Grinding it Out Agasint Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi
Limit Holdem is my best game. It is a game that is more science that art. I also prefer it somewhat over No Limit Holdem. Limit Holdem affords you to make a mistake and NOT be a railbird. I hate having many hours of careful play go down the drain as the result of a bad read or a bad beat. Accordingly, I decided to enter a Limit Holdem tournament at Foxwoods.
Tournament: World Poker Finals, Limit Holdem - Foxwoods
Buy-in: $1200
Entrants: 135
People Left: 38
Level: 9 (800/1600 - 400/800 blinds)
Level Time: 50 minutes per level
Paid Places: 20
Early in Level 2, I was “fortunate” enough to have Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi moved to my table. At this point in time, Michael was in the lead for WPT Poker Player of the Year. I watched and observed him from the instant he joined the table. To say he was aggressive is an understatement. He was hyper-aggressive and had no problem capping the betting with 85s. He also had been getting VERY lucky on the river. There were at least 5 times where he hit his miracle card to take the pot away. Twice he was all-in and caught his card on the river to stay alive.
I had tangled with Mizrachi on several occasions. I won most encounters by fighting his hyper-aggression with stellar-warp-speed-atomic-hyper-aggression. We were playing on the same table for about six hours now, so we had a read on each other.
I had been card cold for awhile. At one point, I had about T15,000 in chips, but lost some here and there over the course of time. Each player started with T3000 chips each, so the average stack was around T12,000. During Level 9, the following hand came up:
My Chip Count: T6200
Mizrachi’s Chip Count: T8500
Hand:
I am in the big blind. Everybody folds to Michael who is in the cutoff. I am 100% sure he will raise in this situation with absolutely any two cards. He does not disappoint, and pumps it up to T1600. The button folds, and so does the small blind.
I am in the Big Blind with:
This is not a premium hand by any means. But I knew that Michael would raise with any two cards in this spot. I am starting to get short-stacked, so I need to make a decision. I do not like a call in this spot. I either need to raise to figure out where I am, or fold. Given how Michael has played in the past, I decide that this hand is good enough to play. Afterall, it is better than the average hand. So, I re-raise Michael to T2400. He does not hesitate and makes it three bets.
What does this mean? Well, nothing really. I saw him four-bet with suited connectors in multi-way pots in the past, but we are heads-up. I doubt he would push a drawing hand like that. I conclude that he probably has two big cards or a pocket pair. The problem is that if I call, I have now put about 1/3 of my chips in the pot with a very marginal hand. I decide to go with it, and I make the call.
Flop:
Good news and bad news. The good news is I hit the top pair. The bad news is I have a terrible kicker. I am out of position and must decide what to do. If I try for a check-raise, I could be giving a free card to a hand like
This hand would certainly raise preflop from the cutoff. Here I am - out of position and in another quandry. If I bet and Michael has a pocket pair, then he might fold. We are both at the point where if we decide to play the hand, we are both pot-committed and we are going to the river. All in all, I decide that since I have top pair, I will bet out. It gives me the chance to win the pot by having Michael fold. So, I make the bet and Michael raises. I decide that I am pot-committed and I reraise. He caps it and puts me all-in.
Michael shows:
The turn and river are meaningless and he takes me out in 38th place - not too far from the money.
Could this hand have been played differently? It is a tough fold knowing that Mizrachi will raise with any two cards from the cutoff. Also playing into the decision is that I am only 18 places away from the money. Should I have tightened up and dumped the hand preflop? You can make a case for either folding or reraising preflop, but calling is simply out of the question. Once I decided to play it and I hit the top pair - I had to go with it. It just so happened that my opponent had a better hand this time.