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Poker Stories Podcast With Michael Mizrachi: “All These Robots Take Too Long” To Make Decisions

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Poker Stories is a long-form audio podcast series that features casual interviews with some of the game’s best players and personalities. Each episode highlights a well-known member of the poker world and dives deep into their favorite tales both on and off the felt.

Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi is one of the most accomplished poker tournament players in history, with four World Series of Poker bracelets, and two World Poker Tour titles. The 37-year-old got his career started by winning the L.A. Poker Classic in 2005, and followed that up by taking down the Borgata Winter Poker Open in 2006, the same year he won the Card PlayerPlayer of the Year award. Although Mizrachi has experienced his fair share of hardship following downswings, a tough real estate market, and some failed investments, he has always seemingly bounced back, as he did in 2010, when he took fifth in the WSOP main event for $2.3 million.

Mizrachi has particularly excelled in the $50,000 buy-in Poker Players Championship, which he has won an incredible three times. The South Florida native first held the Chip Reese Memorial trophy in 2010, and did so again in 2012, and again this summer. (He even finished fourth in 2016!) With more than $16.7 million in career live tournament cashes, Mizrachi currently sits in 26th place on the all-time earnings list. He is one of four poker-playing Mizrachi brothers, including Eric, Donny, and four-time bracelet winner Robert.

Highlights from this interview include a disdain for robots, 10-second decisions, a family of gambling enthusiasts, Rob’s envelopes, ladies poker night with mom, the living room casino, bussing tables at Bennigan’s, the six-figure RV, the downside of real estate, the upside of gold, being a three-time $50k champ, being a feel player, playing with no cards, holding on to your money, not gambling for a year, joining an adult swim team, high-stakes mixed games, losing a $170k pot to Daniel Alaei, losing money on swaps, listening to the way they breathe, getting fired from his dealing job, and fictional arrest scenarios.

You can check out the entirety of the interview in the audio player at the top of the page or download it directly to your device to play on the go from iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

Catch up on past episodes featuring notables such as Daniel Negreanu, Nick Schulman, Barry Greenstein, Chris Moorman, Bryn Kenney, Mike Sexton, Brian Rast, Scott Seiver, Freddy Deeb, Greg Raymer, Maria Ho and many more. If you like what you hear, be sure to subscribe to get the latest episodes automatically when they are released.

Brandon Lai Leads after Day 1A of WPT Gardens Poker Festival Main Event

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Season XVII of the World Poker Tour has kicked off in style with a summer festival at the Gardens Casino in Hawaiian Gardens, California. And Day 1A of the festival’s $5,000 buy-in Main Event is already in the books.

Played yesterday at the host casino, the first starting flight of the tournament saw 209 entries register to take a shot at the first-place prize, which includes a share of the prize pool and an additional treat. The Gardens Casino is contributing $200,000 in prize money to the event as well as a shiny Mercedes-Benz SLC Roadster to the winner.

It is yet to be seen how much the event will generate for the overall prize pool, as registration will remain open until some point into Day 2. The tournament allows for players to enter and re-enter twice per Days 1A and 1B as well as during the early stages of Day 2. This means that there is a huge chance for the field to be boosted significantly in the next two days as everyone interested to participate has four more bullets into the first WPT Main Tour Main Event of the current season of the popular poker series.

Brandon Lai Leads Day 1A Survivors

Day 1A concluded with around 100 survivors of all 209 who registered into the Main Event. The remaining hopefuls will return at the host casino on Monday for Day 2 of the tournament.

Brandon Lai bagged and tagged the largest stack of the night after surviving through eight one-hour levels scheduled for the day. The player put 204,200 into his bag to secure the top spot in the temporary leaderboard.

However, popular poker pro Ari Engel is trailing closely behind him with 201,700. The top of the chip counts chart also includes Jake Schindler who bagged 164,800 last night. Schindler has been running hot over the past several months. In April, he took down the partypoker MILLIONS Grand Final Barcelona €100,000 Super High roller for a prize of €1.75 million. Kitty Kuo is also among the notables who bagged larger chip stacks last night. Coming fresh from the recently completed World Series of Poker, the female poker pro will enter into Day 2 action with 163,000.

