Seat 8: Zimnan Ziyard, (25, Eastbourne, UK – PokerStars qualifier) - 2,771,000
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When Zimnan Ziyard claimed the chip lead by knocking out EPT San Remo champion Rupert Elder in 13th, you would have expected the Sri Lankan-born pro player to have been ecstatic, but he wasn’t. Ziyard called a large four-bet shove with his pocket queens and managed to hold up against the king-jack suited of Elder, the last remaining former winner in the field.
“I definitely had mixed feelings about the hand as I would have preferred to knock him out heads up,” said Ziyard who has been on friendly terms with Elder since they studied together at Imperial College London.
Elder has had his moment in the spotlight already and Ziyard, who has had a number of deep runs including a 20th place finish at EPT Deauville and a third place finish in $3,000 pot-limit Omaha WSOP event, would be excused for claiming it was his turn instead, “I’ve been so long in the game that I feel it’s about time that I have a six-figure score. It would be amazing to win.” The online qualifier is certainly among the favourites to do so.
Bio courtesy of PokerStars.