Remi Castaignon
Photo: PokerStarsBlog.com

Today’s Boxscore

Remi Castaignon €770,000 – EPT Deauville
Michael Mizrachi $101,267 – WSOP Circuit South Africa
Tyler Patterson $19,080 – 2013 LAPC NLHE Escalator

Big tournaments finished this weekend all over the planet, from Europe to South Africa and across the US. Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi was already having pretty nice results over the last 12 months including a nearly $1.5 million victory in the 2012 WSOP Poker Players Championship. Now he can add WSOP Circuit ring winner to his resume after winning the 116-player Main Event at the Emerald Casino in South Africa.

Remi Castaignon is the latest EPT Champion for what is apparently his first tournament cash ever with a victory in the EPT Deauville Main Event. €770,000 is a fine way to get his first entry on HendonMob and it looks like he cruised to the win after entering the final table with 40% of the chips in play.

The 2013 LAPC continues to chug along with their preliminary events pulling in good numbers for the Savage structured grind. Plenty of big names are making their way to final tables including McLean Karr, Bryan Devonshire, Matt Affleck, and Tyler Patterson who managed a win along with the traditional ugly, 500 pound trophy. Elsewhere in the world, the WPT Seminole Hard Rock will play down to their champion in a few days with Matt Salsberg once again in the running with 36 players remaining.

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Tweet of the Day – Mizrachi wins and Andrew Felman reminded to remind himself that everyone forgets The Grinder. Perhaps people could start giving the man his props now?

I won the Main Event @emeraldpoker@wsoptd @wsopLove you South Africa.Ty every 1.Every 1 Here is Great.Thanks again !!

— Michael Mizrachi (@TheGrinder44) February 10, 2013

In the latest NUTS, I wrote: “@thegrinder44‘s pattern continues. Win huge event, get forgotten in these rankings, win another huge event.”

— Andrew Feldman (@AFeldmanESPN) February 11, 2013

Bally Technologies and Amaya Gaming sign poker content agreement – More reports of Vegas iGaming additions. The race is on and will be interesting to see who comes out ahead.

MGM Resorts Looks To Re-Enter New Jersey In Possible Internet Gaming Move – Gov. Christie takes positive steps towards online poker in NJ and all of a sudden MGM is again interested in Atlantic City.

Poker / By Alex Outhred – Hey, look who has a poker strategy article in the world renown Buffalo News! Good friend, and one of the good guys, Alex Outhred. (Part congrats, part needle, all complimentary)

Zynga’s Shares Rise As Legal US Online Gambling Is Mooted – Any time Forbes or a legitimate publication talks about online gambling, it’s noteworthy. This one is chock full of snark.

$100k in 7 Days! Let’s do this! – Daniel Negreanu is using his platform for a very worthy cause. A refreshing change for him.

How confident is Michael Mizrachi in his poker playing skills?

Moments after becoming the first two-time winner of the World Series of Poker’s Players Championship event Thursday night, Mizrachi went to the tournament’s cashier’s cage at the Rio and transferred $1 million from his $1.45 million winnings to pay his entry in Sunday’s “Big One for One Drop” No- Limit Hold’em event. It also helped that Mizrachi, 31, had secured some $900,000 in financial commitments from backers willing to wager that he could win the special event’s potential top prize of more than $18 million.

“I was already thinking about buying into the million dollar event a week ago,” Mizrachi said shortly after defeating Chris Klodnicki in heads-up play at the $50,000 buy-in Players Championship. “As a poker player, it’s something you want to compete in. I’m sure everybody wants a piece of me now. We’re sold-out.”

Mizrachi is no longer considered the heir apparent as poker’s next superstar.

He has arrived.

More…

Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi of Miami became the first two-time winner of the $50,000 buy-in Poker Players Championship on Thursday night at the Rio in the World Series of Poker, dominating the field to earn $1.45 million.

Mizrachi, 31, who won the event in 2010, collected his third career World Series of Poker individual event championship bracelet, and ran his career earnings at the tournament to almost $7 million over 29 in-the-money finishes.