But before that, Day 1B of the Main Event needs to be completed. The second of two starting flights is slated to kick off today at noon local time at the host casino for eight more one-hour levels. As mentioned above, all players will be allowed two entries throughout the day. Registration into the tournament will remain open until the start of Level 11 on Day 2.

This is the first time the WPT’s Main Tour is landing in the Gardens Casino. While the location is not a familiar one to the poker series’ main brand, it hosted last year the WPT500 Los Angeles for that brand’s first trip to hot and sunny Southern California.

Exposed Card Drama in the 2018 WSOP Big One For One Drop!

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The $million buy-in “Big One for One Drop” is the biggest tournament in the WSOP calendar and with $10million at stake for the winners, there’s a crazy hand with 2 players all-in and cards being exposed!

Phil Hellmuth can’t believe it. Fedor Holz is bewildered. There is $10 million at stake, two players are all in at the 2018 World Series of Poker Big One For One Drop, and the Ace of Hearts has been exposed by Rick Salomon. What on earth should Fedor do in this spot with pocket tens, and was the tournament director correct to put the exposed ace on the table? This hand is a rollercoaster! Let’s break it down.

Doug Polk breaks down this rollercoaster hand

Anthony Zinno Wins CPPT $5,000 Main Event at The Venetian after Hot WSOP Run

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Anthony Zinno, one of the notable members of global poker’s elite and one of the few three-time WPT Main Event winners, topped the field of another prestigious tournament after a nice run at the WSOP.

Zinno took part in another popular summer series annually taking place in Las Vegas and bested the field of the festival’s Main Event just a couple of days ago. The popular poker pro emerged victorious in The Venetian DeepStack Championship Poker Series CPPT $5,000 Main Event after surviving through five days of action and outlasting a field of 547 entries.

The tournament kicked off on Saturday, July 14, at The Venetian, one of the premium poker destinations across the Strip. The Main Event featured a guaranteed prize pool of $2 million. The guarantee was crashed due to the great interest in the tournament. An overall prize pool of $2,529,875 was thus created to be distributed to the top 63 finishers.

Aside from the champion’s trophy and all the accolades that a winner deserves, Zinno also collected the amount of $466,670. Including his latest live tournament cash, the poker pro now boasts a bankroll of over $8 million.

Zinno beat a stacked final table in the CPPT Main Event. The player faced the likes of former WSOP Main Event champ Martin Jacobson, popular high rollers Dan Shak and Stephen Chidwick, and former World Championship final tablists Bryan Piccioli and Jay Farber, among others. UK’s Ben Jones was Zinno’s heads-up opponent. The player eventually busted in second place for a consolation prize of $390,956.

Zinno said after his latest poker triumph that he could finally take a break from poker as he has been playing almost incessantly over the past several months.

Hot WSOP Streak

Zinno jumped into The Venetian Main Event action fresh from a nice run at the WSOP. The player finished in-the-money in 12 tournaments on the schedule of the world’s longest running poker series and made two final table appearances.

Zinno finished third in the $565 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Handed for $57,300. He also scored a third-place finish in the $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship for $129,186.

While the player failed to capture a WSOP gold bracelet this summer, he already knows very well what it feels like to claim the most coveted non-monetary prize in poker. He won his piece back in 2015 when he outlasted the elite field of the $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller. That victory actually secured the popular poker pro with his largest-ever live cash of $1,122,196.

Zinno is one of just five players in the history of the World Poker Tour to have won three Main Event titles from the series’ Main Tour. He claimed his first title in 2013. It was followed by two more titles in 2015 to tie with Carlos Mortensen and Gus Hansen who were the only other three-time WPT title holders at the time.

2018 World Series of Poker Most Memorable Moments: Ivey Returns, Hellmuth Wins 15th Bracelet, Bonomo Dazzles

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When Justin Bonomo, who had a remarkable summer, finished off Fedor Holz in the $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop on Tuesday, it signified the end of the 2018 World Series of Poker, which means it’s time to relive the best moments from what was an incredible month for poker.

