Mike Mizrachi number 1 on Cardplayers POTY

[jimymat]

This kid is unreal. Final table winnings for 05 already at $2,148,150. Last year Greenstein finished 6th on the list with $2,097,717. That was for the whole year. Mike's already past that in two months. This will definately be the man there chasing this year.
I wonder what kind of stuff he's been buying lately. I always wonder if he's putting it on a huge house or if he's rolling around Hollywood in some wicked ass sports car that's not even available in the U.S. yet. Id kill to pick this guy's brain for an hour. On top of all this he stay's humble. I played a final table with him last year and he is the true definition of gentleman. People could learn a lot by watching his mannerism's instead of Crew like antic's. That's it.

[SossMan]

just to play point-counterpoint, he does wear a hat that says "The Grinder: I'm a machine"

I'm sure he's a sweetheart.

[sammysusar]

is an impressive run. however with all the new big buy in tourneys (wsop circuit, ppt, world seies fields are going to be alot bigger this year) he probably will need to win another 3 mil to stay on top by end of yr.

[swarm]

You can't really compare this year poker earnings with last year as the average tournament payout keeps spiking upwards.

To take the top 5 too seriously at this point is silly as if you won one tournament you are in the top 5. I think "The Grinder" could make some noise though, don't get me wrong.

I would think since he has a wife and kid he has horded most of that money away. He can use his HU online winnings to pay for frivolous things.

We'll see if Mike is for real if he makes some solid showings in the next 6 months.

[Ulysses]

I think The Grinder is a great player. However, comparing his earnings to anyone from last year is pointless.

His $2.1M is from winning one tournament for $1.8M and placing fifth in another for $300k. There are many more 10k events this year and the popular ones will have much bigger fields than last year. The top POTY numbers this year will thus be much bigger than last year.

So, while I'd definitely love to have a poker score like that, his $2.1M doesn't particularly impress me. What does impress me is his finishes in these big live tournaments combined with his strong play in online cash games combined with his strong finishes in online tournaments. Something tells me he probably does just fine in live cash games as well.

[Ulysses]

[ QUOTE ]

We'll see if Mike is for real if he makes some solid showings in the next 6 months.

[/ QUOTE ]

Regardless of what Mike does on the tourney circuit, I think his consistent online play (both high limit cash games and big tourneys) over an extended period of time has already shown him to be "for real."

[jimymat]

Your right. I was just saying that he has made more in 2 months than the sixth place guy took to make all year. The prize pools will definately be a lot larger than last year so the overall Final Table Winnings will be higher.

Do you know if he hit's most of the big tourney's through out the year. Was he at the WSOP 10K?

[Chief911]

Funny story about Mike.

First time I ever saw him was in December at the 2k Bellagio 5 Diamond lead in event. I busted out 34th in the event, so stuck around to watch (And came back the next day to watch final table). I took one look at him and assumed "PUNK" just because of the way he was dressed at the time, his hat cocked off to the side, etc. But as I watched him play, seemed like a very nice guy. And obviously a VERY good poker player.

While it would be near impossible to continue his stretch that he is in right now both live and online, he's more than established that he is a force to be reckoned with. He's be a very fun person to sit down and talk poker with for an hour.

nick

[ClaytonN]

Back when PS only had the 30/60 games, apparantly Mizrachi and Dustin Woolf were hardcore fishes in the game, according to a 1/2 regular.

Looks like they've both turned it around in a huge way.