The event, considered the tournament’s second-most coveted title after the Main Event, drew a field of 108 competitors. Mizrachi became the first person to have his name engraved twice on the Chip Reese Trophy, named for the late winner of the inaugural event in 2006.

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Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi wins the Poker Players Championship
Photo: Jay “WhoJedi” Newnum

Today’s WSOP Bracelet Boxscore

Henry Lu $654,380 – Event #43 $1,500 No Limit Hold’em
Rocco Palumbo $464,464 – Event #44 $1,000 No Limit Hold’em
Michael Mizrazchi $1,451,527 – Event #45 $50,000 Players Championship
Joey Weissman $694,609 – Event #46 $2,500 No Limit Hold’em

It was a good day to be a grinder, or The Grinder.

Thursday’s noon tournament was a $5,000 No Limit Hold’em event which drew a fat number of 1,001 players for an increase of 15% over last year. First place will nab just south of seven figures and the winner will have to get through a very deep field. 2011 November Niner Matt Giannetti was the early leader on dinner break. Fun table of Day 1 included Brandon Meyers, Peter Eastgate, Noah Schwartz, Eric Froehlich, Darryll Fish, Allen Kessler, and Layne Flack. It was a battle to just get a word in.

Probably the toughest field each year is on display during the $50,000 Poker Players Championship. 108 players entered the event five long days ago and it was Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi who would become the first two-time winner of the Chip Reese Trophy. The field didn’t make it into the money until late on Day 4 with Benjamin Yu as the unfortunate bubble boy (after torturing Phil Hellmuth all of Day 3).

The Grinder beat Chris Klodnicki heads up and grabbed just $1,451,527 for his win. There will be some happy club owners tonight.

Link Dump

Tweet(s) of the Day – It’s not often I find myself agreeing 100% with Negreanu, but this is a no brainer. I always agree with Maridu, so I tacked on an earlier tweet so it will be stuck in your head next time you walk outside in the hot, Vegas wind.

Also if you are a male considering playing the WSOP ladies event on Friday please know you are a douchebag and I hope you end up homeless.

— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) June 26, 2012

Enough. Either you get it or you don’t. If you’re female you play the ladies event, if you’re male you don’t. If you’re a male douche you do — Maria Mayrinck (@Maridu) June 26, 2012

103degrees yesterday, 104 today. It’s supposed to be 110 on tuesday. The night breeze is like a dragon farting in your face. #ILOVEIT! — Maria Mayrinck (@Maridu) June 18, 2012

Should Men Be Allowed to Play in the Ladies Event? – I guess that question has to be asked, even though the answer is pretty obvious to most civilized folk. BLUFF asked the question and everyone agreed. But I suspected we’ll be publishing a list of tools who did it anyway. Don’t be a douche.

$25k WSOP Fantasy Update – PokerListing has your $25k WSOP Fantasy Update so you can sweat the action of team who can throw around $25k like they are singles at a G-Vegas strip club. Jason Mercier’s team has the lead but Robert Mizrachi will make a big jump with The Grinder’s win.

EU Event Discusses Online Gaming – Great news for online poker in Europe, meanwhile we’re still at the mercy of our nanny state to keep us away from the great evil of online gaming.

QuadJacks: Women in PokerPoker player and chess master (plus a good South Philly girl) Jennifer Shahade sat down with QuadJack to discuss women in poker.

Be sure to check out our new sponsors at Face Up Gaming. Legal, subscription-based online poker with plenty of great prizes including cash, WSOP seats, and poker trips. Sign up with Bonus Code pokerati.

Greetings, Pokerati faithful. I’m coming to you live from Foxwoods somewhere deep in the Connecticut wilderness. Today’s reunion of all nine members of the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event final table is the first of its kind in modern times. For the first time since the inception of the November Nine, the entire group has gotten together to play in the same event, along with 18 very lucky Foxwoods winners.

