| Today's final table featured some of the best players in the game today. Player of the year leader Michael 'The Grinder, I am a machine' Mizrachi came to today's final table 3rd in chips. Chip leader was Kevin Hong with over 90K.
The first elimination came on hand number 8, when Pete Lawson took his pocket queens (Qc Qd) up against The Grinders Ad Jh. Pete 'PACMAN' raised from the button to 10K, Grinder then re-raised the PACMAN another 12K. The PACMAN ate a power pill and moved all in for another 40,500. Grinder then went into the tank. He knew his ace jack was in trouble but loved the fact that he was getting the odds he was getting. After a brief while and some kind of speech about this not being a $10K event, he called. The flop gave The Grinder hope when it came Js Tc 5s, and the PACMAN was hoping that his power pill would last him to the river. The turn card brought the 6c and all Pete had to do was dodge an ace or a jack and he would become the new chip leader. Unfortunately for him though his pill wore off on the river as the Ah hit ending his event rather abruptly.
Pete 'PACMAN' Lawson finishes in 6th place and collects $4,016.
Grinder's next victim of the day was to be the short stack Jason Eakes. After moving in over the top of Grinder pre flop with Ad 8c, he was unlucky to find that Grinder actually held a real hand for a change, Ac Kd. No help on the board for Jason and Grinder had his second scalp for the day.
Jason Eakes finishes in 5th place and takes home $4,685 for his troubles.
Riding the short stack all day was Wes White. Wes certainly looked like a million dollars for the HD broadcast, and he waited for a real hand before he sent all the troops in. On hand 23 Wes found Ks Kd under the gun and with the blinds at 1500/3000, his raise of only another 8K was enough to lure in 3 callers. Grinder was holding 8s 8d, Frank Reach held Kh 9h and Kevin Hong held Ts 8h. With the three players in, Wes's kings were not looking so great. After all players checked the flop of Qs 6h Js Wes was looking good. If only the 9c didn't hit the turn like it did, he would have quadrupled up. After the Qd hit the river, his fate was sealed. Kevin Hong busts out the best dressed player at today's final table.
Wes White takes 4th place honors and $5,354 to boot.
With The Grinder and Kevin Hong holding almost all of the chips, it was not long before Frank tried to reach out and get a little action on his short stack. On the 48th hand of the day The Grinder raised to 6K (min. raise) with the quality starting hand of 7c Qc. Frank moved in for an additional 15K with As 6s and after Kevin folded Grinder considered a call to try and collect another scalp. After another minute of deliberation he decided that he would see what his 7c Qc was capable of and called. When the flop came Kh 8d 9c, Frank was looking good. The 6h on the turn gave the Grinder even more outs, and sure enough on the river the Tc hit to complete his straight and end Frank's hopes of making the semi-finals.
Frank Reach finishes in 3rd place and collects $7,362.
Now heads up Kevin and Grinder had some massive pots. Each player played great heads up poker but on hand 74 The Grinder sent in the biggest bluff attempt of the day. With just Queen high, The Grinder raised Kevin $40K in the hopes of moving him of his second pair. After what seemed like an eternity Kevin called and had taken a large chunk of change from the Grinder. The play actually worked out very well for Michael as only two hands later, the Grinder made the nut straight on the river while Kevin made a pair of aces. Similar betting occurred on the hand and Grinder got back all of his bluff chips plus a little interest.
On the last hand of the day the Grinder limped in from the small blind with 6c 3d. After Kevin checked from the big blind with 7h 4d, we went to the flop. The flop came 4c 8s 2c. Kevin checked his pair and Michael bet out 6K with his straight draw. Kevin called and we went to the turn. When Grinder hit his miracle 5h on the turn, it was all up to Kevin to see if he could hold on without dumping any more chips to the MACHINE. On the turn Kevin decided that he was going to find out where he was and checked raised the Grinder to 45K. He found out alright when Michael moved the rest of the cookies into the middle. Kevin thought about it for a minute and then decided to try and get lucky and called. With the river bringing the 9h, we had our second to last semi-finalist.
Kevin Hong takes 2nd place and $14,055.
Michael 'The Grinder' Mizrachi wins today's event and collects $23,426 and a seat in the semi finals.
This report was brought to you by TV Poker and Rob Huxley.
May the flop be with you. . . Always | 