It was a difficult task to choose the top moments as there were so many epic highlights this summer. John Hennigan’s series was so impressive that it got him inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. “Magic” John Cynn won a 10-hour heads-up battle for the ages against Tony Miles to become world champion. And poker fans got to watch more Main Event coverage than ever before.

Those were all worthy highlights but, given how intriguing this year’s WSOP was, not quite exciting enough to make our “best of” list.

‘No Home Jerome’ Returns to WSOP

Phil Ivey, arguably the greatest poker player ever, had taken a lengthy break from tournament poker. That came to an end this summer when he grinded a full WSOP schedule to the delight of his many fans.

The man who once used a fake ID with the name “Jerome” to play poker in Atlantic City prior to turning 21, had arguably his worst WSOP ever with just four small cashes, but simply seeing Ivey in action was a treat to the poker community.

Poker Brat Extends Bracelet Record

Love him or hate him, poker fans can’t get enough of Phil Hellmuth. The Poker Brat, who already held the all-time record for WSOP titles, won his 15th bracelet in the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em event that took place during the Main Event.

Hellmuth won $485,082 for the victory, which salvaged an otherwise ho-hum summer for one of poker’s best tournament players ever.

Bonomo Does the Unthinkable

If neither a Super High Roller Bowl title for $5 million or a victory in the $10,000 Heads-Up Championship for $185,965 was your best moment of the summer, you know you’re on quite a heater.

Justin Bonomo’s top highlight came on the very last day of the 2018 WSOP when he beat Fedor Holz heads-up to win the Big One for One Drop, his second bracelet of the series, for $10 million, enough to overtake Daniel Negreanu as the all-time winningest tournament player with just under $43 million in career earnings.

Deeb ‘Running’ Well

Shaun Deeb had the best summer of his poker career, winning two bracelets and leaving Las Vegas as the Player of the Year leader with 10 bracelet events at WSOP Europe in the fall still to come. But the highlight of his 2018 WSOP wasn’t how well he was running metaphorically.

On June 7, the notorious slowroller was deep in two tournaments at the same time – Event #13, Big Blind Ante $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em and Event #14, $1,500 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball – which meant he had to literally run back and forth in between hands to prevent getting blinded out in either event. He didn’t end up winning either bracelet but finished 3rd (Event #14) and 16th (Event #13) on the same day. And he burned some calories.

Players Shine on Poker’s Biggest Stage

The 2018 WSOP Main Event had the second most participants in its 49-year history (7,874), a clear sign that poker is anything but a dying breed. But what made it such a special event this year was the performance of the nine competitors, including 2009 world champion Joe Cada, at the final table on national television.

Players at the final table, in most hands, acted quickly, a pleasant surprise for ESPN viewers who were frustrated with the constant tanking in recent years, and the crowd at the Rio was lively and interacted with their friends at the table.

Another highlight during poker’s most prestigious event was an insane hand that brought the tournament to its final table.

With 10 players remaining on Day 7, Nic Manion got it all-in pre-flop with pocket aces against the pocket kings of both Yueqi Zhu and Antoine Labat. He had Zhu covered and won the hand, leaving Labat with a small stack at the final table and Zhu out in 10thplace.

It was a memorable and successful summer for the poker industry. If the 2019 World Series of Poker can top this year’s series, we’re all in for a treat.

Poker Strategy: Simplistic Ways To Play Poker

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Have you ever wanted to get into Poker but being put off by the complex nature of it? If you have, you’re not alone. Whilst the card game is always featured on TV and in film, it can be quite off-putting for the casual gamer.

Yet it needn’t be. Poker isn’t all about stern poker-faces and card-counting, it’s also about fun and it can be an incredibly engaging game, even for those with little to no knowledge of it. Here we take a look at some of the most simplistic ways to get into the card game and analyse just how hard it is to become competent at poker.

