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With all the big guns on display in the $50k Poker Players Championship, it was perhaps the biggest name to have never won a bracelet who finally broke his streak as Michael Mizrachi captured the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy...
Make no mistake about it – it’s been a turbulent year so far for Michael Mizrachi.
Back in May, rumors began circulating that the man known as “The Grinder” had got himself into some serious financial hot water. Word had it that despite having earned career winnings in excess of $7 million, Mizrachi was on the verge of bankruptcy and had been forced to sell the mutual flat that the he shared with his brother, Robert.
To make matters worse, Mizrachi was allegedly facing some $339,711 in tax debts, had gotten rid of his former accountant and was also planning to sell off his real estate in Miramar to make ends meet. However, the old adage that you can’t keep a good man down rang true during the World Series of Poker as the “Grinder” steadied his ship with a cash injection of over $1.5m for winning the Poker Players Championship.
The $50,000 buy-in tournament, the brainchild of a group of players including Daniel Negreanu who wanted to create an elite event for the game’s top talent, certainly achieved what it set out to do as an all-star final table managed to survive the starting field of 116. Among them were a collection of legendary pros, lively wildcards and, perhaps most importantly for Mizrachi, a family connection, courtesy of his brother.
Heads Up Play
In the end, however, it was one of the relative unknowns among the final eight, Russian Vladimir Schmelev, who Mizrachi would ultimately face-off with across the felt during the heads-up finale – and there The Grinder truly lived up to his name by frustrating his opponent to overturn a 3-to-1 chip deficit and claim his first WSOP bracelet, the Chip Reese Memorial trophy and a first-place pay-out of $1,559,046.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it wasn’t really a huge hand that ended the protracted heads-up battle, with the “Grinder” instead doing what he does best by limping his button and playing small-pot poker. “I knew if I played slow it would frustrate [Schmelev,]” Mizrachi revealed to ESPN’s Norman Chad during his post-game interview. “This was definitely worth the wait. It’s one of the most prestigious events you can win.”
The final hand came about after Mizrachi had slowly but steadily eroded the Russian’s stack up to the point that he held virtually all of the chips in play with 16.8 million to Schmelev’s 575k. Looking down to find Qs 5c, Mizrachi moved all-in from the button and his opponent decided that it was time to finally make a stand, calling off the remainder of his chips in surprisingly good shape with the dominating Qd 8s.
A flop of 9h 6h 4c provided no help for Mizrachi, but with a vociferous crowd on the rail chanting for a five, their vocal prayers were duly answered when the 5h fell on the turn to hand the “Grinder” the lead. With the roles now reversed, Schmelev needed to spike an eight or a seven to catch up, but with the 4d pairing the board, Mizrachi took down the pot and finally added a WSOP bracelet to his two World Poker Tour titles.
JOINING THE LEGENDS
In doing so, Mizrachi saw his name engraved on the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy alongside Freddy Deeb, Scotty Nguyen, David Bach and the late, great Reese himself. As is the new tradition for the Poker Players Championship, the winner of last year’s $50k H.O.R.S.E. Championship, Bach, passed the torch on to Mizrachi, and he’ll now keep the trophy until next year’s Series’ – and probably longer still if he can help it.
The result was slightly cruel on Schmelev, however, who was at one point just a solitary card away from victory. Having got it all-in pre-flop, the Russian was in commanding shape holding the nut Ad Jd on a Kc 9c 10d Qh, but unfortunately for him, Mizrachi’s Ac 7c managed to spike the nut flush when the 5c fell on the river. Nevertheless, Schmelev will be able to console himself with a huge $963k for second.
OPPENHEIM MISSES OUT
As a reflection of just how strong the competition at the final table was, the unlucky player to miss out on heads-up play was none other than legendary high limit cash player David Oppenheim. The mixed game specialist – who has previously cashed at the WSOP no fewer than seven times – eventually fell foul of eventual winner Mizrachi when his pocket eights lost a 5.6m chip coin-flip to the “Grinder”’s Kc Qs.
Before him, it was four-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner and former WSOPE main event champion John Juanda who hit the rail as his Kd 9d failed to improve against Schmelev’s pocket tens. His exit was preceded by the departure of Robert Mizrachi in fifth place who – in a remarkable turn of events – was knocked out by his own brother holding Ac 10h as the “Grinder”’s Qh Jc managed to spike a jack.
Rail Birds
Seasoned WSOP campaigners David Baker and Daniel Alaei busted out within quick succession of each other both holding dominated aces to the ace-kings of Mizrachi and Schmelev respectively, while Californian Mikael Thuritz was the first player to depart the final table after he unfortunately fell victim to Mizrachi, who completed from the blinds only to flop a full-house on the seemingly innocuous 6d 6s 4h flop.
With Event #2 now just completed (at time of print,) it’s fair to say that this year’s World Series has gotten off to a tremendous start with perhaps one of the biggest names to have never won a bracelet finally scratching his name off of the list. We think it’s fair to say that things are beginning to look up for the “Grinder.”
Final Table Payouts
1st Michael Mizrachi $1,559,046
2nd Vladimir Schmelev $963,375
3rd David Oppenheim $603,348
4th John Juanda $436,865
5th Robert Mizrachi $341,429
6th David Baker $272,275
7th Daniel Alaei $221,105
8th Mikael Thuritz $182,463 |
