Sajid Zaidi Wins Run It Up Reno $85 Six-Max Turbo ($3,770)
After coming up on the short end of two frustrating bubbles early in the 2016 Run It Up Reno festival, World Series of Poker bracelet winner and former PokerNews Managing Editor Chad Holloway nearly ended his drought with an outright win in the $85 Six-Max Turbo. However, Sajid Zaidi denied him in heads-up play and took down the title and $3,770 in prize money.
The tournament drew 220 entrants, many of them reentries due to the tournament's fast pace and relatively modest initial stacks of 100 big blinds. Thirty would be paid, and Holloway ensured he would be one of them as he got lucky just before the bubble when he jammed in blind from the small blind to put a short-stacked Stephen Fishbach, a former Survivor contestant, at risk with 
. Fishbach woke up with 
and called, but Holloway paired up to eliminate him.
Some of the players missing out on cashing included Garry Gates, PokerNews Editor-in-Chief Donnie Peters, PokerNews contributor Brent Harrington, tournament host Jason Somerville, Nick Aguilera, Anna Khait, and Jesse Capps.
Famed cash-game whiz Doug "WCGRider" Polk (24th) and PokerStars Team Online member Randy "nanonoko" Lew (13th) were among the players cashing.
Survivor winners Tyson Apostol and "Boston" Rob Mariano both advanced to the final table, but they were the first two to go. Apostol fell at the hands of Holloway in a preflop all in with the 
against the 
. Mariano, who was seeking his second trophy at Run It Up Reno after taking down the $85 All In or Fold event, lost his stack to fellow trophy winner Thomas Dominguez, who won the $125 Six-Max Four-Card Pot-Limit Omaha event Wednesday night.
Zaidi had entered the final table as the chip leader, and he regained that distinction after defending his big blind with the 
against a button raise from Douglas Charles. The flop came 
, and Zaidi check-called a shove from Charles, who bricked out with the 
. Before that, Jay Daniele went bust in fifth.
Dominguez ran his 
into the 
of Zaidi blind-versus-blind, and Holloway found himself at a 2-1 deficit heads up. It didn't take long for stacks to get in, as Holloway risked it all with the 
on an 
board and missed the river against Zaidi's 
.
Zaidi grabbed his second-biggest score after winning $16,667 as part of a seven-way chop at a preliminary World Poker Tour event in January 2015.