Mizrachi Gets His Third World Series Of Poker Bracelet

MIZRACHI GETS HIS THIRD WORLD SERIES OF POKER BRACELET (Update)

29th June, 2012 at 05:20:07

Source: http://www.bluffed.net

And wins The Player's Championship event for the second time

The World Series of Poker event 45 - $50,000 buy-in The Poker Players Championship ended Thursday, memorable for the quality of its 108-entry list, a controversial floor ruling and the fact that for Michael Mizrachi (31) it was his third bracelet and second Players Championship victory.

Mizrachi's reward was a bank-account-boosting $1,451,527, which should ease his registration into the upcoming million dollar Big One for One Drop charity competition later this week.

The US poker pro last won the event in 2010, besting 115 other players to win $1.55 million and claim his first WSOP bracelet, so it's no surprise that after his latest triumph Mizrachi said it was his favourite event....and one in which he would try for more successes in the future.

Mizrachi faced a formidable final table distilled from an elite list of players who entered for the eight-game event. Facing him across the felt were Chris Klodnicki, Andy Bloch, Luke Schwartz, Roland Israelashivili, Stephen Chidwick, Bill Chen, Bruno Fitoussi and David Oppenheim.

Failing to make the final table were internationally respected names like Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, Viktor Blom, Owais Ahmed, David Singer, Ville Wahlbeck, Matt Glantz, Ali Eslami, Keith Gipson, Lyle Berman, Alexander Kravchenko, Jeff Lisandro, Jon Spinks, Joe Cassidy and Daniel Alaei.

Railbirds expecting a long drawn out final table were taken by surprise at the sheer pace with which the action progressed - it was all over in just under six hours, with Mizrachi eliminating most of the casualties.

That included the level 22 heads up between Mizrachi and Philadelphia poker pro Chris Klodnicki, who was sent home with the runner-up prize of $896,935 after being unable to overcome his opponent's massive chip advantage, a run of good cards and the skill to exploit them.

Holding the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy, a clearly delighted Mizrachi said: It was the best you could possibly run at a final table. The cards went my way, and I thought I played my best. When I was heads-up against Chris, I was getting all of the cards. It's tough to play against somebody who keeps winning every hand and playing super-aggressive.

It was certainly a tour de force for the poker pro, bringing his career earnings to around $14 million and - for now anyway - topping a WSOP career that has seen him make eight final tables, win three bracelets and secure a fifth place finish in the 2010 Main Event for $2.3 million.

Other pay-outs in the prestigious event, regarded by professionals as the event to win, were:

Andy Bloch $561,738

Luke Schwartz $406,736

Roland Israelashivili $317,882

Stephen Chidwick $253,497

Bill Chen $205,856

Bruno Fitoussi $169,879

David Oppenheim $142,197