Is Michael Mizrachi the best all-around player?

"The Grinder" achieved something at the WSOP no one else has ever done.

"Grind-er! Grind-er! Grind-er!"

As even its name suggests, the $50,000 Poker Players Championship requires a complete poker player, being a specialist in a certain format won’t help you much. That’s exactly why this event is the most prestigious amongst the professionals. Winning it once shows a player’s ability to maneuver in most games. Winning it twice puts a player to a level, where all of their peers respect their game. Winning it three times has been unprecedented up until yesterday.

"It’s quite an accomplishment," Mizrachi admitted. "To win the first one was amazing. The second one was great. The third one is unheard of."

As a seasoned pro, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi is familiar with all sorts of games, he successfully took down the event in 2010, then took it down again in 2012, finished 4th in 2016 and now he claimed the victory again.

This time the tournament attracted a total of 87 players of the elite. Household names like Shaun Deeb (10th; $111,447), Phil Ivey (9th; $111,447) and Brian Rast (8th; $144,049) all came close to the win, but it was another all-around player, John Hennigan who was facing Mizrachi in the heads-up. Hennigan himself is a former champion of the event, his win dates back to 2014.

Michael came into the final table with a chip lead, over Hennigan, Dan Smith, Benny Glaser, Aaron Katz and Mike Leah. His flawless game was given, but as he admitted the cards went the right way as well: "I never had big swings this whole tournament," Mizrachi said. "All the cards went my way. I hit a bunch of hands. Everything went my way. I just won every pot."

The star-studded final table

Even though, Dan Smith was able to take the lead in the three-handed period, but "The Grinder" had other plans in mind than giving away the tournament, and reclaimed the lead, thanks to some sizeable pots going his way. Smith finally busted at 3rd place, good for $521,782 and the two PPC champion went on a short break, before the duel.

The match didn’t take too long, however. Michael won two big hands before finishing off "Johnny World" in a No-Limit Hold’em hand. Hennigen pushed his remaining chips into the middle with an open ender and Mizrachi called with a pair and a flush draw. He hit his flush on the turn to end things and write his name in the poker history.

Final results