It’s the early goings of Day 1B of the WSOP Main Event, and with over 1,000 entries and counting, it’s already a reporter’s dream to cruise through the field, taking in the aura of the most prestigious poker tournament in the world.
Depending on where you look, you just might find some fun little nuggets of action, like smack in the middle of the Paris Black section, where defending champion Michael ‘The Grinder’ Mizrachi and the legendary Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow are within a couple of tables of each other and already providing some entertainment.
Each is sitting a bit above the starting stack of 60,000, and each has been involved in pots involving some river tomfoolery.
The Grinder goes for it
First, Mizrachi was involved in a three-way raised pot from the big blind that was checked to the river on a board of 
. The 2026 Hall of Famer led into his two opponents with a pot-sized bet of 3,000. His early position opponent, Diego Margalef Vergara, found a call, while the third player in the pot folded.
The Grinder snickered and proclaimed, “good call, eight high,” tabling the 
as his opponent declared that he had ace-ten for a rivered pair of tens. Mizrachi tossed his cards into the muck with that trademark mischievous grin that we’re sure to see a lot of, as more bluffs will be fired by the defending champ, with his share certainly getting through.
The Mouth and... the diaper?!
Meanwhile, across the aisle, it was Matusow facing the river bet, with about 10,000 in the pot on a completed board of 
.
His middle position opponent, David Montgomery Zott, had bet 6,600, which gave The Mouth pause in the hijack. After a minute or so of thought, he called and tabled the ‘ol 
for a winning two pair, but not without concerns of hand selection and/or gimmick infringement from the innovator of the dirty diaper, Nick Rigby.
Both Mikes were sitting on about 75,000 chips as the second break of the day hit, with Mizrachi’s table among those to be headed for the ESPN+ stream starting at 5 pm PT.
