WSOP Online: Michael Mizrachi Gets No. 6, Michael Watson Earns Triple Cown

The 2024 World Series of Poker Online, the first to support player liquidity across Nevada, New Jersey, and Michigan on the new WSOP Online client, is officially in the books.

There were 30 online bracelets awarded as part of the main WSOPO slate, with another eight handed out for players based in Pennsylvania. The main WSOPO schedule drew over 42,700 total entries, resulting in more than $29.9 million in overall prize money.

Results from the first 13 online events can be found in the previous issue of Card Player.

Michael Mizrachi Wins Sixth Career Bracelet

This series saved one of its biggest stories for last. Michael Mizrachi beat out a field of 931 entries in the $888 no-limit hold’em event that wrapped up the schedule, earning $108,815 and his sixth gold bracelet for the victory.

Mizrachi is just the 24th player in WSOP history to have earned six or more bracelets. The two-time WPT champion and three-time Poker Players Championship winner (2010, 2012, 2018) now has $17.6 million in lifetime earnings, with over $9.3 million of that coming from his 84 career cashes in bracelet events.

Mizrachi’s two previous non-PPC wins at the series were in the 2011 WSOP Europe €10,400 split no-limit format, which saw the table size decrease as the tournament progressed, and in the 2019 WSOP $1,500 stud eight-or-better event. He earned $448,861 and $142,801, respectively, for those two wins.

In this latest event, Mizrachi had to contend with three-time WSOP Circuit winner Mitch Garshofsky heads-up for the title.

Mike Watson Wins Bracelet For Triple Crown

Mike Watson has been a top poker tournament player for nearly two decades, with live results dating back to 2006. The 40-year-old Canadian poker pro has cashed for over $29 million on the circuit, with another $14 million in cashes recorded online. The one trophy that has always eluded Watson, though, was a WSOP bracelet. Finally, 17 years after recording his first WSOP cash, Watson captured his first piece of WSOP hardware.

Watson took down the WSOPO $1,000 no-limit hold’em six-max championship to earn $138,327 and the coveted hardware. This win officially made the Toronto, Ontario resident the 10th player in history to achieve poker’s Triple Crown, with victories at the WSOP alongside main event wins on the World Poker Tour and the European Poker Tour.

His WPT win came back in 2008. He topped the 2008 WPT Bellagio Cup IV to earn $1,673,770. As for the EPT, he won the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in 2016 and then took down the 2022 EPT Monte Carlo main event in 2022. Watson is also a four-time Triton Poker event winner.

Sotiropoulos, Prociak, Chan, And Wittmeyer Add To Their Bracelet Collections

This year’s WSOPO featured five events that started out online but played a live final table at Horseshoe Las Vegas. The first of these online/live hybrid events was a $3,200 no-limit hold’em high roller that began on June 18 and played down to a winner on July 14.

The tournament drew 401 total entries, resulting in a prize pool of $1,203,000. In the end it was Greece’s Georgios Sotiropoulos who won it, earning $224,418 and his fourth career bracelet. This was his second online bracelet, having also won the 2021 WSOP Online International $200 Flip & Go event for $117,022.

His two live bracelets came in the 2015 WSOP Europe €1,100 turbo for $128,252 and the 2021 WSOP $1,000 freezeout for $432,575. Sotiropoulos now has more than $8.8 million in recorded tournament earnings.

David Prociak is now a three-time bracelet winner after taking down the WSOPO $600 no-limit hold’em deepstack event. He beat out a field of 1,448 entries to earn the hardware and $107,984. This victory came just over a month after winning the $1,500 badugi event for his second bracelet and $129,676.

He is one of three players to win multiple bracelets this summer, joining Scott Seiver and Xixiang Luo. Prociak’s first came back in 2016 when he bested a field of 521 entries in the $1,500 stud eight-or-better event for $156,546.

The $1 million guarantee for the $1,000 no-limit hold’em mystery bounty event was easily surpassed thanks to a turnout of 1,963 entries. There was ultimately $1,766,700 to pay out, with the largest share of the main prize pool being captured by Daniel Chan, who earned $165,178.

This was the third bracelet win for the New York resident, with the trio of titles all coming online. He won two bracelets last year, taking down a WSOPO $500 buy-in event and the $400 Colossus. Chan now has nearly $1.4 million in recorded earnings after this latest victory, which was his largest payday ever.

Two-time bracelet winner and three-time WSOP Circuit winner Jesse Yaginuma took second place.

The hybrid format returned for the $5,300 buy-in no-limit hold’em championship, which had a $1,317,319 prize pool. The final table was set late on July 10, with the action resuming a handful of days later in Las Vegas. Chicago’s Brandon Wittmeyer prevailed, earning $258,375 and his second career gold bracelet for the win. This was the third-largest score of Wittmeyer’s career, which gives him more than $2.4 million in total cashes.

