cheaters but said he wants to make it right by coming clean. Kenney has repeatedly denied Zamani’s allegations.

Martin Zamani
Martin Zamani

Five months later and Zamani now holds Poker Masters title after taking down the event, which drew 97 runners including Dan Shak (9th – $38,800), Jesse Lonis (8th – $38,800) and Justin Saliba (3rd – $116,400).

Jared Jaffee finished runner-up for $155,200 after failing to overcome Zamani during heads-up play.

Event #6: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Final Table Results

PLACE PLAYER COUNTRY PRICE (IN USD)
1 Martin Zamani United States $223,100
2 Jared Jaffee United States $155,200
3 Justin Saliba United States $116,400
4 Matthew Wantman United States $97,000
5 Anthony Hu United States $77,600
6 Masashi Oya Japan $58,200
7 Ken Aldridge United States $48,500
8th Jesse Lonis United States $38,800
9 Dan Shak United States $38,800

Hendrix & Lichtenberger Also Win

Earlier in the series, Alaska’s all-time money leader Adam Hendrix took down Event #4: $10,000 No Limit Hold’em after defeat FiveThirtyEight founder NateSilver during heads-up play.

The victory brought Hendrix his second cash of the series and he is no stranger to success in the PokerGO studio. In March, Hendrix took down a $10,000 US Poker Open event for $211,200.

Adam Hendrix
Adam Hendrix

Nick Guagenti later took down Event #5: $10,000 8-Game for $186,000 before Andrew “LuckyChewy” Lichtenberger emerged the winner in Event #7: $25,000 No Limit Hold’em for $465,750, the biggest win of the series so far and giving him a lead on the Poker Masters Leaderboard.

Lichtenberger, a ClubWPT coach, defeated fellow high-stakes regular Sean Winters during heads-up play, who in turn took home $345,000.

McCormack Leaving ARIA Poker

There was other big news at ARIA as the Las Vegas Strip card room’s poker director of operations Sean McCormack announced his departure after seven years.

McCormack also announced that he will be taking on a new position as the Director of Poker Strategy for MGM Resortsa role that will see him “work with all MGM poker rooms and our Corp strategy team for continued growth of the game I love most.”

In the new role, McCormack will continue to work with ARIA Poker as well as all other MGM Resorts-operated poker rooms including MGM Grand Las Vegas, Bellagio, Borgata other MGM Springfield.

Two more events remain in the Poker Masters, which will wrap up with Event #10: $50,000 No Limit Hold’em on Oct. 1. A full list of winners so far at Poker Masters is available in the table below.

Poker Masters Winners So Far

DATE EVENTS ENTRANTS PRIZE POOL WINNERS PRICE (IN USD)
Sept 22, 2022 Event #1: $10,000 No Limit Hold’em 85 $850,000 Jeremy Ausmus $204,000
Sept 23, 2022 Event #2: $10,000 No Limit Hold’em 76 $760,000 Ethan “Rampage” Yau $197,600
Sept 24, 2022 Event #3: $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha 81 $810,000 Ronald Keijzer $202,500
Sept 26, 2022 Event #4: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em winner 74 $740,000 Adam Hendrix $192,400
Sept 27, 2022 Event #5: $10,000 8-Game 62 $620,000 Nick Guagenti $186,000
Sept 28, 2022 Event #6: $10,000 No Limit Hold’em 97 $970,000 Martin Zamani $223,100
Sept 29, 2022 Event #7: $25,000 No Limit Hold’em 69 $1,725,000 Andrew Lichtenberg $465,750

Poker Masters Leaderboard Top 10

PLACE PLAYER COUNTRY POINTS
1 Andrew Lichtenberg United States 279
2 Cary Katz United States 271
3 Jeremy Ausmus United States 242
4 Martin Zamani United States 223
5 Adam Hendrix United States 216
6 Sean Winters United States 207
7 Ronald Keijzer Netherlands 203
8th Ethan Yau United States 198
9 Nick Schulman United States 191
10 Eric Seidel United States 187

Photos courtesy of PokerGO

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