Robert Mizrachi Leads 11 Survivors on Day 2 of $10,000 Dealer's Choice; Ivey, Negreanu Also Advance
Robert Mizrachi won the first-ever Dealer’s Choice event at the World Series of Poker in 2014. A decade later, Mizrachi is back in pole position to do it again.
Mizrachi ended Day 2 of Event #13: $10,000 Dealer’s Choice Championship as the chip leader with 1,511,000 as 11 players advanced to the event’s final day. Mizrachi will be chasing his fifth WSOP bracelet and first in eight years, which would also tie him with brother Michael Mizrachi in the bracelet tally.
The players who will try to track him down tomorrow include George Alexander (1,090,000), 2023 bracelet winner and young Japanese star Ryutaro Suzuki (1,053,000), Venkata “Sandy” Tayi (932,000), and 2009 PPC champion David Bach (909,000). Alexander, the start-of-day-2 chip leader, built up a massive lead over the rest of the field after he eliminated both Patrick Leonard and Maxx Coleman in the same hand, being the first to eclipse 1,000,000 chips.
Day 3 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Bets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robert Mizrachi | United States | 1,511,000 | 38 |
| 2 | George Alexander | United States | 1,090,000 | 27 |
| 3 | Ryutaro Suzuki | Japan | 1,053,000 | 26 |
| 4 | Venkata "Sandy" Tayi | United States | 932,000 | 23 |
| 5 | David Bach | United States | 909,000 | 23 |
| 6 | Michael Martinelli | United States | 807,000 | 20 |
| 7 | Ben Lamb | United States | 683,000 | 17 |
| 8 | Phil Ivey | United States | 563,000 | 14 |
| 9 | Richard Bai | United States | 336,000 | 8 |
| 10 | Daniel Negreanu | Canada | 312,000 | 8 |
| 11 | Max Kruse | Germany | 268,000 | 7 |
For all of the past accomplishments of those players, the large crowd that gathered on the rail over the course of the day was there to see two players. Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu spent a good portion of the final levels of Day 2 sitting side-by-side. Ivey eliminated John Monnette in a 2-7 Razz pot as he finished with 563,000. Negreanu, meanwhile, busted Phil Hellmuth in a Badugi pot earlier in the day, but got short until he found two doubles off Dustin Dirksen and Monnette; he ended up with 312,000 as he attempts to capture his seventh WSOP bracelet and first in Las Vegas in more than 15 years.
Michael Martinelli (807,000), Ben Lamb (683,000), Richard Bai (336,000), and German soccer star Max Kruse (268,000) round out the surviving 11 players who return tomorrow at 2 p.m. local time to play down to a champion.
Day 2 saw 17 new entrants boost the field up to 141, surpassing last year’s total and building a prize pool of $1,311,300. Only the top 22 finishers would make the money and Stephen Chidwick, defending champion Chad Eveslage, Paul Volpe, Daniel Zack, Yuri Dzivielevski, and Anthony Zinno were among those who fell before the money was reached.
Matthew Schreiber was eliminated on the money bubble against Bach in an Omaha 8 or Better pot. Jordan Siegel (22nd), Erick Lindgren (21st), newly-crowned double bracelet winner Nick Guagenti (19th), Jerry Wong (17th), David “Bakes” Baker (16th), Monnette (15th), and Nick Schulman (13th) were then sent to the payout desk before play concluded.
What was a star-studded field that crowded into the Horseshoe Event Center at the start of the day still includes some of the biggest names in poker and they’ll all be chasing the $333,045 top prize, WSOP gold bracelet, and title of mixed-game master when play resumes tomorrow.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for all the action until a champion is crowned.