They’re playing a $15,000 freeroll, and its been rumored that there might be quite a bit more on the line for the November Niners. In order to keep things interesting and competitive, there are last longer bets and a few other interesting props that I’ll try to keep track of.

The tournament just got underway, and with 30 minute levels and a 10k starting stack, this freeroll looks like it will take quite some time.

Stay tuned for a couple of updates throughout the day here, as well as a comprehensive post of the Tuesday’s events coming up. To keep up to date with the action, as well as watch a live stream featuring Joseph Cheong, Michael Mizrachi, Matt Jarvis and Lon McEachern, head on over to Foxwoods Live.

A kinda cool shot of the Michael Mizrachi bustout press conference … on a day where seven, and later eight, poker players will think much about how close they came toward making a major step toward legendary status and the very most of the opportunity the poker gods put in front of them.

Podcasting action shots. Not quite worthy of video, but certainly would make for a good holographic Slurpee coin.

That’s the big news — major-extreme technological advancement, from the original producers of Pop music disguised as a poker podcast … after prolly more than 200 episodes that required actual clicking efforts for our listeners to hear, we now have it where a single click can get you Tao of Pokerati updates forever and ever.

Click here to subscribe, and enjoy the first episode, getting ready for this weekend’s big WSOP action … nice one out-the-gate, starting off by misidentifying Michael Mizrachi’s ethnic heritage as if I were the Sharron Angle of Poker:

N9 – Episode 1: Power Breakfast – Italian Cock and Eggs — Dan and Pauly recorded an episode at their favorite breakfast place after a power meeting to prep for the November Nine. They discussed a bit of pre-game strategy and what’s to come for upcoming coverage of their third November Nine and sixth WSOP Main Event final table. As per usual, Dan veered off topic and delved into a tangent about cocks again (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

For more episodes of the 2010 WSOP visit the Tao of Pokerati archives.

So there was a media conference call this morning and there were some interesting things to come out of the call:

• The pseudo-live coverage of the final table will be on ESPN3, which means if your ISP does not provide it (or you live outside the US) then its fairly likely you will not be able to watch the proceedings short of proxies/other hackery. Obviously it will not have hole cards (Ty mentioned that Nevada is more “conservative” than Europe in that regard), but it will have community cards and a video stream.
• James Hartigan will provide the play-by-play and pros will provide additional commentary (which means, basically, they are doing a very similar format to the EPT Live coverage, right down to the commentators).
• Mizrachi is on a lot of poker media member’s minds: including his tax issues. ESPN noted that while they are talking about it, but its not a big part and they are dealing with the “Year of the Mizrachis” angle, at least they had been until the final table.
• Some of the storylines of the final table: youth of the table + the experience of the players + the international flavor of the FT (even if the majority of players are American, some players were born elsewhere).
• The WSOP and ESPN are definitely enforcing the 3 player patch rule. Players were informed about the rule and they understand the situation. (One thing that didn’t get asked in the call was if players would essentially be able to swap patches with a non-patched player if a patched player is eliminated.)
• Walk-on music will combine with other aspects that will give the final table a more choreographed feel. (As Ty Stewart put it: “More pomp and circumstances this year.”)
• Changes to the Penn + Teller Theater: More seats to the public, fewer seats to friends and family.
• Editing the final table is pretty much a non-stop endeavor, and they actually record voiceovers for more hands than actually get shown depending on how the story of the final table plays out. Voicing gets finished while the 1st hour of the final table coverage is already on the air.
• The NGC, Harrah’s, and federal regulators feel like online poker is illegal, according to Ty Stewart (but for some reason have no problem taking ad dollars from said people).

Some pretty important topics were addressed (how ESPN is going to deal with Mizrachi’s tax problems, how FTP is going to deal with its push to actually get a main event champ in the stable, etc.) and as the November Nine gets closer some of these may come more into focus.

