The World Series of Poker Can Still Create Magic Moments

Michael Mizrachi and Shiina Okamato (pictured, above) earned historic bracelet wins at the 2025 World Series of Poker. [Image: PokerGO.com]

A cynic is a disappointed idealist

As regular readers of my articles will probably have gathered, I’m a cynical person. However, I’m not one of those cynics who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. I’m actually one of those cynics whose surface can be scratched to reveal a frustrated, disappointed idealist, someone who, at some point along the road, made the mistake of converting his ideals into expectations.

I take aim at operators who raise prices, lower standards, deteriorate the player experience and make the customer feel less valued. I take aim at the companies who exploit poker and wring every last drop out of its exponents, who seek competitive advantages by running roughshod over regulations and, by doing so, threaten the reputation of the game itself. For that reason, GGPoker and the World Series of Poker (WSOP) have been in my crosshairs for years and, now that the pair are betrothed, I feel even more inclined to find fault.

there are moments though, when even I get caught up in the romance

As the largest custodian of both forms of the game, a lot rides on how that problematic conglomerate behaves. If history is anything by which to go, the players will get squeezed and a huge scandal will take place, one which will besmirch the standing of our great mind sport. There are moments though, when even I get caught up in the romance, when my hard outer shell melts and, just for a moment, I display a silly Micawberish side. This past weekend, the WSOP provided two such moments.

Mizrachi triumphs for a record fourth time in the PPC

On Saturday night, I stayed up late to watch the culmination of the $50,000 buy-in Poker Players Championship (PPC), one of my favorite TV-poker things each year. The final table chip leader was Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, a man whose instinctively aggressive play style would be a nightmare for anyone in pursuit ladders, a natural closer.

And so it proved as Mizrachi ROFL-stomped his way to a historic fourth victory in arguably the most prestigious tournament of them all. Blink and you missed Ben Lamb. The supremely talented Albert Daher also made a speedy exit stage left. Portuguese beast João Viera departed soon after. Andrew Yeh was slowly back-sliding throughout the final table and his demise came at the hands of Mizrachi as he almost surrendered his last few chips, drawing thin in Pot-Limit Omaha.

That left Bryn Kenney and Esther Taylor to take on the behemoth, eyeing his seventh WSOP title and the $1,331,322 first prize. Some Stud missteps from the former put him on the brink of elimination, but a couple of double-ups drew him level with Taylor, whom he eventually outlasted. It was then Taylor’s time to depart. She moved all-in for two and a half big blinds in 2-7 Single Draw, standing pat with a 9-8. Kenney drew one and made the nuts to send “E-Tay” to the rail in third.

Mizrachi had run pure, but he also played great, one of the few players to be spared a derisive swipe from guest commentator Jared Bleznick. In the final hand, his poker chops were on show as some speech-play induced Kenney into breaking the winner in Triple Draw. It could have been the start of the comeback, but instead, Kenney was in the lap of the Poker Gods for his tournament life. He paired up and Mizrachi was the champion.

Okamoto defends

Just when I thought I could return to my bitter misanthropic state of being, Shiina Okamoto was bagging up the chip lead on the penultimate day of the Ladies Event. The defending champion, who defeated Jamie Kerstetter last year, was on the cusp of her own piece of WSOP history. A back-to-back in any tournament is remarkable, but to do it in such big fields having also come second in 2023 is inconceivable.

bossed proceedings from beginning to end

And so I stayed up once again on Sunday night with the legendary Lon McEachern and the silver-tongued Jennifer Shahade for company as they presided over another special occasion in poker. It was also another night of plain sailing for the chip leader who bossed proceedings from beginning to end, her style clearly optimized for the field – a general small ball approach, lots of delayed c-bets, well-timed aggression, good reads, and the relentless attacking of capped ranges.

Stephani Hagberg nicked the lead in the early going, but Okamoto seized it back when she eliminated Sumire Uenomachi in seventh. Juliet Hegedus was downed next, followed by Sonia-Veronika Shashikhina, who lost a monster pot bluffing against Okamoto. Julie Huynh took a cooler to bust in fourth, her pocket Jacks no match for the pocket Aces of Heather Alcorn. All the while, Okamoto was pulling away and it was she who dispatched Hagberg in bronze, her turned flush holding against second and third pair.

Heads-up, Okamoto enjoyed a 12:1 lead over Alcorn, and it wasn’t long before what had felt inevitable all night came to pass. On the final hand, Okamoto limp-trapped pocket Nines and snapped off Alcorn’s shove with Ace-Deuce. With $184,094 and a second bracelet on the line, a clean run-out was promptly delivered to the desk, and a magic moment was once again made.