Only a few days into the 41st World Series of Poker (WSOP), potentially one of the biggest stories of the year is developing. After four days of play, the final table of WSOP Event #2, the $50,000 Player’s Championship, has been set, with Robert Mizrachi leading the way. Also at the final table is Robert’s brother, Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, who was the chip leader going into Day 3.
This marks just the second time in WSOP history that a pair of brothers have made the final table of a tournament. The only other time it happened was in the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event in 2002, when Ross Boatman placed seventh and Barny Boatman placed ninth. Even though Michael is better known to the general public, largely due to his success on the World Poker Tour (WPT) as the game was exploding, it is Robert who has the only WSOP bracelet between the two of them, earned in the 2007 $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha World Championship.
As expected in a tournament with such a high buy-in, the final table has other well-known players, including four-time bracelet winner John Juanda and last year’s $10,000 Omaha High-Low champ, Daniel Alaei. Juanda was the one who sealed the final table’s lineup, eliminating Nick Schulman in ninth place.
Below are the chip counts for the final eight players vying for the $1,559,046 first prize and the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy in the $50,000 Player’s Championship:
1. Robert Mizrachi – 3,125,000
2. David “WhooooKidd” Baker – 3,095,000
3. John Juanda – 2,620,000
4. Mikael Thuritz – 2,300,000
5. Michael Mizrachi – 2,175,000
6. Vladimir Schmelev – 1,925,000
7. Daniel Alaei – 1,705,000
8. David Oppenheim – 460,000
The $50,000 Mixed event wasn’t the only tournament running on Monday. In fact, it was a busy day at the Rio, as three other events were in progress. WSOP Event #3, the first of six open $1,000 No Limit Hold’em tournaments, saw the two Day 1 flights combined into one Day 2. It was an interesting first couple of days in the tournament, as so many people were eliminated on Day 1A that there was a chance that the tournament could reach the money before Day 1B ended. Fortunately, that did not happen, as 481 players began Day 2, with 441 getting paid. There are now 41 players left, with Drew Crawford topping the chip counts with 800,000. Also in the mix is UB.com pro Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin, with 479,000. The top ten chip stacks in the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event look like this:
1. Drew Crawford – 800,000
2. William Davis – 775,000
3. Dash Dudley – 745,000
4. Nick “agriffrod” Mitchell – 681,000
5. Robert Scott – 645,000
6. Dana Kellstrom – 507,000
7. Terry Fleischer – 489,000
8. Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin – 479,000
9. Aadam Daya – 476,000
10. Cory Brown – 476,000
Event #4, $1,500 Omaha High-Low, completed its second day on Monday, with just 26 of 818 players remaining. Tuesday looks to be long day for those 26 players, as they will play all the way down to a champion rather than stopping when the final table is determined. A number of brand name players are still in the mix, including Huck Seed in 23rd, 2009 $50,000 HORSE winner David Bach in 16th, 2006 WSOP Player of the Year Jeff Madsen in 10th, 2008 November Nine member Ylon Schwartz in eighth, Shawn Buchanan in seventh, Dan Heimiller in fifth, and Anthony Reategui in second place. Sasha Rosewood heads the field with 399,000 chips, 82,000 ahead of Reategui.
The only tournament to start on Memorial Day was Event #5, $1,500 No Limit Hold’em. 2,092 players began the day and, similar to what happened in the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event, the eliminations were fast and furious. As a result, the money bubble almost burst on Day 1, as the day ended with 223 players remaining and 216 getting paid.
Stephen Foutty holds a slight chip lead over Dwyte Pilgrim heading into Day 2, 207,400 chips to 202,000. Foutty didn’t grab the lead until just minutes before the day came to an end. With Q-Q, Foutty re-raised his opponent pre-flop, only to have said opponent push all-in for 90,000. After thinking for a couple of minutes, Foutty called and his opponent flipped over A-K. The community cards helped nobody and Foutty soared to the top of the leaderboard. The complete top ten is as follows:
1. Stephen Foutty – 207,400
2. Dwyte Pilgrim – 202,000
3. Chris “moorman1” Moorman – 161,400
4. Trevor Savage – 125,600
5. Jesse Fulmer – 121,400
6. Taylor Mcfarland – 118,900
7. Praz Bansi – 118,700
8. Lars Bonding – 106,600
9. Dustin Pattinson – 103,000
10. Matthew Schwarmann – 102,200
The $50,000 Player’s Championship, $1,000 No Limit Hold’em, and $1,500 Omaha High-Low events will resume at 3:00pm PT Tuesday, while the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament will restart at 2:30pm. Two events will kick off on June 1st: Event #6, the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout event, and Event #7, $2,500 Fixed-Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball.
