Zdenek Zizka Won a WSOP Bracelet & Backgammon Championship Inside a Month!
The Czech Republic poker player Zdenek Zizka has achieved a unique double in the past month, winning both the Ultimate Backgammon Championship (UBC) in Monte Carlo for €78,000 and his first-ever WSOP bracelet at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. Very few players have ever excelled to such a degree in both game disciplines, but the Czech player, who is friends with the controversial character Martin Kabrhel, can claim a unique double win.
Zizka Proves Unbeatable
The Czech Republic player Zdenek Zizka is one of several players one of many to enjoy crossover success in backgammon and poker and this week completed a remarkable double victory. Taking down the Ultimate Backgammon Championship (UBC) in Monte Carlo just four weeks after lifting his first WSOP bracelet in Las Vegas, the Czech player won over $300,000 across both events.
In backgammon, Zizka’s prowess is well known. The 2024 UBC winner, known as ‘ZZ’ in the game’s intimate professional circles, beat the favorite and a Japanese supergrandmaster Masayuki ‘Mochy’ Mochizuki to become champion. A famous victory, Zizka’s defeat of the highest ranking UBC backgammon player in the world caused shockwaves in the mindsport.
One year later almost to the day, Zizka’s comeback triumph against the Danish player Thomas Myhr has rubber-stamped his reputation in backgammon, as Zizka won the final four games of their 12-match series across three exciting days to be proclaimed the winner and take home a top prize worth over $80,000.
‘ZZ’ Shown Respect from Shaun Deeb
Back in the summer, Zizka achieved what many poker players of all levels can only dream of, winning his first World Series of Poker (WSOP) gold bracelet. In doing so, he denied Shaun Deeb, one of the greats of the game, back-to-back bracelets as part of his ultimately successful crusade to win the 2025 WSOP Player of the Year race.
Zizka’s victory came in the $1,000-entry NLHE Event #84 at this year’s WSOP where 1,873 entries battled to a top prize of $232,498 in early July. Zizka more than matched Deeb, earning a huge amount of respect from the beaten player, as the eventual Player of the Year said it had felt that their meeting was inevitable from far out. Zizka, who folded to a superb bluff from Deeb along the way, said the feeling was mututal.
“It's been amazing with Shaun,” he said. “We've been basically battling since the last 50 players. We've been on the same tables every single time and he was my biggest competitor, definitely. It was meant to be, I guess. I was extremely lucky heads up, and it just went my way. He's such a nice guy, [it was] pleasant to have my first heads up against him.”
Zdenek Zizka in beast mode on his way to winning Event #84 of the 2025 WSOP.
Backgammon and Poker are Natural Bedfellows
Zizka was overwhelmed to win a bracelet in poker, but as he hinted at in his post-match interview against Deeb, the two games have a natural alignment in his mind.
“I've been playing backgammon since I was five years old, and professionally traveling around tournaments all around the world since I was 16, so quite a long time. I wouldn't say it was a quite natural switch [from backgammon to poker] but still playing all the games. Backgammon is always a beautiful game. I just love it, of course.”
A month on, Zizka has shown how much he loves backgammon yet again, retinang his UBC title in Monaco, traditionally a poker playground for many big names.
“It's insane," Zizka said after the UBC finale came to a conclusion. “Today was extremely lucky, [Myhr played] amazingly the whole series.”
Zizka’s efforts in both games brought many poker fans to recall Gus Hansen’s ability at both backgammon and poker. ‘The Great Dane’ has his own poker and backgammon lore, once walking away from a poker tournament when he had the chip lead just so he could play a lucrative private game of backgammon around the corner in London’s West End.
From the late, great Paul Magriel, who passed away in 2018, to the 1995 world champion Dan Harrington, players who excel at both games are commonplace. The Ukrainian backgammon player Arkadiy Tsinis beat 2,190 opponents in 2011 to win a $1,500-entry NLHE event for $540,136. Just a few short years ago, the opposite was in example as the Danish former 2007 EPT Barcelona Main Event winner Sander Lylloff played ‘Mochy’ for the UBC title too. He couldn’t defeat him like Zdenek Zizka did, however.
With his best-ever year in poker and the retention of his UBC title in backgammon, Zdenek Zizka, who cashed in 16 WSOP events this summer and came 10th in the year’s WSOP Player of the Year standings, could well be a real threat at the forthcoming WSOP Europe festival.
Paul Seaton, an esteemed figure in the poker community with over ten years of experience, has provided live coverage from renowned poker tournaments like the World Series of Poker, European Poker Tour, and World Poker Tour. His involvement goes beyond observation; he has served as the Editor of BLUFF Europe Magazine and Head of Media for partypoker.
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