Michael Mizrachi was one of the biggest names to make Day 8 of the WSOP $10K Main Event. He came into the day with 19 big blinds, which was also 19th place in the counts of the 24 players who came back today.
He was almost the first one out on just the second hand of the day.
A catastrophic and questionable start to the day
While players were still getting settled into their seats, Michael Mizrachi was already ready to risk it all. On just the second hand of the day, The Grinder would make a move that had some players scratching their heads.
Mizrachi picked up 
from UTG +2. With 19 big blinds, he chose to go all in. Action folded to John Wasnock in the cutoff, who put his 16 big blinds into the middle with 
, and the rest of the table folded.
The 
runout did Mizrachi no good, and he lost nearly all of his chips not 10 minutes into the day. The 'armchair quarterbacks' came out in full force.
Regardless of Mizrachi's reasons for the shove, it was done, and he was suddenly at the bottom of the counts with lots of work to do just to survive.
'He's got nine lives' - A slew of doubles to mount the comeback
Ace-king at the right time - 3 big blinds
After the massive loss, Mizrachi picked up a monster on the very next hand. He found 
, and he moved his three big blinds into the middle. Daniel Iachan isolated with 
, and everyone else got out of the way.
On the other side of the kicker dominations, Grinder found a double on a clean board, so he had ever so slight breathing room to work with. He wouldn't be going down without a fight.
Who cares about domination when you're making flushes? - Six big blinds
Mizrachi tried to keep the momentum going by moving all in for six bigs with 
from early position. Action folded all the way to Braxton Dunaway in the big blind, who called with 
.
Mizrachi was in trouble with a dominated ace yet again. He wouldn't make a pair, but four spades on the board gave him the flush for yet another double. He was all of a sudden back in this thing.
A flush in a flip; the magic continues - 12 big blinds
Braxton Dunaway opened to 2 big blinds with 
, only to see Mizrachi rip 12 big blinds with 
. Dunaway called, and Mizrachi was once again all in for his tournament life.
Once more, the dealer put four to a flush on the board, and Mizrachi's gave him the winner to get back above where he started the day for the first time.
Queens in a dream spot - 22 big blinds
Tony Gregg raised to 1.6M in the cutoff with 
, and Braxton Dunaway flatted the button. Mizrachi moved all in with 
for 22 big blinds. Gregg called, and Dunaway got out of the way.
It was another clean board for Mizrachi. This time, he didn't need a flush; he just needed to hold, and he did. The Grinder was back near the top of the counts, and the disaster start was only a distant memory.
Current standing
At the time of writing, during the third level of the day, Mizrachi has 43.9M chips, good for the fifth spot on the leaderboard. With 55 big blinds, he has a great shot at making the final table.
We'll follow his progress from here on out. One early stumble didn't stand in the way of Mizrachi making a run at this thing.
- Michael Mizrachi - 43.9M (55 big blinds)
Follow along with the Main Event action on the PokerOrg WSOP Live Updates feed
