Deeb Denied As Zizka Zooms To Bracelet Breakthrough

You couldn’t get two more different playing environments than the pair of World Series of Poker final tables Shaun Deeb made this week. On July 3, Deeb outlasted a field of 121 in the $100,000 pot-limit Omaha high roller. He won $2,959,297, his third Omaha high roller bracelet and seventh WSOP bracelet, overall.

Three days later, Deeb was playing heads-up for an eighth career WSOP bracelet. He had a chance to lock down the inside track for 2025 WSOP Player of the Year honors, too. This time around, the buy-in was 1 percent of that high roller, at $1,000. And with 1,873 entrants, the field was more than 15 times as large.

26-year-old Czech player Zdenek Zizka, a backgammon grand master, was no easy out. Entering this tournament, Zizka had more than a dozen cashes in WSOP events already this summer.

After an absolute battle of a heads-up match, “ZZ”, as he’s known, denied Deeb his eighth career bracelet. Instead, Zizka claimed his first WSOP victory, a $232,498 first-place prize and 1,080 points in the Card Player Player of the Year race, presented by Coin Poker.

Zdenek Zizka’s pocket deuces hold to defeat @shaundeeb in the $1k NL…#WSOP2025 pic.twitter.com/aduSUBnrf1

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) July 6, 2025

“You always have deep runs, and you always think that you’re gonna win a bracelet,” Zizka said. “Many times it doesn’t come through, but this time, it did. To be honest, it’s still inside me, so [while] I don’t express myself very well on the outside, it feels amazing.”

For finishing second, Deeb won $154,906. Perhaps most importantly, Deeb still solidified his position as the WSOP POY frontrunner heading into the final stretch of the series. If he holds on, it would be Deeb’s second time winning WSOP POY, having done so previously in 2018.

A Battle To Reach Day 3

The $1,000 no-limit hold’em event was initially scheduled as a two-day sprint. Even with 281 players returning for day 2, the format very nearly worked as intended. When the tournament reached the last three tables, Deeb was the out and out headline grabber. There were also a couple of other WSOP bracelet winners in the mix in Max Kruse and Harry Lodge, but both were out in short order.

By the time the field reached a final table of nine, both Zizka and Deeb found themselves squarely in the middle of the pack. Their fates diverged for a time, with Zizka picking up as cozy a double as you could hope for. When then-chip leader Dinesh Singham tried to steal with 9♣2♥ from the button, Zizka woke up with pocket nines in the big blind.

Deeb saw most of his stack disappear with seven players left, when Brian Klish defended his big blind with 5♥3♥ and flopped trips. Deeb hung tough as the field was reduced to six, then five, and then four. He picked up enough chips along the way, and then picked up a dream double when his pocket kings held off Jeffrey Thoney’s A♥7♥.

Deeb picked off Santiago Maglio in fourth place, as his K♥J♦ spiked a king on the river to beat Maglio’s ace-high.

For a moment on day 3, it seemed as though Deeb had it all in the bag. His pocket sevens bested Zizka’s K♦5♠ for a full double, and both Zizka and Thoney had significantly less than 10 big blinds.

Just before the end of the day, though, Zizka doubled through Deeb twice. Heading into a fourth day, Deeb still had a solid lead, but Zizka pulled back into contention.

A Wild Finale

Deeb dispatched Thoney on the very first hand of day 3. Deeb’s pocket threes were good enough to beat Thoney’s A♦2♦, and it was right into heads-up play.

Zizka quickly flipped the script. He rattled off a few pots in a row, and after betting a pair of aces down to the river, Zizka was chip leader. Despite an average stack of 30 big blinds, Deeb and Zizka traded haymakers and the lead multiple times.

Zizka was the first player all-in on the day. He had the best of it with K♣Q♣ and held against Deeb’s K♠J♣. Deeb struck right back, though, when his pocket aces held against Zizka’s 10♥9♥.

There were bluffs and big folds in both directions as what seemed destined to be a quick day carried on for hours. Deeb got short, and down to his last card, all in with K♥Q♦ against Zizka’s A♠6♣. Deeb picked up all sorts of outs on the J♦8♦4♦ flop and 10♥ turn. But the K♦ river gave him an emphatic double and the lead.

After all of the swings, everything shifted in Zizka’s direction for good in short order. Deeb’s three-bet steal with 4♣5♣ ran head-first into Zizka’s pocket tens for 70 percent of the chips in play. Deeb doubled back one more time, but the end was nigh.

It all came down to a less-than-traditional coinflip. K♠3♥ for Deeb, pocket deuces for Zizka. A clean runout for Zizka marked the end for Deeb, and denied him what may have been one of the most outlandish double-bracelet weeks in WSOP history.

Mutual Respect

In the aftermath of his bracelet victory, Zizka shared that he and Deeb had enjoyed playing together for long stretches of this tournament.

“It was amazing with Sean,” said Zizka. “We were basically battling since the last, like, 50 players. We’ve been on the same tables every single time. And, yeah, he was my biggest competitor, definitely. And it was meant to be, I guess. I was extremely lucky in heads-up. He’s such a nice guy, pleasant to have my first heads up against him.”

Deeb, who found himself a little bit lost without a tournament to play for the first time all summer, was complimentary to Zizka as well.

Pretty sick day zz played great we both had a feeling we’d be hu from 80 people on was fun appreciate the rail and online support

— shaun deeb (@shaundeeb) July 6, 2025

This was the first major poker victory for Zizka, who has tournament results dating back to July 2023. Zizka’s history in card games runs far deeper, having played backgammon since he was five years old. He’s played professionally in events around the world for over a decade, and achieved the rank of grandmaster.

Final Table Results

Photo credit: PokerGO / Enrique Malfavon.