Home / Poker News January 2011 / Looking back at 2010 – Mizrachi bursts onto the scene
Looking back at 2010 – Mizrachi bursts onto the scene
Posted by: James Carter. - Tue, 2011-01-04 12:38
If one were to choose a top story for 2010, it would have to be Michael Mizrachi’s breakout performance at the WSOP, or better yet: Michael Mizrachi’s entire year. The seasoned poker pro wasn’t the only one to put in a thunderous performance at the WSOP. After all, Main Event winner Jonathan Duhamel also had a great series and so did a whole bunch of other players, still their stories will not be top material for one simple reason: Mizrachi’s sudden emergence in the crossfire of the floodlights was by no means a lonely venture: he had an impressive support cast in his two brothers, Eric and Robert, and even in his wife, Lily who pitched in by nearly winning one of the major weekend online guarantees about a month ago.
Mizrachi first gave the poker world a taste of his talent in 2004, when he scored two $250k cashes at two separate WPT events. The following year, he upped the stakes by winning $1.8 million at the LA Poker Classic. He continued to thrive in various WPT events, and he also cashed in no fewer than 19 WSOP events, but he never quite managed to secure a bracelet and soon he found himself dubiously honored with the title of the best player without a
WSOP bracelet.
All that would change in 2010 though: after having wrapped up the 2009 WSOP without a cash, he wasted no time in 2010 and came out swinging in event #1, the $50k Players Championship.
Mizrachi’s win in this event was especially impressive in light of the fact that the 8-game mixed format and the massive buy-in meant he had to beat the best ever 116-player starting field to get to the top.
He followed that performance with 3 more cash finishes and 2 more final tables. For a while there, it looked like he’d be present at the final table of each and every $10k championship event.
