Faraz Jaka Is Back Where He Belongs at Seminole Hard Rock

By Matt Clark

Season VIII WPT Player of the Year Faraz Jaka simultaneously blends in and stands out in the tournaments he enters at this stage of his career. Jaka is no longer a full-time pro. The familiar fedora that was Jaka’s trademark is in a closet somewhere. A, by Jaka’s standards, modest button-up combined with glasses is his new look.

The volume might not be there but the skills still are. Last summer, Jaka made two World Series of Poker final tables.

Jaka claims to be a fan of the Seminole Hard Rock property and is thriving at his former home casino.

“The tournaments are huge, the prize pools are huge,” Jaka raved. “I’m only playing a few tournaments here and there now, so I’m not playing full-time anymore. I only get to pick a couple a year. ”

The WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown tournament marks Jaka’s first cash on the WPT Main Tour since Season XIV.

Jaka notched a final table finish in last August’s WPT Brasil, finishing seventh in a field of 3,386. That event was not an official WPT Main Tour event.

Jaka is consumed by his new job with a Brazilian online poker startup that limits the time he spends with poker. The company utilizes 50 hours a week for Jaka, leaving only 15 hours for him to study the game he formerly dominated.

The time away with a new project did not diminish Jaka’s fire. He is still as ambitious as ever. Jaka plays to win and is not taking this chance at a first WPT title light.

“At the end of the day, I always play to pay the bills,” Jaka said. “When I play, I still think about it like that. At the same time, I’m insanely competitive and after doing this for 10 years, that title definitely means something to me and I’m going to remember that when I’m older. It’s something nice to look back on that you worked so hard at something and what are those things you accomplished? You think about those things and those awards.”

The 32-year-old weighs his Player of the Year award versus a title in different lights. Jaka holds $5.687 million in career earnings but lacks a major win. The long-term lens is used by Jaka to view his accomplishments. Only two tables stand at the Hard Rock Event Center and Jaka isn’t quite sure yet what he’ll think of the Champions Cup until he holds it.

“It would represent some different,” Jaka said. “I would feel a little bit more like ‘I sealed the deal’ with a big win in a WPT or any major event.”

The studying Jaka does do to keep his game up to par is not to be disclosed. Preparation is a key factor to Jaka’s repeated final table runs in the years before he stepped away. The work ethic remains within his company and game.

Jaka’s limited volume makes this chance rare and he knows it’s imperative he takes advantage to close out the win.

“The deeper it gets, the more exciting it is,” Jaka said. “This is why you play those hundreds of tournaments that you bust, for this moment.”

Click here for more coverage from the Season XVI WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship.

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