In a time where buy-ins are dropping to accommodate a slumping economy, leave it to Monaco to make people feel poor again. Not content with the highest buy-in tournament to date being the $100,000 Aussie Millions High Rollers event, Casino Monte Carlo in junction with the IPPA (International Poker Player’s Association) is hosting a $250,000 buy-in shootout in late November. Before you ask, “who could afford this nonsense?”; evidently 14 pros have already signed up, with names ranging from Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan all the way to Robert and Michael Mizrachi. There are a few things with this tournament that help it stand out beyond the absurd high buy-in:

• It will be “limited” to 48 players total and played out in a shootout format, with $5 million guaranteed to first place. Which means that if this is a true guarantee and not just a projected prize if all 48 slots fill, mean that you would need 20 players minimum just to break even (sans rake, and only if it’s a winner-take-all tournament).
• The IPPA is not…well known, at least certainly not in the US. Their website is equally sparse in terms of action information, but they may be trying to put themselves on the map with a tournament of this size.
• There are satellites running in at least two confirmed places, Monte Carlo (naturally) and The Bicycle Casino in beautiful Bell Gardens, CA. How does one even satellite into this tournament? Think the step tournaments online, except the stakes are much, much higher. The Bike already ran $100, $1k and $9k satellites during the Legends of Poker tournament series, but their site does not have any results for the $1k and $9k satellites so its unknown how many takers they got.
• It will be a televised event, but with the field the way it is so far the IPPA and/or Monte Carlo hopefully will be pushing hard to get some whales in the game, or it may deter other pros from throwing their hat in the ring.

Still, the organizers have to cover their “overlay” first, which will be no small feat when pros are being asked to drop $250,000 in one go into a shark-filled tank. If this tournament happens it certainly will be an interesting sight, not just for the prize pool but the revival of a lingering question regarding how we keep score in poker. Already there has been talk of what “counts” on the all-time money list, so if someone like Ivey did win the $5 million for what amounts to a 48-person (or less) SnG it could lead to some gripping from a few pros (quite possibly including the #2 man on that list…who could become a distant #2 or 3 after this tournament).

Getting caught up and back in the swing of things — slowly but surely — so what better way than to listen to the most recent episode of The Poker Beat?

The Poker Beat: July 22, 2010
[audio:http://www.pokerroad.com/download/the-poker-beat:74]

Rookie twitterer @GaryWise1 took his turn in Capt. Huff’s chair as @BJNemeth and @JessWelman panel-bantered about:

• The pre-markup hearing in DC with Annie Duke
• Make-up of the 2010 November Nine
• The value, if any, of poker agents — and how the WSOP accommodates them during the main event
• BJ’s philosophical non-dilemma over coverage of Matt Affleck’s emotional bustout *
• The difference between poker media and poker journalism
• The Year of Mizrachi and the accidental WTF? of the current WSOP Player of the Year scoring system
• Annette Obrestad’s B- performance
• The 3-headed Monster of Team WSOP without @JeffreyPollack
• WSOP numbers and final table times

* great explanation, BJ. But question … Is there any discernable line where the “field of play” in poker begins, and ends?

Other episode-relevant links:

The Redemption of Matt Affleck by Gary Wise
The Long, Lonely Walk of Matt Affleck by Howard Swains (with photos by Joe Giron)

Next ep coming tomorrow. Play along in the PokerRoad forums.

Your 2010 WSOP final table players and chip counts:

Jonathan Duhamel — 65,975,000 — Boucherville QC

John Dolan – 46,250,000 – Bonita Springs FL

Joseph Cheong – 23,525,000 — La Mirada CA

John Racener – 19,050,000 – Port Richey FL

Matthew Jarvis – 16,700,000 – Surrey BC

Filippo Candio – 16,400,000 – Cagliari  IT

Michael Mizrachi — 14,450,000 – Miami FL

Soi Nguyen –9,650,000 – Santa Ana  CA

Jason Senti – 7,625,000 – St. Louis Park MN

I’d say see ya’ll in November, but I think we all know we’ll be talking about lotsa things before then. Click below for the Nolan’s early write-up from WSOP.com:

