Editor
Renowned poker pro and coach Faraz Jaka got his 2025 off to a flying start, shipping the MSPT Bally’s Black Hawk Main Event for $127,849.
Founder of JakaCoaching, one of the best poker coaching sites, Jaka topped a field of 636 runners to win the $1,110 buy-in Main Event at Bally’s Black Hawk Casino in Colorado.
His choice to play didn’t come down to poker strategy. Instead, it was because he wants to be a better coach, especially when it comes to hands-on learning.
“I think I’ve played four tournaments here at Black Hawk and won two of them, so that’s cool,” Jaka told MSPT.
“I feel like I should play more here because I live here. I typically play bigger buy-ins but since this was in my backyard and I had some students playing I thought I should pop in.
“I’m tempted to play more MSPTs because so many of the people I coach, this is the price point they play in, and I want to be familiar with the players here so I can better guide them, so maybe you’ll start seeing me at a few more of these.
“This was a really cool moment. I had three of my Jaka students here at the final table with me while another (Kaushik Kannan) won the final [side] event, so that was awesome.”
Though Jaka doesn’t grind live poker as much as he used to, he’s enjoyed a ton of success when he has, proving he knows how to play Texas Hold’em as well as anyone in the world. In 2023, he finally won his first-career WSOP bracelet in the $1,500 Shootout, taking home over $237,000.
This past year, he nearly repeated the feat, finishing second in the $10,000 Heads-Up bracelet event for $300,000, falling to Darius Samual at the final hurdle.
Just a month ago, Jaka won the 110-entry $10,000 Deepstack event at the Seminole RRPO, cashing out for an impressive $313,495.
With his most recent victory, Jaka’s career earnings will be just shy of $8.2 million, putting him just outside the top-200 on poker’s all-time money list.