Striving for excellence

If you want to become adept and poker and start making money from it, then, like anything else, you’ll have to put in the hours to reach a high-level. There are over 2.5 million different hands that you can have in a 52-card game of poker.

So, safe to say, you’ll never know every possible outcome in your hand. Yet even if you did, you wouldn’t be guaranteed to be a poker success. The game isn’t just about getting the right combination of cards, it’s about reading other players too.

You’ll have to learn when to stick, when to go all-in, when someone is bluffing or when to go defensive. It’s a complicated business. If you play a minimum of 10 hours a week for 12 months then you COULD reach the stage where you become a competent player.

Having fun

 

The best way that you can get into poker is by playing with friends. You don’t have to go to a casino, you don’t have to pay big bucks and you don’t have to have a high-level of skill – unless your mates are professional poker players.

Set your stakes low, agree to play after the football or later on in the evening and set a friendly atmosphere.

In the process you can have fun, bond with your friends and start to understand the game a bit better. Not only will you start to know the best hands and how they can be used, but you’ll start to read body language which is arguably the most important part of poker.

Researching

Be it FIFA, stocks or poker, there’s always one way to ensure you have the best chance possible, that’s researching. If you’re playing FIFA Ultimate Team, you’re going to research the best value players that fit your style right?

If you’re investing £1 or £10,000 in the stock market, you’re going to do at least basic research as well. It’s the same for poker. You can make sure you’re fully prepared for a game of poker by putting in the hours researching the game.

There are plenty of websites that you can use to learn about poker hands, mathematical chances and strategies before you take the first plunge into playing. As the saying goes, Failing to prepare is preparing to fail!

Practice

Okay, so none of your friends are in to poker and you can’t particularly be bothered doing all the research that you need to. You just want to play right? Well, before you put on your suit and book a taxi to your nearest casino, look online.

You can recreate the exact same vibe of a casino from the comfort of your living room sofa nowadays. Online you can play simplistic games like TXS Holdem Pro, tailoring the game to your budget without feeling embarrassed stood next to the high-rollers. This enables you to build up your confidence before making any brave moves. Just make sure you bet within your capabilities, if you’re a novice, make sure your stake is commensurate to this.

Mobile gaming

 

Like the above, you can play real-time games on web-based gambling sites from your phone, but you can also play for free with no risk of losing money. On both Android and iPhone there are a number of poker apps that let you practice against an AI with virtual currency.

After playing with friends, the next step is often playing poker against the computer on your phone. That method ensures there is absolutely zero risk (unless you want there to be) and maybe even more importantly, zero shame.

Nothing can be more embarrassing than going all-in because you think you have a great hand, only to discover that your hand was pretty rubbish. You then have to sit there and watch as your chips are taking away and all the other players’ chuckle to themselves.

If you’re playing on your phone against the AI then there’s no way you’ll be embarrassed, and most importantly, you can learn from your mistakes in a safe environment at a time of your pleasing.

Summary

Poker is an incredibly complex game and it’s not to be taken lightly by new players. Unlike roulette and blackjack, you can’t just go in to a casino and have a flutter with a basic knowledge of the game. If you do that, you’ll quickly find yourself out of pocket and drowning in a sea of shame.

The best way to enjoy poker is when you have an understanding of the game of feel confident in your abilities. In order to do that, you’ll need to do your research first. Read up about poker hands and strategies, watch YouTube videos of professional players and look up bluffing techniques.

Once you’ve done that, practice with your friends, play poker on your phone or tablet and iron out all of your mistakes against the AI. After that, move on up to online poker, playing against other players from a similar level and once you’ve mastered that, head on down to Monte Carlo Casino and win your millions.

Justin Bonomo Wins $1 Million Big One for One Drop ($10,000,000)

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Justin Bonomo became the brand new Big One for ONE DROP champ plain hrs back after outliving an area of 27 of the world’s finest high-stakes poker players. The poker professional hence scooped the $10 million first-place reward which safeguarded him with the leading place in among one of the most respected positions in live tournament poker.

