Only eight players remain in the $50,000 buy-in Poker Players Championship at the 2010 World Series of Poker, and remarkably two of those final eight are related by birth. 

Yesterday’s Day Three chip leader, Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, lost his lead during a volatile Day Four, which saw the demise to another 13 players before eventually coming to an end at the final eight.  Michael, despite dropping down in rank some, still managed to make that prestigious last table, as did his brother Robert, who himself only seemed to improve throughout the day, eventually even taking up the mantle of chip leader once “The Grinder” had laid it down. 

With Robert Mizrachi in first going into today’s final table, and “The Grinder” still looking solid in a comfortable fifth, “a Mizrachi against the field” bet would probably seem like a no-brainer, until at least one examined the 6 other hungry competitors still in the field as well.  Some of the other well known final tablists now guaranteed to earn at least $182,463 (the eighth place money payout), include Daniel Alaei, David Oppenheim and WSOP Europe main event champion John Juanda, currently third in chips and even more of a threat now that this event switches to straight No-Limit Hold ‘em.

Day Two’s chip leader, Kirk Morrison, did not make the final table and in fact bubbled the money all together busting in Seventeenth overall.  Other players to bust during the pivotal Day Four included Erick Seidel, Andy Bloch, Brett Richey, Nick Schulman (the televised final table bubble boy) and Lyle Berman, who brutally was eliminated in 12th place during a Pot-Limit Omaha round, when despite turning quad sixes after going all-in on the flop, he lost to Michael Mizrachi, who rivered a fourth Ace to improve to quads of a higher order.

"The Grinder," is inevitably one of those players who pundits always mention when discussing which poker pros are most overdue to win their first WSOP bracelet, so today is a particularly golden opportunity for him once the final table begins at 3 p.m. (Vegas time).  Unfortunately for Michael, with a top prize worth $1,559,046 and the the highly enviable opportunity to claim the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy also at stake, it is very unlikely that any of his final competitors, including his brother, are going to make things easy for him today.

The final eight players of the 2010 WSOP $50,000 buy-in Poker Players Championship are as follows:

Seat 1:  David Baker- 3,095,000

Seat 2:  Mikael Thuritz- 2,300,000

Seat 3:  Vladimir Schmelev-1,925,000

Seat 4:  John Juanda- 2,620,000

Seat 5:  Daniel Alaei- 1,705,000

Seat 6:  Michael Mizrachi- 2,175,000

Seat 7:  David Oppenheim- 460,000

Seat 8:  Robert Mizrachi- 3,125,000

For more information on the $50,000 buy-in Poker Players Championship visit www.wsop.com, or for updates, chip counts and photos, visit www.pokernews.com.