You can now wipe out Michael Mizrachi's name from the list of "best players who have never won a bracelet" as the Grinder turned the tables on his Russian opponent Vladimir Schmelev in the heads up for the WSOP 50k Players' Championship title.


As always, Mizrachi needed some luck and lots of skill to finally take the win. He started HU in a 10.6m to 6.8m lead but Schmelev took down the first big pot with pocket fives (Mizrachi had a 4 on a board of 433 T K). After the hand Schmelev had a dominating 12.9m to 4.5m lead.

The game finally swung Mizrachi's way when the chips went in preflop and the cards were turned: Mizrachi Ac 7c, Schmelev Ad Jd. Grinder was in trouble but the flop Kc Td 9c meant the chances were almost even. A queen on the turn brought a straight for Schmelev, but Grinder still had those flush outs and the river was the 5c.

Grinder doubled up and after this he started raking in pot after pot, his run and the noise made by his fans clearly frustrating the Russian. Finally Schmelev had just 600k left and he lost after getting his chips in with another dominating hand (Q8 vs Q5) but Mizrachi hit his kicker on the turn to take the win.

"I knew if I played slow it would frustrate him," Mizrachi said after the game. "This was definitely worth the wait. It's one of the most prestigious events you can possibly win…especially with my brother in there." Incidentally, Michael busted his brother Robert in 5th place in a preflop all-in.

Apart from the bracelet and $1.55 million winner's check, Mizrachi will have his name engraved on the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy handed to him by last year's 50k HORSE champion David Bach. Earlier winners of the trophy are Scotty Nguyen, Freddy Deeb and the late Reese himself.

After this win the Grinder has $8.7 million in tournament cashes but his biggest successes had been at the WPT, where he has two wins and three more tv table appearances. His best achievements at the WSOP were limited to two final table appearances.

There is no information on whether Mizrachi was staked to the tournament and for how much, but hopefully this win means that he can put his money problems behind him (read the story in Sun Sentinel here).

The runner-up Vladimir Schmelev does not have great many tournament merits in his resume but reportedly he is a big cash game player in Russia. Like many of his fellow countrymen, he started out as a chess player.

The Big Game regular David Oppenheim finished in 3rd place despite starting the final table severely short stacked. Oppenheim was soon back in the battle after some early double-ups.

The event was played in an 8-game mixed format but to please the tv viewers, the final table was all NL Hold'em. The tournament is one of the three events to feature in ESPN's upcoming WSOP broadcasts.

Event #2: $50k Players' Championship (116 players):

1. Michael Mizrachi $1.559.046
2. Vladimir Shmelev $963.375
3. David Oppenheim $603.348
4. John Juanda $436.865
5. Robert Mizrachi $341.429
6. David Baker $272.275
7. Daniel Alaei $221.105
8. Mikael Thuritz $182.463

Source: Pokernews.