Rokita, Maor, And Vankeuren Score Gold

The second of the hybrid events upped the ante, with a $5,300 buy-in and an eight-max table size. Of the 267 entrants, only 48 earned a piece of the $1,335,000 prize pool. The largest share went to Roland Rokita. The Austrian earned $278,713 and his first gold bracelet as the last player standing.

Rokita had plenty of stiff competition to contend with down the stretch, including six-time bracelet winner Shaun Deeb (5th) and poker streamer Ethan ‘Rampage’ Yau (4th). Bracelet winner Jed Hoffman earned $201,438 as the runner-up.

The highest buy-in event on this series’ schedule clocked in at $10,000. A total of 134 entries were made at that price point, resulting in a $1,279,700 prize pool. As one might expect, plenty of big names were among the 24 players that made the money, including bracelet winner Joseph Cheong (5th), bracelet winner Alexandros Theologis (4th), and seven-time bracelet winner Scott Seiver (3rd), who came so very close to his fourth bracelet of the summer.

In the end, recent BetMGM Poker Championship winner Daniel Maor came away with his first bracelet and the top prize of $330,263. He now has nearly $1.6 million in recorded earnings, with $944,000 of that coming from his two big wins this summer.

The final hybrid event of this series was another $3,200 buy-in. With 345 entries, the prize pool swelled to $1,035,000. While 47 players earned a share, only the final table was required to head down to the brick-and-mortar casino. In the end the winner was decided by a heads-up match between reigning WPT World Championship winner and WSOP $1,500 no-limit hold’em shootout champion Dan Sepiol and Zachary Vankeuren.

Vankeuren came out on top, earning $219,450 and his first bracelet. The New York resident now has over $750,000 in lifetime scores. Sepiol settled for $162,450 as the runner-up, bringing his career haul to $8.5 million.

A Look At Other First-Time Winners

Millard Hale came into this year’s series with three WSOP Circuit rings but no bracelets to his name. That all changed when the Kalamazoo, Michigan native topped a field of 1,694 entries in the $777 buy-in ‘Lucky 7s’ no-limit hold’em event.

He earned a career-best score of $207,515. The $1,185,800 prize pool was split up amongst the top 200 finishers. Joining Hale at the business-end of the tournament was bracelet winner Jeffery Hoop, who finished runner up.

The WSOPO was able to support pot-limit Omaha on mobile and mystery bounty events in general for the first time this summer thanks to the updated software that rolled out ahead of the series. The $555 buy-in event took advantage, utilizing both the previously mentioned game and format.

Jared Hyman triumphed in the end, besting a field of 1,970 total entries to earn his first bracelet and the top prize of $95,844. Five-time bracelet winner Yuri Dzivielevski (5th) was among the many notables who ran deep.

Johan Schultz-Pedersen defeated a field of 1,544 entries in this year’s internet version of the $400 buy-in Colossus to earn his debut bracelet and $149,745. Not only was this Schultz-Pedersen’s first WSOP victory, but it was also his first overall recorded win. He now has more than $707,000 in cashes to his name. His top score remains the $154,401 that he earned as the eighth-place finisher in the 2023 EPT Paris main event.

The $1,000 no-limit hold’em championship drew 1,059 entries, resulting in a $953,100 prize pool. Michigan native Christopher Moon defeated Joe Kuether heads-up to secure the bracelet and the top prize of $139,248. Moon now has more than $1.4 million in career scores to his name.

Mo Nuwwarah busted out of the WSOP main event on day 5, finishing 359th for $40,000. The very next day the 2024 MSPT Bally’s Black Hawk main event champion hopped in the WSOPO $1,000 pot-limit Omaha six-max event and came away the winner. Nuwwarah earned $135,172 and his first bracelet as the champion. The former poker media member and two-time WSOPC ring winner from Omaha, Nebraska now has $775,000 in career tournament earnings.

The $400 no-limit hold’em mystery bounty six-max tournament drew the largest field of any WSOPO event this year, with 2,778 entries creating a $1,000,080 prize pool to more than double the $500,000 guarantee. Spain’s Daniel Ruiz came away with the bracelet and the $92,336 top prize from the main prize pool.

This was just the second poker title for Ruiz, coming just 10 days after his first. That win saw him take down a $400 buy-in live event at the MGM Grand Summer Poker Festival for $15,965. Ruiz now has more than $133,000 in lifetime earnings.

A total of 1,699 entries were made in event no. 28, the $500 buy-in no-limit hold’em Summer Saver. While 320 players cashed, only Michael Mosley walked away with the bracelet. The Michigan resident was awarded $99,698.

Brazil’s Julio Fantin landed the last blow in the $1,000 no-limit hold’em progressive knockout Fight Night event, eliminating bracelet winner Andy Bloch heads-up to secure the bracelet and $45,558 from the main prize pool. Fantin also took down the big final bounty payout for the win, but the exact amount of that haul is not publicly available at this time. ♠