World Series of Poker Circuit Tunica – Final Table Report
January 20, 2007 - Deanna Goodson
The World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) takes the show on the road, so to speak. It’s the WSOP brand’s equivalent to the World Poker Tour (WPT). The Grande Casino in Tunica, Mississippi is one of the hot spots on the circuit each year. This year was no exception. 377 players made the trip to the Main Event in Mississippi this January. That’s a record for the WSOPC in case you were wondering.
Justin Bonomo, John Phan, Barry Greenstein, Men Nguyen and Vanessa Rousso were among the big names who showed up to play. However, none of these people made it to the final table. As a woman myself, I’m happy to note that Vanessa beat out all of these big-name pros and was the last lady standing in the event. She finished in a respectable 17th place, earning over $14,000 for her effort.
However, there was one big shark still in the water as the final table began. Guess who it was? I won’t torture you. It was none other than Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi. He’s probably the hottest commodity in the professional poker world these days. The Grinder was sitting in good position as the action unfolded. He was in seat two and had 669,000 chips, which was a bit behind the chip leader, Dennis Perry, but ahead of the rest of the pack.
Before the first level of the day was over, Elvin Simpson went all-in against Michael Mizrachi. Elvin held pocket nines. The Miz sucked out on the river with a four of diamonds to complete a gut-shot straight draw and sent Elvin, a 26 year old poker pro who we’re bound to hear more from, away with ninth place and $36,349.
Before the first hour of play was up, Andi (Huang) Chang went all-in for 233k. He was also called by Mizrachi. Andi’s pocket sixes had the early lead against Mizrachi’s A,Q. However, the turn was unkind to the 22 year old man they call “The Eliminator”. He proved no match for The Grinder – and that pesky ace on the turn.
At almost 3pm Tunica time, Matt Dean, who you may remember from his final table appearance at the 2004 WSOP Main Event (or not), moved all-in with a 9,10o. He ran into the brick wall that was Lance Allred’s pocket ladies. The board brought Matt no help. I guess another one bit the dust courtesy of queen. (Hehe!)
Things were a bit slow for a while after this. The Grinder got knocked around a bit. First, he lost a bundle while holding hooks against Peter Martin’s pocket queens. Then, he faced a raise and a re-raise from the chip leader, Dennis Perry. He wisely folded before losing his shirt. Unfortunately, not long afterwards, he would hit the rails while holding Big Slick against Lance Allred’s pocket rockets.
Sometimes, even The Grinder can’t get out of a tough spot. At least, he earned some bank - $90,873 to be exact.
Peter Martin was the next casualty. He and Lance Allred got into a battle of the blinds. Peter, whose day job is in marketing, cashed in three events in Tunica, so he couldn’t have been too disappointed, right?
Larry Vance, who was pretty quiet, or so it seemed, throughout most of the final table, took the rail at almost 5:30 pm. His pair of jacks was not enough to beat the straight of Dennis Perry. Larry, a retiree who lives in Torrance, CA, earned $127,222 for his efforts.
Lance Allred, the reigning California Poker Champion, went all-in against the only other man at the table who had him covered, chip leader, Dennis Perry. The cards did not fall in his favor, and he went home in third place. At this point, an almost two-hour dinner break was announced. When play resumed, Dennis Perry had a clear chip advantage with over 3 million in chips to Gioi Luong’s 640k.
On the first hand back, Gioi doubled up when his pocket threes turned into a full house, threes over kings. Proving that poker is indeed a fickle mistress, only five minutes later, Gioi was out of the tournament. He went all-in with pocket sixes and Dennis found himself holding the cowboys in the hole. Dennis “The Ironman” Perry proved he was made of some seriously tough stuff to defeat this final table. He earned $563,402, a seat to the 2007 WSOP Main Event and a diamond WSOPC championship ring.
Here are the final table results:
1) Dennis Perry - $563,402
2) Gioi Luong - $290,792
3) Lance Allred - $145,396
4) Larry Vance - $127,222
5) Peter Martin - $109,047
6) Michael Mizrachi - $90,873
7) Matt Dean - $72,698
8) Andi Chang - $54,529
9) Elvin Simpson - $36,349
Do you think you have what it takes to play against Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi? He hangs out online at AbsolutePoker.com. If you play at Absolute Poker today, you might win yourself an Absolute Dream Package. Check out AP.com for more details.
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