2015 World Poker Tour UK Main Event Day 1b: Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi Leads
Day 1b of the 2015 partypoker World Poker Tour UK Main Event saw 302 players pile into the Dusk Till Dawn casino in Nottingham. After 10 hour-long levels of intense poker action, that crowd of players had been whittled to a more manageable 115 with nobody bagging more chips that Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi.
With more than $14.6 million in live tournament winnings, Mizrachi easily has the most impressive resumé of any remaining player. He already has two WPT titles — having won the 2005 L.A. Poker Classic and 2006 Borgata Winter Open — and is now in good shape to add the 2015 WPT UK Main Event to complete his hat trick.
Mizrachi didn’t enter the fray until during the late registration period, yet still managed to turn his 30,000 starting stack into a tournament leading 359,200.
Top 10 Day 1b Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Mizrachi | 359,200 |
| 2 | Marc Foggin | 231,500 |
| 3 | William Chattaway | 197,800 |
| 4 | Chi Zhang | 185,600 |
| 5 | Joseph Townsend | 170,900 |
| 6 | Iaron Lightbourne | 167,000 |
| 7 | Bastian Bluem | 159,700 |
| 8 | Joel Ettedgi | 150,000 |
| 9 | Julien Rouxel | 147,600 |
| 10 | James Clarke | 133,400 |
Only one other player managed to finish the night with more than 200,000 chips. Marc Foggin is a highly-rated grinder from the North East of England who has almost $300,000 in live tournament winnings. Foggin’s largest cash came in 2010 when he won a £336 buy-in event for £31,184, which incidentally was at Dusk Till Dawn. Foggin will no doubt be hoping for a repeat performance five years on.
Also returning to the action with ample chips is Billy Chattaway with 197,800. Chattaway may be more accustomed to plying his trade online where he has enjoyed massive success, but after a sixth-place finish in the 2015 WPT UK High Roller earlier in the week, will be full of confidence in pursuing his first six-figure live score.
Some other notable players to punch their tickets to Wednesday’s Day 2 include Iaron Lightbourne (167,000), Matthew Davenport (122,700), Andrew Hulme (115,000), Kuljinder Sidhu (100,300), Ireland’s Andy Black (72,400), Roberto Romanello (60,000), Tamer Kamel (52,000), Simon Trumper (29,500), and Antoine Saout (26,800).
Play resumes at 12:00 p.m. GMT and continues until the completion of five 90-minute levels, which gives players the opportunity to head to the exclusive players party where there is free food, free drinks, a live band, and DJ, plus a fireworks display to mark November 5 – Bonfire Night in the UK.
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