2018 WSOP: Michael Mizrachi Leads Final Table In $50,000 Poker Players Championship'The Grinder' Looks To Become The First Three-Time Winner Of This Prestigious Event |
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Michael ‘The Grinder’ Mizrachi is one of just two players in history to win the $50,000 buy-in Poker Players Championship at the World Series of Poker more than once. Both he and Brian Rast have won the prestigious mixed-game event twice, with Mizrachi emerging victorious in 2010 and 2012. Now he has a chance to become the first player to ever win this event three times, as he will enter the six-handed final table as the chip leader on Tuesday, June 19, 2018.
This was the 13th annual running of this event, which began as a H.O.R.S.E. tournament and now features an eight-game mix with the addition of no-limit hold’em, pot-limit Omaha and triple draw deuce-to-seven lowball. This year saw a total of 87 players post the sizable buy-in, building a prize pool of $4,176,000. Now just six players remain to battle it out for the bracelet and the $1,239,126 first-place prize.
Here is a look at the final table:
| Seat | Player | Chips | Big Blinds | Big Bets | WSOP Bracelets |
| 1 | Dan Smith | 4,485,000 | 112 | 28 | 0 |
| 2 | Aaron Katz | 2,600,000 | 65 | 16.5 | 1 |
| 3 | Michael Mizrachi | 8,865,000 | 222 | 55.5 | 3 |
| 4 | Benny Glaser | 2,210,000 | 55 | 14 | 3 |
| 5 | Mike Leah | 1,220,000 | 31 | 7.5 | 1 |
| 6 | John Hennigan | 2,400,000 | 60 | 15 | 5 |
The final six players have a combined total of 13 WSOP gold bracelets, with high-stakes regular Dan Smith being the only player without a title at the series to his name. Smith enters the final table as the second largest stack behind Mizrachi, who has roughly 40 percent of the chips in play.
Day 4 of this event began with 12 players remaining, with all those left in the money. The money bubble burst late on day 3 when 2015 champion of this event Mike Gorodinsky ran pocket kings into Mike Leah’s pocket aces. Yehuda Buchalter and Randy Ohel finished in 14th and 13th place before play ended for the night, each earning $72,500.
Six players were eliminated during day 4’s action. Jean-Robert Bellande was the first to go, running pocket sevens in Aaron Katz’s pocket queens to hit the rail in 12th place ($88,627). Chris Vitch )11th – $88,627) and Shaun Deeb (10th – $111,447) were the next to go.
Ten-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Ivey was knocked out in ninth place ($111,447) when he got the last of his chips in with a 9-8-6-5-4 against the 7-6-4-3-2 of Greg Mueller in deuce-to-seven triple draw. Mizrachi scored the final two eliminations of the night, eliminating his only fellow two-time winner of this event in Brian Rast in eighth place ($144,049) and then busting Greg Mueller in seventh place ($144,049) to set the final table.
The final six will return at 2:00 p.m. local time on Tuesday to play down to a winner.
For more coverage from the summer series, visit the 2018 WSOP landing page complete with a full schedule, news, player interviews and event recaps.
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