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The Main Event will resume around 8:30pm with 42 players remaining, playing down to 27. The chip leader is Cuong Nguyen, who won the biggest pot of the tournament so far off of Theo Jorgensen on the last hand before the break when his Kh-Jc outflopped Jorgensen’s Ac-3c when it came down Kc-5h-9c to take the lead with 19,520,000 in chips. Joseph “subiime” Cheong is 2nd with 14,000,000 in chips. Play resumes at 8:30 with the start of level 29 with the blinds at 50/100/10k, follow the updates over at wsop.com

Notables:
William Thorson – 12,290,000
John Racener – 9,275,000
Bryn Kenney – 7,400,000
Matt Affleck – 5,535,000
Adam Levy – 5,180,000
Scott Clements – 4,200,000
Michael Mizrachi – 3,655,000
Johnny Lodden – 3,495,000
David Baker – 2,960,000
Theo Jorgensen 2,300,000
Hasan Habib – 520,000

Notable Eliminations:
Jacobo Fernandez
Tony Dunst
Alexander Kostritsyn
Peter Jetten
David Benyamine
Eric Baldwin
Jean-Robert Bellande

Day 7 Table Draw

Theo Jorgensen will lead the remaining 78 players of the WSOP Main Event when play resumes at the Amazon room shortly after 12pm today. Jorgensen starts the day with 9,300,000 in chips followed by Michael Mizrachi with 7,535,000 and John Racener with 7,200,000 with play starting today on level 26, 25,000/50,000 blinds with a 5,000 ante. Play will continue until 27 players remain, then return Saturday to play down to the November Nine.

Other notables returning today:

William Thorson – 6,525,000
Alexander Kostritsyn – 5,715,000
Matt Affleck – 5,315,000
Bryn Kenney – 3,830,000
Eric Baldwin – 2,135,000
Johnny Lodden – 2,105,000
Adam Levy – 1,685,000
David Baker – 1,635,000
Tony Dunst – 1,550,000
David Baker – 1,540,000
Hasan Habib – 1,165,000
Scott Clements – 1,085,000
Jean-Robert Bellande – 700,000
Peter Jetten – 675,000

Notable eliminations from last report:
Juha Helppi
Todd Witteles
Fokke Beukers
Christian Harder

Full results here, and follow the updates over at wsop.com.

Bellagio Cup VI results

Moritz Kranich, a previous winner on the European Poker Tour, added a WPT title by defeating Justin “Boosted J” Smith heads-up to win the Bellagio Cup VI Main Event for $875,150. Smith earned $594,755 for the runner-up finish, with Phil Ivey finishing third for $363,650. Full results can be found here.

Just 103 players remain as the field in the Main Event takes their dinner break, returning with the blinds at 15k/30k/4k. The plan is to play another two levels or down to 81 players, whichever comes first.

The chip leader is John Racener with 6,260,000 in chips. Other notables:

Michael Mizrachi 5,654,000
Alexander Kostritsyn 4,834,000
Bryn Kenney 4,300,000
Matt Affleck 3,750,000
Scott Clements 2,200,000
Adam “Roothlus” Levy 1,600,000

Notable eliminations:

Johnny Chan
Phil Galfond
Breeze Zuckerman
JP Kelly
Robert Mizrachi
Matt Keikoan

Full results so far here, chip counts and other updates at wsop.com.

The Main Event resumes shortly with 293 players remaining as they play three more hours, two hours at 6/12k/2k and one hour at 8/16/2k . The current leader is Saguhyon Cheong with 2,870,000 in chips. Some other notables returning from dinner break include:

Jesper Hougaard – 2,700,000
Alexander Kostritsyn – 1,990,000
Jean-Robert Bellande – 1,520,000
Phil Galfond – 1,345,000
Johnny Chan – 1,115,000
Michael Mizrachi – 735,000
Robert Mizrachi – 675,000

Notables eliminated during the day:

Hoyt Corkins
Danny Mizrachi
Adam Schoenfeld
Jason Mercier
Dwyte Pilgrim
Evelyn Ng
Mori Eskandani
Eric Morris

Full results so far can be found here and follow the updates over at wsop.com.