“The Grinder” fails to hold his chip lead and winds up in second place at the WSOP Circuit Event in Las Vegas

Posted by pokerguru on May 2, 2009

At one of the final events of the WSOP Circuit, Mike “The Grinder” Mizrachi walked into the casino as the chip leader. Having been absent from a major leader board in quite some time, you could feel the crowd rooting for the charismatic player. While he failed to take down the tournament, his second place finish proved to everyone that he is back on top of his game.

Mizrachi started the day on a mission and that mission was to take out as many players as he could and continue to eliminate players and keep his stack growing. The first player to meet his demise at Mizrachi’s hand was Matt LaGarde. He stared the hand way ahead with a AQ in the hole, but fell quickly behind with a flop of KJ2. Both the turn and river failed to improve his hand and Mizrachi’s K10 took down the all in.

Play was heating up all over the tables after that and slowly but surely, one player after another got their chips in with the worst of it and quickly met the rail. As each player got knocked out, Mizrachi was one step close to taking down the championship.

The final table had an impressive lineup, especially considering that amount of talent that was across the pond at the EPT Monte Carlo event. Again, Mizrachi proved to be too much on more than one occasion and continued to eliminate players. His most notable victim was Men “The Master” Nguyen, who went out in third place.

While the final table seemed to fly by, the heads up action was anything but faced paced. Apparently seeing all of that money on the table tightened up both players a bit and it took well over 3 hours for the tournament to be decided. It was actually some of the most remarkable play that we have seen in quite some time in heads up action.

The final hand had both players looking down at paint, unfortunately for Mizrachi, his was not quite as formidable as Justin Bonomo’s. Mizrachi moved in with J9 and had the unfortunate luck to be looking across the table at KQ. The flop immediately lessened his hopes as it came out K-10-9. He got a little help on the turn with an A, but was reduced to a 5 outer on the river. Needing a Q or one of the two remaining 9’s, he was disappointed with a 3d. Both players ended up making a flush, but Mizrachi was on the short end of it with his only being J high to Q high.

He may be disappointed that he did not manage to hold on, but the $143,512 probably made that a little easier to take. Not only that, but he has some stake money for the WSOP that is right around the corner. Bonomo took down $237,692 for first place and also gets to wear the coveted ring. We can expect to see big things from both of these guys at the WSOP.

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Filed Under: WSOP Circuit

Tags: EPT Monte Carlo, Justin Bonomo, Matt LaGarde, Men Nguyen, Mike Mizrachi, Online Poker, Poker, The Grinder, The Master, WSOP

The Top 10 WSOP Bracelet Winners – Part I

Posted by James on September 9, 2008

Over the next couple of entries, I will review with you the top 10 bracelet winners of all time. Many names you will recognize, while a couple you likely will not. I’m starting my list in reverse order.

Four of the top 10 in bracelets are actually tied with six bracelets each. I will rank them based on the last time they won a bracelet

Layne “Back to Back” Flack earned his nickname in 2003 when he won bracelets in consecutive tournaments he entered. He holds two bracelets in No Limit Holdem, one in Pot Limit Holdem, one in Pot Limit Omaha, one in Omaha Hi-Lo, and one in the Limit Holdem Shootout. His most recent bracelet was his Pot Limit Omaha bracelet that he won at the 2008 World Series of Poker.

T.J. Cloutier is recognized by many as an expert on the game of Omaha. Half of his six bracelets are in Omaha. He holds a Limit Omaha, Pot Limit Omaha, and an Omaha Hi-Lo bracelet. His others are in Pot Limit Holdem, No Limit Holdem, and Razz. His most recent was the No Limit Holdem bracelet in 2005.

Men “The Master” Nguyen is known as much for his demeanor at the table and on camera as for his success at the table. His bracelets are as varied as his personality. For years he has been a top ranked Seven Card Stud player. He holds two bracelets in Seven Card Stud and one in Stud 8 or Better. He also holds bracelets in Omaha Hi-Lo, Limit Holdem, and Triple Draw A-5 Lowball. His last bracelet win was in 2003 when he won both a Stud and Lowball bracelet.

Jay Heimowitz is only one of two bracelet winners to win a bracelet in each of the last four decades. In 1975 he won the first World Series of Poker tournament he entered when he won the $1,000 No Limit Holdem event. After that win, he didn’t win another bracelet until 1986 when he won the $1,500 Limit Holdem event. Five years later in 1991, he took the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha bracelet. 1994 saw him win his fourth bracelet in Pot Limit Holdem. In 2000, Heimowitz won the $5,000 Limit Holdem event to give him at least one bracelet in the last four decades. His last bracelet was in the 2001 Seniors No Limit Holdem event. At 71, Heimowitz is still going strong. He has cashed several times since his last bracelet win, including the $2,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Event at this years WSOP.

Coming in at #6 on our all time bracelet list is Billy Baxter. Billy Baxter holds 7 bracelets, and they are all in a form of lowball poker. It was written once about Baxter that, “You never tug on Superman’s cape, and you never play Billy Baxter in a lowball game.” Baxter holds a record 5 bracelets in Deuce to Seven Lowball. His other two are in Ace to Five Lowball and Razz. Baxter is the only other player besides Jay Heimowitz to win bracelets in each of the last four decades. Two of his bracelets came in the 70s, three came in the 80s, one in the 90s, and his last bracelet came in 2003. Baxter also shows no signs of slowing down either. He missed the final table of this year’s 2-7 Lowball event by one spot and won two WPT preliminary events earlier in the year.

Tomorrow, we will look at the top five bracelet winners of all time.