Tag Archives: year

Andy Bloch – Professional Poker Player Review Series

What would you do? If you grabbed an engineering degree from a respected college like MIT and a degree in law from Harvard University, the most probable answer to this question is to get a high profile job as a top boss in some multinational company. But, if you are Andy Bloch, you would certainly become a Professional Poker Player.

Andy Bloch is amongst the most notable players in the poker industry, he has survived in this game of poker for over quite sometime now. The achievement of this poker player includes several tournaments, where he reached the final tables and a victory at the last years WSOP Circuit event. This amazing persona is an enigma in the world of poker, here is an insight into the life of this amazing man. Andy Bloch grew up playing cards with friends and family, it can be easily said that he was inclined to win poker from a very early age. When he was completing his education at MIT he used to play poker with his friends, but it was not until 1992 that he seriously considered taking up poker as a profession.

1992 was the year when he graduated from MIT with two electrical engineering degrees, in the beginning he used to play regularly at the newly opened Foxwood Casino. At first he used to play the $35 weekly tournaments at the FoxWoods, he even restricted his habit of playing poker to a once a month affair. In the year 1993 he was introduced to the MIT Blackjack team which developed some programs and a strategy that gave the player a substantial edge of about six percent over the casino. The MIT Blackjack team trained some students of this engineering college who started beating the casino frequently.

Soon after he got himself enrolled in the esteemed Harvard Law School, he kept on paying for his tuition fees by playing Blackjack he also kept on investing loads of money in the MIT Blackjack team simultaneously. In the year 1997 Andy skipped his LAW School classes to participate in the WSOP and he was a guinea pig in the low-tech hole-card cam trial. He soon passed bar exam (1999) and decided to go back to the poker arena to try his luck.

He scored two second place finishes in 2005; he also won the WSOP Circuit Limit Hold’em Tournament in the year at the Rio in Las Vegas, he won the Ultimate Poker Challenge $10,000 Final event in the same year. This amazing poker player is also nicknamed Rock by his opponents, because of his steely nerves. The great Andy Bloch also donates a substantial amount of his winnings to charities all around the world. In fact he has decided to donate $100,000 of his winnings in the Pro Am Equalizer to charities working in Darfur. Andy Bloch is considered amongst the most charismatic and knowledgeable poker player in the Poker circles, and the man definitely lives up to his name with innumerous wins to his name.

Michael Mizrachi – Professional Poker Player Review Series

Michael Mizrachi is a very renowned name in the world of the game of poker. He happens to be one of the great Professional Poker Players in the United States of America. The live tournament winnings of Michael exceed 5.8 million US dollars in the year of 2007.

Michael Mizrachi was born in Miami in Florida on 5th January in the year of 1981. His father had an Iraqi Jewish origin. It is, perhaps, because of this reason that Mizrachi is very fluently conversant in Hebrew. In the early phase of his life, Michael cherished the ambition of becoming a doctor when he would grow up. Most ironically, he dropped out from his college putting an end to his studies in order that he could become a full-time Professional Poker Player.

Michael Mizrachi reached the first milestone as a poker professional in January in the year of 2005 as he finished up ranking 5th in the World Poker Open of the World Poker Tour. It was in the very next month that he bagged the first prize on the World Poker Tour, winning an amount of 1,859,909 US dollars. What is more important is that he defeated Poker Professionals like Erick Lindgren and Ted Forrest in the final table. The overview of his performance as a poker professional in the year of 2005 reveals that he secured the 11th place competing with 452 entrants. There are many more achievements of Michael Mizrachi in this very year. He set a record by having to his credit 7 money finishes in the World Series of Poker in this year.

Michael Mizrachi finished up securing the second place in the Gold Strike World Poker Open of the World Poker Tour. He was defeated by Scotty Nguen. He won 1,173,373 US dollars in the very next event, defeating Erick Lindgren and John D’Agostino on the final table. During season 2 of the High Stakes Poker, he was one of the Poker Professionals playing at the table. Michael came to be awarded with the CardPLayer Magazine’s Player of the Year Award in the year of 2006. He has to his credit 8 money finishes in the World Series of Poker and 8 money finishes in the World Poker Tour. Michael Mizrachi has one older brother, a twin brother and a younger brother. Robert Mizrachi, the older brother and Eric Mizrachi, the twin brother are Professional Poker Players while Daniel, the younger brother is a magician by profession.

Michael Mizrachi got married to Aidiliy and they have a son in the name of Paul William. Their son has been named after the name of the grandfather of Michael. The name of the daughter of Michael and Aidiliy is Julie Malka. Michael is presently living in Hollywood in Florida. He is often described as a very family loving person. He leased out his poker winnings to purchase a second hand tour bus from Michael Jenkins Inc so that he could take his family with him while he is on a tour. Eventually, the tour bus was sold since it appeared to Michael to be depreciating in value.