Michael Mizrachi Ends Day 2 Leader at WPT Championship
Play ended amid Level 9, at which point 135 players had registered. With registration open through Level 12, the total field and prize pool will likely grow a little more on Monday.
After two days of play in the $25,000 World Poker Tour Championship at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, a familiar name sits atop the chip counts as Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi ended play on Sunday as leader with 428,200 chips. Mizrachi leads a group of 94 players out of the 135 who have registered for the event thus far, with Rinat Bogdanov, Guillaume Darcourt, David Steicke, and Isaac Haxton rounding out the top five heading into Monday's Day 3.
Mizrachi had ended Day 1 with a top ten stack and continued to thrive on Sunday, passing end-of-Day-1 chip leader Steve O'Dwyer and into the top spot by night's end. Play ended amid Level 9, and with players still able to register through Level 12, the total field and prize pool will likely grow a little more on Monday before registration closes.
Erik Seidel and Phil Laak were among the small group of players who failed to make it through Saturday's Day 1. Meanwhile Sunday saw several notables hitting the rail before day's end, including James Dempsey, David Benyamine, Vanessa Selbst, Tony Dunst, and Daniel Negreanu.
Negreanu's elimination came late in the day on Sunday in a hand in which Kid Poker raised, Guillaume Darcourt reraised, Lance Steinberg called, then Negreanu shoved all in for his last 33,400 total. Both of Negreanu's opponents called his shove, and when the flop came Qh-Jc-2s, Steinberg pushed all in himself and Darcourt called.
Steinberg had flopped top set with Qc-Qd, Darcourt middle set with Jd-Js, and Negreanu was hoping for a ten with his As-Kh. The turn and river brought blanks, however, enabling Steinberg to drag a huge pot as Negreanu hit the rail.
That hand helped Steinberg finish the day with a healthy stack of 245,300 (17th place). Meanwhile, Darcourt recovered well enough to end with 356,600, good for that top five spot to start Monday.
Here's how the top of the leaderboard will look when play resumes at the Bellagio:
1. Michael Mizrachi -- 428,200
2. Rinat Bogdanov -- 381,000
3. Guillaume Darcourt -- 356,600
4. David Steicke -- 345,500
5. Isaac Haxton -- 313,500
6. Tony Ruberto -- 309,100
7. Steve O'Dwyer -- 301,900
8. Ubaid Habib -- 288,100
9. John Esposito -- 284,200
10. Matthew Juttelstad -- 274,000
Prices quoted in copy are correct at time of publication but liable to change.
