WSOP What to Watch For: Tuesday, June 1st

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The $50K Players Championship final table is today, with siblings squaring off and one player trying for his fifth bracelet. Catch up on the storylines of the day at the World Series of Poker.

Brothers at a final table
The $50K Players Championship is not full of big-name pros, but it does have one compelling storyline for the final table — brother against brother.

After four days of play, Robert Mizrachi is the chip leader with with 3.125 million in chips. His brother, Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, is fifth with 2.175 million. Michael was the chip leader after day three.

The WSOP website tells us two brothers have made a final table only once before, when the Boatman brothers did it in 2002. But there’s a little more on the line in this sibling rivalry, including the top prize of $1.5 million.

Michael is the more famous of the two, with $7 million in live cashes and a pair of World Poker Tour titles. But Robert, who has $3 million in live cashes, has something his brother doesn’t — a WSOP bracelet.

Adding to the storyline is the story that came out last month, in which Michael apparently owes/owed the IRS back taxes, and that his home was being foreclosed on.

Surely ESPN, which will eventually be televising the final table, will be rooting for a heads-up match between the brothers.

The event continues at 3 p.m. today, if you want to track it live. While the tournament was a mixed-game event until the final table, play changes to no-limit hold’em — part of making the final table TV-friendly.

Elite company
John Juanda is also at the $50K final table, and he might be one of the best players in the world who manages sometimes to fly under the radar.

Juanda, who has four official bracelets (three at the Vegas WSOP, and a win in the 2008 WSOP Europe Main Event), is close to reaching some elite company, in terms of bracelets.

A victory here would give him five, matching the likes of Chris Ferguson, Allen Cunningham, Scotty Nguyen, Ted Forrest and Stu Ungar. Only 11 players in WSOP history have won more than five bracelets.

If he finishes in the top half of the field, he will likely move over $10 million in live tournament earnings. He hasn’t had a major tourney victory since that 2008 score for $1.7 million.

Six events at one time
It doesn’t get much busier than this at the WSOP. Four events already started, and two more starting today.

Event No. 3, a $1K no-limit hold’em event, will play down to a final table, while Event No. 4, Omaha hi-lo, will play to a winner. Event No. 5, a $1.5 K no-limit hold’em event, is into day No. 2.

Starting today? Event No. 6: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout, which has a cap of 2,000 players. Based on attendance so far, it’s hard to believe they’d come close to hitting that. There’s also Event No. 7, $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball (Limit). Based on the game and the buy-in, a small field for this is also expected, although expect a lot of big names to enter this in an attempt to get a bracelet.

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