Bonomo, who now boasts a poker bankroll of just under $43 million, has actually uncrowned Daniel Negreanu to become the globe’s most rewarding gamer. The leviathan Big One for ONE DROP payment came as an extension of Bonomo’s effective touch of poker success considering that the start of the year.

Over the past 7 and half months, the poker pro managed to win nearly every significant high roller tournament on the 2018 calendar, including the Aria Super High Roller Bowl and the Super High Roller Bowl China, and a number of other events, consisting of a WSOP – the $10,000 Heads-Up Championship – that he covered a couple of weeks earlier.

This year’s Big One for ONE DROP attracted 27 entries. The Big One for ONE DROP event was played over three days and the final one took place yesterday at the host casino, starting with 6 challengers for the title.

Bonomo led the final six players with a huge chip lead. He was followed by German poker pro-Fedor Holz. Both players ultimately faced each other heads-up, but they had a lot of work to do before reaching that final stage of the competition.

The money bubble was impending at the start of Day 3 as the prize pool of $24.84 million was only split into five payouts. Investor David Einhorn became the unfavorable bubble boy not long after cards were thrown in the air yesterday. He was eliminated by Bonomo. The latter said in his post-victory interview that he felt a bit guilty that he busted Einhorn as he had promised to donate his whole payout from the tournament to the One Drop Foundation which supplies clean water to the world’s most vulnerable communities. Bonomo himself said that part of his prize would go for charity.

Three-Handed Play and Heads-Up

Bonomo had his ups as well as downs throughout the day, regardless of his first substantial benefit. Complying with the removal of Byron Kaverman in Fifth area ($2 million) and also Rick Salomon in Fourth area ($2.84 million), three-handed have fun with Bonomo, Holz, as well as their fellow money player Dan Smith still in the run for the title began.

Holz held a large chip lead over his continuing to be challengers or even thought control over two-thirds of all contributes ordinary at some time. Bonomo, on the other hand, went down to the brief pile with about 20 huge blinds left.

Nevertheless, the ultimate champ handled to recoup and also acquire energy. He got rid of Smith in Third area ($4 million) to establish the heads-up suit in between him and also Holz. Two-handed play started with the German casino poker pro holding 84.3 million in chips to Bonomo’s 50.7 million.

Holz expanded the space early right into the battle, but Bonomo managed to recover. The player started developing his stack to eventually surpass Holz. A key hand helped Bonomo emerge as the chip leader and to bust his final opponent not long after. That key hand saw the eventual champ pick off Holz’s bluff and collect a massive pot. Bonomo’s stack was worth 110.4 million after that hand, while Holz was down to just 24.6 million. The young German never recovered from that point on.

Hand #156 of the final table was the last one dealt within the tournament. It saw Bonomo limp in on the button and Holz shove for 23.6 million. Bonomo snap-called with [As][Jd] to Holz’s [Ac][4s]. The board ran out [Kd][8s][3s][2c][Qd] to send Holz to the rail. The German poker star earned $6 million for his incredible run in the tournament.

Official Final Table Results:

Place Player Country Prize (USD)
1st Justin Bonomo United States $10,000,000
2nd Fedor Holz Germany $6,000,000
3rd Dan Smith United States $4,000,000
4th Rick Salomon United States $2,840,000
5th Byron Kaverman United States $2,000,000

One of the most Wrong Hellmuth Outburst ?! 2018 WSOP.

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It’s the 2018 World Series of Poker Main Event, and one of the the most significant hands yet had not been an unwell laydown, ruthless colder, or enormous pot. It’s just Phil Hellmuth doing Poker Brat things. This time around, nonetheless, it’s greater than just thawing down and also making a spectacle of himself. Currently there are innocent spectators obtaining captured in the crossfire, as well as being set you back equity, influencing their pocketbooks. Allow’s speak about why this actions is not fine, and also exactly how we must evaluate these kind of activities.

Doug Polk gives his opinion on this behaviour and how the hand played out.

Daniel Negreanu: Possible For Someone To Reach $100M In Career Poker Earnings

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On Sunday, the World Series of Poker kicked off its prestigious $1 million buy-in tournament, dubbed “One Drop” after the charity it benefits. Registration to the event closed early Monday afternoon with 27 entries creating a roughly $25 million prize pool.

