Poker coach Faraz Jaka demonstrated his short-handed poker prowess last year as he won the $1,500 Shootout for his first bracelet and again this summer with a runner-up finish in the $25,000 Heads-Up Championship.

The Jaka Coaching founder and former World Poker Tour (WPT) Player of the Year once again demonstrated his short-handed skillset by winning a Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open $10,000 Deep Stack for $313,495 after a grueling heads-up battle against Phillip Krnyaich that lasted several hours.

PokerNews caught up Jaka at the payout counter, where he said he was “feeling great” after the six-figure victory.

“The blind structure got real slow there during heads-up, which I’m thankful for,” he said. “I just kept getting top pair to second pair and chipping down and I really needed to grind him down slowly. So I’m thankful for that deep-stacked structure.”

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“Gruelling” Heads-Up Match

Jaka was chip leading heading into the final table of the $10,000 event that included Shannon Shorr (9th – $31,350), Thomas Muehloecker (5th – $50,520) and Viet Vo (3rd – $115,995) and took to X to inform his Jaka Coaching students. A few hours later, another post let his followers know that he was heads-up with a narrow chip lead.

The updates paused for three hours as Jaka let the fans know that the battle was still ongoing. Not long after that update, Jaka secured the hard-fought victory.

“One of us just kept getting top pair and then one kept getting second pair,” he said. “And I was trying to find my edge on him, and it just came from double-barreling him off some hands here and there, just kind of squeezing out pots that weren’t supposed to go my way. So it was a long and grueling match.”

As a coach, Jaka, who suffered a debilitating injury in 2022, often talks about the importance of staying physically fit and taking care of yourself during long poker sessions. He led by example on Monday, doing yoga, pilates and back stretches in between hands and on breaks.

Working On His Heads-Up Game

Though already an adept short-handed player, Faraz said he has been working on his heads-up game with a coach who he declined to name but described as an expert in the format.

“I wouldn’t say I’m a very experienced heads-up player,” Jaka said. “I used to play heads-up cash like 15 years ago when I hadn’t done much heads-up work. I’ve been wanting to work on my heads-up game, and that was part of the reason why I played the $25k WSOP this year, which kind of forced me to start prepping for it.”

Across the room from Jaka’s victory, the WPT RRPO Championship was down to three tables, with two dozen players battling for the title. Jaka’s familiar with the experience, having won the WPT POY distinction in 2009 with two final tables, including a runner-up finish in the WPT Bellagio Cup V for $774,780 and a third-place finish in the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic for $571,374.

The poker coach, who appeared on the Life Outside Poker podcast in May, offered some advice for playing in this part of the country. “In Florida, there is a lot of money. So you have a lot of people who will just show up here, they don’t care about studying, they’re just here to have a good time, to compete. So you’ve really got to observe your players. Don’t get stuck in this GTO land. You’ve got to know that stuff, I teach that stuff, but you’ve got to understand how to adjust to your opponents and pay attention to what people are doing. So stay off your phones and pay attention.”

For more heads-up tips and general poker strategy from Jaka, check out the full Life Outside Poker interview on YouTube.

_{*Lead photo courtesy WPT & Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood}

Connor Richards is an Editor & Live Reporter for PokerNews and host of the Life Outside Poker podcast. Connor has been nominated for two Global Poker Awards for his writing.