The highlight of the World Series of Poker is quite obviously the $10,000 Main Event and that is coming up in a few days, but right now, all eyes are on the final table of the $50,000 Poker Players Championship. The high stakes mixed game event is largely seen as the “real” championship, the one that pros want to win for bragging rights. Obviously, winning one tournament doesn’t mean someone is the best poker player in the world, but when it features several poker variants and is populated mostly by the planet’s elite players, it is certainly an event that people want to win to put their stamp on the poker calendar.
A total of 91 players paid the $50,000 to enter the tournament, creating a prize pool of $4.176 million and a first prize of nearly $1.3 million. Payouts went down to 14th place at the six remaining players are all guaranteed at least $200,000. Justin Bonomo is the chip leader going into the final day with 7.75 million chips. Bonomo is seeking his second career WSOP bracelet, having previously won the $1,500 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em event in 2014. He is having a very nice World Series this year; Bonomo has one second place and two third place finishes so far out of total of five cashes (not counting this tournament) for winnings of about $562,000. Prior to the 2016 WSOP, he had already won over a million dollars in live tournaments this year and now has just shy of $11 million in winnings lifetime.
Though Justin Bonomo is the chip leader, the player everyone is likely watching is in second place with 5.535 million chips: Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi. Mizrachi has been a mainstay on the tournament circuit for over a decade, but plenty of people have a history of doing well in tournaments. Where Mizrachi stands apart from everyone else is that he has won this tournament twice already and is within sight of a third title, a feat that nobody truly thought would be possible considering this is only the 11th year of this event.
Mizrachi won the Poker Players Championship in 2010 ($1,559,046) and again in 2012 ($1,451,527). To win it again, considering the strength of the field every year, would just be insane. He has one other WSOP bracelet aside from those two, plus two World Poker Tour titles. In all, Mizrachi has won just short of $15 million in live tournaments.
It has been a mixed bag of sorts for Michael Mizrachi prior to the Poker Players Championship at the 2016 WSOP. He has nine cashes, not counting this one, putting him near the top of the list for the 2016 WSOP, but none of them were particularly large. Those nine cashes have only grossed Mizrachi about $45,000, so if he were to bomb out today in sixth place, his winnings would still be more than four times as much as his previous 2016 WSOP cashes put together.
The final table of the $50,000 Poker Players Championship will begin at 2:00pm Vegas time.
2016 World Series of Poker Event #55: $50,000 Poker Players Championship – Final Table Chip Counts
1. Justin Bonomo – 7,750,000
2. Michael Mizrachi – 5,535,000
3. Eric Wasserson – 3,800,040
4. Brian Rast – 3,185,000
5. Lamar Wilkinson – 2,045,000
6. Ray Dehkharghani – 395,000
