Poker Players Championship Down to Final 12; Michael Mizrachi Again On Top
Day 3 of the Event #33: $50,000 Poker Players Championship has come to a conclusion at the 2018 World Series of Poker.
For the second consecutive day, two-time Poker Players Champions Michael Mizrachi holds the chip lead, leading the remaining 12 players.
Mizrachi held steady for the first two levels of the day, but really kicked it into high gear in Level 15 when he eliminated Justin Bonomo in 30th place. Mizrachi held five-three suited and called a Bonomo preflop raise, flopping a flush in the process. Bonomo bet the flop, bet the turn and bet the river, but wasn't able to fold to Mizrachi's river shove. Bonomo's overpair came up empty and "The Grinder" was off and running, punishing the competition en route to bagging a chip-leading stack of 4,232,000, more than double average.
The day began with 42 players remaining from the original 87 starters, with Mizrachi and Phil Ivey starting out on top. Once play was underway, eliminations came at a fast pace as about half the field fell in the first three levels. Among those who busted include Jason Mercier (28th), Daniel Negreanu (26th) and defending champion Elior Sion (23rd). Another former champion of this event fell on Day 3 as Mike Gorodinsky bubbled in devastating fashion, running kings into Mike Leah's aces in No-Limit Hold'em.
Once the final 14 players were in the money, Yehuda Buchalter (14th - $72,500) and Randy Ohel (13th - $72,500) were eliminated, earning a min-cash for their efforts.
Here is the Day 4 seating chart:
| Room | Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds | Big Bets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | 1 | 1 | Chris Vitch | United States | 1,160,000 | 48 | 12 |
| Amazon | 1 | 2 | Aaron Katz | United States | 2,480,400 | 103 | 25 |
| Amazon | 1 | 3 | Phil Ivey | United States | 2,146,000 | 89 | 21 |
| Amazon | 1 | 4 | Dan Smith | United States | 1,816,000 | 76 | 18 |
| Amazon | 1 | 5 | Jean-Robert Bellande | United States | 213,000 | 9 | 2 |
| Amazon | 1 | 6 | John Hennigan | United States | 1,458,000 | 61 | 15 |
| Amazon | 2 | 1 | Mike Leah | Canada | 3,139,000 | 131 | 31 |
| Amazon | 2 | 2 | Shaun Deeb | United States | 533,000 | 22 | 5 |
| Amazon | 2 | 3 | Michael Mizrachi | United States | 4,232,000 | 176 | 42 |
| Amazon | 2 | 4 | Brian Rast | United States | 1,164,000 | 49 | 12 |
| Amazon | 2 | 5 | Benny Glaser | United Kingdom | 1,967,000 | 82 | 20 |
| Amazon | 2 | 6 | Greg Mueller | Canada | 1,439,000 | 60 | 14 |
Play is set to resume at 2 p.m. (PDT) on Monday, June 18, and the PokerNews live reporting team will be on hand to provide continuous live updates of all the Poker Players Championship action.