November Nine Q and A: Michael MizrachiThe Grinder Talks about his Huge Run at the Series and Looks Forward to November |
|
It would be an understatement to say that Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi had a good summer at the World Series of Poker. He kicked things off by winning the $50,000 Players Championship and he finished it off by making the November Nine in seventh chip-position with 14,450,000.
In between stamping his mark on the two biggest tournaments of the summer he made two additional final tables, cashing in sixth place at the $10,000 seven-card stud world championship, and cashing in eighth place at the $10,000 limit hold’em world championship. He also made a deep run in the $2,500 mixed event, cashing in 16th place. Mizrachi has already made $1,684,052 this and he could easily double that amount in November.
The inclusion of the Grinder in the November Nine also leaves the winner of the WSOP Player of the Year award in question. Mizrachi can tie for the title with 2010 double-bracelet winner Frank Kassela, but only if he becomes the first professional in the November Nine era to claim the main event victory.
He is the headliner at the most coveted final table of the year and his strong performance this summer has revived his career and his comeback could end with him becoming the most successful player in tournament poker history. If he takes home the top prize in November his career earnings will stand at a staggering $17,827,442, which would make him the career leader by a hefty margin.
Card Player caught up with Mizrachi at an impromptu press conference shortly after the November Nine was set and he talked about all that has happened this summer and looks ahead to the fall.
Question: Was your experience playing on a short stack what helped you to pull through this last day while in danger of elimination?
Michael Mizrachi: I knew experience would come into play. Just look at how Hasan [Habib] survived. Hasan did an awesome job of just sustaining, he was always at the bottom but he kept going further and further in the tournament. I give Hasan a lot of credit. Thank God I survived, but I wish Hasan was with me, that would have been cool if we were both at the final table. At least I got here.
I feel like Phil Ivey at last year’s final table. There were actually more names last year than this year. John Racener is an excellent player, and now people are going to know who he is. We know how a good a player he is in the poker world, but now people on the outside are going to learn who John is, as well as all of these guys at the final table.
Q: What did you think of the play of your opponents during the final play-down period to the November Nine?
MM: There was some four betting and crazy plays earlier tonight. It was fun to watch, I just couldn’t do anything because I wanted to hold my stack and I knew I could just grind it. I was just trying to win one or two hands a round to maintain my stack.
I thought it would end a lot quicker than this. I didn’t think it would go past 5 in the morning. I’m just happy with the way things turned out.
Q: As the headliner going into November, do you feel added pressure? Or do you think you will flourish as you did at the $50,000 Players Championship?
MM: With these blinds at 250,000-500,000 I think anybody can win it. At first you think you don’t want that but actually there are some big stacks now and I don’t mind it. I have been in so many situations where I was the short stack and won it. I think I have won more tournaments with a shorter stack than a larger stack.
I like my chances. I just wanted to get to the final nine, and get the pressure off of me. Now I can play some poker when I get back. It’s going to be a long way through, and I’m going to make Frank Kassela sweat a little bit more [grins].
Q: How did it go with the family support tonight?
MM: I want to say thanks to the fans and my family and friends. Everyone was there for me, and if you see the crowd now just wait until you see it in November.
Q: After the Players Championship I asked you a question about the next main event winner, and you responded by jesting what if I win the main event. You have now made it to the final nine, has that confidence carried you through this tournament so far?
MM: Yeah, I just felt like game was right there. I was playing super poker and my instincts were unbelievable. I was right in so many situations. I felt like I could get there if I just played well. The confidence from the Players Championship win just fed me through this entire World Series.
People kept asking me if I was going to win Player of the Year. I couldn’t have imagined going through 7,000 players to win Player of the Year, and now it’s possible with nine left. I’m just happy where it is, even if I finish ninth. I’m happy I made the November Nine, it’s an accomplishment. I can’t say it won’t ever happen again for me, but it’s a long shot to pass through a field like this. You have to get lucky and survive. I was probably all-in five or six times for my tournament, which is probably not too bad with this large size of a field.
It’s just an exciting feeling and I’m happy to be here.
Q: On day 1 you chipped up pretty early to become one of the chip leaders. This is a really long tournament where a lot of people tend to lose momentum along the way. How did you keep it going through eight days?
MM: I knew through day 1 if I had a big stack there would be so much bad play and so many inexperienced players that I could just keep chipping up. I had a few rough days. I was down to 90,000 on day 3 or 4. I had more chips on day 1 but I found a way to hold my stack and I finished the next with 241,000. Before you know it I was at 1.7 million and then I was second in chips with 7 million and 500,000 or whatever it was. I don’t know, I can’t remember my days anymore.
I played day 1A and I knew that was the best day to play. Just because it was a smaller field and it was just after July 4th. I knew none of the pros were going to play because they were going out and partying the night before, so I knew it would be a weaker field, and there might be people who were trying to play poker after partying in some cases. I knew it was a perfect day to play. I don’t want too many people around. I picked them apart, and I think I’m going to play day 1A every time now.
Q: What was the key to keeping your spirits up when things were going tough?
MM: Support from family and friends. They keep me going and get me motivated, as you can see here there are a bunch of people. I have a lot of people that love me.
I try to be a nice guy and I never say no to an autograph or picture. I think that’s why I get a lot of fans too. I think also because they like the name Grinder.
Q: How valuable was it for you to log the extra hours at the table tonight with these opponents. Were you able to build your profiles on them for November?
MM: I have a good idea how every single player plays here. I think I have it locked down. There isn’t going to be too much play really. I only have 14 million and the blinds are going to be 250-500,000. I’m going to have 25 big blinds, not much play. It’s going to be a lot of pre-flop play, pushing and shoving. Hopefully I can do what I did in the Players Championship.
Q: How does the accomplishment of all four of you making the money compare to your own individual accomplishment of making the final table?
MM: I think it just motivated me more that all four of us cashed. That was unbelievable. I was saying I think it was the first time that four brothers all entered the main event, but for four of us to cash is unbelievable. They all did a great job. The experience level for Donny and Eric is not the same as Rob and myself. If Donny and Eric would have played in more tournaments before this I think they would have gone deeper in this tournament. Experience is so important when you go deep into a tournament, and you just have to know how to maintain your stack and pick players apart.
They’re both great players though, but Rob and I are probably equivalent to each other. Rob is an awesome player and he is definitely one of the best Chinese poker players.
Q: Prior to the World Series you were spending a lot more time at home with your kids back in Florida. Does this development change the amount of tournaments you’re going to play between now and November?
MM: Everyone is telling me to go to Europe so I think I’m going to go play in the World Series of Poker Europe and just try to do something somewhere else. I played in a couple of events over there; I finished in 14th in the Partouche Poker Tour tournament. I had kings versus 7-8 all-in preflop after four or five raises. Rob had finished in 15th with aces cracked and I went out with kings a few hands later.
That kind of did it for me, after that it seemed like a long trip to finish in 14th, it was a sad story. I think I’m going to go to Cannes and play the Partouche and play the WSOP Europe in September. After that I’m going to come home, rest a little bit, and then prepare for the main event.
Q: The WSOP Europe has proved to be a great momentum builder heading into November so is that a consideration?
MM: I’m definitely going to go out there to Europe and hopefully I’ll bring the family.
Copyright © 2001-2024
CardPlayer.com. All rights reserved.
