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Michael Mizrachi Wins $1,500 Stud 8 or Better for Fifth Career WSOP Bracelet

When you think of the most prolific WSOP bracelet winners over the last decade, who comes to mind? You might think of someone like Jason Mercier or even Phil Hellmuth. However, that person is none other than Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi.

On Thursday, Mizrachi won his fifth career WSOP bracelet by taking down the $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo Event at the 2019 World Series of Poker. This gives him five bracelets this bracelet, putting him in a class by himself.

Mizrachi Wins $1,500 Stud 8 for Fifth Career Bracelet

The $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo Event kicked off on Monday with a field of 460 to create a prize pool of $621,000. Like you’d expect in a mixed game like this one, many of the top players in the world came out for this event, and one of the biggest names in the game headlined the final table.

Michael Mizrachi managed to make it to the final table of this event as the chip leader. Others that made the final table included Robert Gray, Jan Stein, Elias Hourani, Michael Sopko, and Jose Paz-Gutierrez.

Robert Gray started the final table in third place, but soon after the start of the final table, he took the chip lead and stayed there for much of the final table. However, by the time we got to heads-up play, Mizrachi had retaken the chip lead. Ultimately, it was Gray facing off against Mizrachi heads-up for the bracelet.

Gray managed to retake the chip lead briefly during heads-up, but Mizrachi ground his way back into the lead and eventually ground his opponent down to about two big bets. In the final hand, Gray was all-in with a pair of kings against a pair of nines and a backdoor flush draw for Mizrachi. By sixth street, Mizrachi had picked up two pair and Gray was unable to improve on his kings.

Michael Mizrachi won his fifth bracelet by taking down this event and also received $142,801 in prize money. Of his opponents at the final table, Mizrachi told PokerNews, “It was a tough table but I think the experience helped me out a little bit from, you know, a lot of tournament experience. I feel like I had a pretty good edge on the players in certain spots where they probably wouldn’t play hands. I played those hands where I know they’re going to fold and that way I can win a lot of antes and bring-ins.”

Mizrachi One of the Most Dominant WSOP Players of Decade

With five bracelet victories this decade, it is hard to debate that Michael Mizrachi is one of the most dominant payers of this decade. He started the decade by winning the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship at the 2010 WSOP. Later that series, he finished 5th in the WSOP Main Event.

In 2011, he won the €10,400 NL Hold’em Split Format Event at the World Series of Poker Europe. Earlier that year, he just missed out on another bracelet after finishing runner-up in the $2,500 Omaha Hi-Lo/Stud Hi-Lo Event at the 2011 WSOP.

In 2012, Mizrachi became the first person to win the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship twice. Six years later, Mizrachi became the first and only person to win the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship a third time. He defeated Poker Hall of Famer John Hennigan for the title.

Mizrachi became a household name for his ability in NL Hold’em, earning the nickname “The Grinder” for his ability to grind opponents stacks to dust. He won two WPT titles back in 2005 and 2006 and was a fixture int he NL World until he started taking down mixed game bracelets at the WSOP. The Grinder is still a force in NL Hold’em, but his greatest accomplishments of the last decade have all been in mixed games. It will be interesting to see where the next decade takes Mizrachi in his poker journey.

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