A whopping $10 million was set to go to the winner at the final table on Tuesday. The top five will all earn at least $2 million, according to the WSOP. While the prize pool is massive, the turnout was actually down compared to 2014 (42 entries) and 2012 (48 entries).

Among the competitors on Monday was Poker Hall of Famer Daniel Negreanu, who finished second in the event in 2014 for $8.2 million. Negreanu sits with just under $40 million in lifetime tournament earnings, which is good for the no. 1 spot all-time. Erik Seidel, who also entered the $1 million buy-in on Sunday, is no. 2 with about $35 million in lifetime live tournament winnings.

Both Negreanu and Seidel were sitting with healthy stacks early on Day 2.

Despite having many bracelets and other major tournament titles on his poker resume, Negreanu is pretty amazed that he’s at a place in his poker career where passing the $40-million mark is within reach. He could get to nearly $50 million with a win this week in One Drop.

“When I first started playing tournaments we were playing $100, $300 [buy-ins],” Negreanu told Card Player during a break in play. “There was like one $10,000 [buy-in]. There weren’t any tournaments bigger than that. Forty million is insane to think about.”

Negreanu first started playing on poker’s biggest stage in the 1990s.

The proliferation of the “super high rollers,” at the WSOP and beyond, has made such massive sums possible. Negreanu thinks it’s possible that someone hits $100 million in earnings one day, especially if the super high roller scene continues to grow.

“Depending on how crazy the high roller circuit gets, if you have $1 million buy-ins now, what if there’s a $10 million buy-in? A guy could get to $100 million in one tournament,” he said.

At the 2012 One Drop tournament, the first time the event ran, Cirque Du Soleil’s Guy Laliberté joked about making it a $10 million buy-in in the future.

Stay tuned to CardPlayer.com for a recap of this year’s $1 million buy-in.

George Antonakos Wins 2018 CPPT Bicycle Hotel & Casino Main Event

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George Antonakos has won the 2018 Card Player Poker Tou Bicycle Hotel & Casino main event, outlasting a massive field of 2,180 total entries to earn $75,365 after striking a deal when the final seven were reached. This was the 42-year-old amateur from Marina Del Rey’s second largest score, behind his second-place finish in an event at the Borgata in 2010 for $110,434. He was in for one $245 buy-in in this event.

“It’s a great ROI man! It’s fantastic,” said Antonakos. “If somebody told me three days ago I’d be chopping it for $75,000 Antonakos I’d be ecstatic. It’s unbelievable.”

This event featured a $500,000 guarantee that was blown away when 2,027 entries were made during the 12 starting flights and another 153 direct buy-in entries of $1,800 were made on day 2. The huge turnout blew away the guarantee to build a final prize pool of $675,023.

The final day of the event began with 34 players remaining and Warwick Mirzikinian in the lead. He ultimately succumbed in 19th place, earning $4,545. Late on the final day Antonakos took control. He won gigantic pots to leave Amir Ghazvinian on fumes and eliminate Thi Truong. In the later hand he made the nut flush against Truonh’s top two pair to send her to the rail and take the chip lead.

Alex Rapoport eliminated 2015 Card Player Poker Tour Hollywood Park main event champion Adam Volen in eighth place, calling the former CPPT champs all-in with pocket queens. Volen’s pocket eights couldn’t come from behind and he was sent to the rail with $12,615.

After playing seven handed for a while, the remaining players decided to consider making a deal. Eventually, final terms were agreed upon, with clear chip leader George Antonakos securing the largest payout and the title.

Here is a look at the payouts from the final table:

Place Player Earnings (USD)
1 George Antonakos $75,365
2 Alex Beleson $48,031
3 Alex Rapoport $45,688
4 Kyle Cameron $45,797
5 Dany Georges $43,797
6 Cody Bell $43,925
7 Tom Trang $34,838
8 Adam Volen $12,615
9 Steve Henning $9,605
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