Before 2010, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi was known as one of the leading figures of the "best without a bracelet" club, having amassed over $7 million in tourney winnings since 2004.
Then came the $50,000 Players Championship Event, the 8-game mixed event that drew 116 of the world's toughest players. Mizrachi broke through there and won his first bracelet, earning a huge $1,559,046 payday.
Mizrachi followed that with three more cashes, including two final tables, both in $10,000 "Championship" events. He took sixth in the $10K Seven-Card Stud event, then finished eighth in the $10K Limit Hold'em event.
Today Mizrachi started in second place, and after a little over hour of play remains in second just behind Theo Jorgensen. In addition to the ongoing story of the Grinder's WSOP annus mirabilis, his deep run keeps alive a couple of other interesting side stories, too.
One is the remarkable performance of the four Mizrachi brothers in the Main Event, all of whom cashed -- Eric in 718th, Danny in 345th, and Robert in 116th.
The other is the WSOP Player of the Year race. By cashing in the Main Event, Frank Kassela locked up a share of the POY title, and only the Grinder has a shot at tying him -- but only by winning the Main Event. In fact, Mizrachi was at Kassela's table when he was eliminated on Day 4.
At the time of Kassela's elimination, Mizrachi was short-stacked himself and it didn't seem very likely that he'd have a real shot at possibly winning the ME. Much has changed in three days, however, and so the story of the WSOP POY remains alive.
Alexander Kostritsyn raised it up from early position with Redmond Lee defending his big blind with a call to see a flop of .
Lee decided that was a good flop to lead into with a bet of 175,000. It wasn't meant to be as easy as that, as Kostritsyn made the call to see the fall on the turn.
Lee kicked it up a gear by moving all in. This forced a fold from the Russian as Lee chips up to 2.17 million. Kostrtitsyn is back to 2.95 million.
From the small blind, Meenakshi Subramaniam bet 175,000 on the heads-up flop of .. Scott Clements was in the big blind and made the call.
The turn added the to the board and Subramaniam checked. Clements fired 200,000 and Subramaniam raise to 500,000. Clements didn't go anywhere, sticking in the call.
The river was the and both players checked. Subramaniam showed the and Clements the .
Subramaniam dropped to under one million and Clements to 2.7 million.
In a battle of the blinds, Ronnie Bardah raised it up to 140,000 from the small blind with Jakob Toestesen defending with a call from the big blind.
They took a flop of and Bardah led out for 155,000. Toestesen made the call. The turn was the and Bardah fired a second barrel worth 295,000. Again Toestesen decided to make the call as the fell on the river. The four hearts on board didn't slow Bardah, as he released a third bullet worth 500,000. Toestesen paid to see but mucked when Bardah showed for the nut flush.
Bardah climbs to 3.55 million with Toestesen back down to about 2.7 million.
Shamus
William Thorson looking to improve on his 13th-place finish in the 2006 WSOP Main Event
Team PokerStars Pros have performed well at this summer's Main Event. J.P. Kelly of Team PokerStars U.K./Ireland finished 111th. And Gualter Salles of Team PokerStars Brazil made it to 117th after being down to a single yellow (1,000) chip on Day 5! Both Kelly and Salles earned $57,102 for their finishes.
Two other Team PokerStars Pros remain with chips here on Day 7. Johnny Lodden (Norway) began today with a little over 2.1 million chips, while William Thorson (Sweden) started with more than 7.1 million, good for fifth place to start the day.
Thorson has come close before in the Main Event, finishing 13th in 2006 -- the year of the largest ME field ever (8,773) -- for which he earned $907,128.
John Dolan and Jacobo Fernandez got all the money in preflop. Fernandez was the player at risk, all in for 425,000. He held the and Dolan the .
After the flop came down , Fernandez needed to dodge a flush draw and straight draw to stay alive. The turn was the and the river the to miss all of Dolan's outs and doubled Fernandez back to 900,000. Dolan dropped to 2.7 million.
With the recent table break, the secondary feature table has been joined by big stacks Gabe Costner and Alexander Kostritsyn.
However Kostritsyn arrived with the wrong seating card. He had the card for the four seat (currently occupied by William Thorson) instead of the vacant five seat.
Thorson looked up from his seat and questioned with the tournament staff whether Kostritsyn was at the right table, perhaps not looking forward to having the talented young Russian sit down on his immediate left.
Brock Bourne was all in for 50,000 from under the gun. Meenakshi Subramaniam raised to 200,000 to get some isolation and everyone else folded. Subramaniam held the and Bourne the .
The board ran out and Bourne was eliminated. Subramaniam moved to 1.84 million in chips.
Peter Jetten raised to 125,000 from under the gun. Edward Ochana, who finally decided to show up to Day 7 of the Main Event, made the call from the cutoff. Gary Dishongh also called from the big blind.
The flop came down and action checked to Ochana. He moved all in. Dishongh only has 550,000 behind and Jetten 800,000. Dishongh called all in and Jetten folded. Ochana held the for a set of sevens and was crushing the for Dishongh.
The turn was the and Dishongh picked up a heart draw. The river completed that draw with the and earned him a bit more than a double. He's now up to 1.5 million in chips while Ochana dropped to 4.9 million.
![[user67765]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
.
fall on the turn.
.. Scott Clements was in the big blind and made the call.
to the board and Subramaniam checked. Clements fired 200,000 and Subramaniam raise to 500,000. Clements didn't go anywhere, sticking in the call.
and both players checked. Subramaniam showed the 
.
and Bardah led out for 155,000. Toestesen made the call. The turn was the 
and Bardah fired a second barrel worth 295,000. Again Toestesen decided to make the call as the 
for the nut flush.
, Fernandez needed to dodge a flush draw and straight draw to stay alive. The turn was the 
and the river the 
to miss all of Dolan's outs and doubled Fernandez back to 900,000. Dolan dropped to 2.7 million.
and Bourne the 
.
and Bourne was eliminated. Subramaniam moved to 1.84 million in chips.
for Dishongh.