Michael Mizrachi was eliminated in fifth place at the World Series of Poker Main Event. We talked to The Grinder shortly after his elimination from the November Nine in this press conference, where he fielded questions about what happened.
At one point during the night, and more specifically at the dinner break, Mizrachi was the chip leader with 52 million in tournament chips. But over the course of several hours his chip stack dwindled and eventually was crippled as short stacks doubled through him. Eventually, he pushed all his chips with Queen Eight on the flop for top pair on a Q-5-4 board. Unfortunately for the seasoned pro, Jonathan Duhamel held pocket aces and immediately called with a big lead in the hand. The turn brought a Jack on the board and Mizrachi’s amazing 2010 WSOP run would end unless an Eight or Queen hit the river. With the river King, Mizrachi was eliminated and finished in fifth place. For his Main Event run, The Grinder took home $2.3 million.
To say that Mizrachi had the biggest group of fans in the Penn & Teller theater at the Rio Hotel and Casino would be a huge understatement. Somehow Mizrachi managed to have more than double the fans in the stage seating area than any of the other players during most of the night. In the theater there were even more players donning the red shirts especially made for fans of Mizrachi. Countless chants of “Grind-er! Grind-er! Grind-er!” broke out during the night. When The Grinder finally hit the end of his run, the fans gave him a rousing cheer. He was joined in the stands by Mike Matusow, who of course had plenty to add to the commentary from the stands.
With his elimination in fifth place, Mizrachi finished in second place in the Player of the Year standings to Frank Kassela, who won two bracelets in this year’s series.
