Andrew Feldman, ESPN.com 10y

Robert Mizrachi wins Dealer's Choice

Poker

The World Series of Poker offered a surprise in its schedule when it was announced that a Dealer's Choice event would be part of the year's festivities. It was a first for the festival, and players could choose from any of the 16 games during the $1,500 buy-in tournament. A field of 419 competed for the honor of becoming the first champion and Rob Mizrachi captured his second WSOP victory by thinking strategically during a stellar final table run.

"The bracelet means a lot to me," said Mizrachi to ESPN.com. "It's very prestigious."

Mizrachi became the 15th repeat WSOP champion of 2014, a pattern that has become representative of the game's current economy. This was his 33rd career WSOP cash and will leave him just short of $2 million in lifetime WSOP earnings.

Aaron Schaff played a strong tournament throughout, but perhaps made one miscalculation. While Dealer's Choice allows you to pick the game you can potentially excel at most, it could also be a strategic play as a way to target your opponent. During heads-up play, Schaff often picked pot-limit Omaha, the game where Mizrachi won his first bracelet.

"Heads-up was great," said Mizrachi. "He kept picking pot-limit Omaha and I picked triple draw games which were his worst games."

Mizrachi began heads-up down nearly 2:1, but knew his opponent's strengths and chipped away through a variety of non no-limit hold 'em/stud high-low/lowball games. On the final hand, Mizrachi chose A-5 triple draw and had Schaff drawing dead (with A-2-3-5-6) before he could pull a card on the third draw.

"It's tough to win," said Mizrachi to the WSOP. "There's definitely a lot of pride in winning this event. It's a very skilled event. You not only have to know all the games, but you have to pick the games that your opponent's don't play as well."

One of the biggest challenges of this event was for all the dealers at the Rio. Mizrachi, who works with his brother Michael on their dealer school, probably had no problem reminding those who made mistakes about their initiatives.

Other notable finishers included Frank Kassela (sixth), Jennifer Harman (10th), Brandon Cantu (13th) and Maria Ho (15th).

Below are the complete results of Event 41 at the 2014 World Series of Poker:

Event 41: Dealer's Choice
Buy-in: $1,500
Entries: 419
Prize pool: $565,650
Players in the money: 42

1. Robert Mizrachi ($147,092)
2. Aaron Schaff ($90,854)
3. Shane Abbott ($58,414)
4. Bill Chen ($38,735)
5. Daniel Idema ($26,444)
6. Frank Kassela ($18,575)
7. Marco Johnson ($13,411)
8. Arthur Morris ($13,411)
9. Melissa Burr ($9,944)
10. Jennifer Harman ($9,944)
11. Maria Mayrinck ($7,568)
12. Brandon Cantu ($7,568)
13. Kevin Haney ($5,911)
14. Larry Tull ($5,911)
15. Maria Ho ($5,911)
16. Benjamin Benoit ($5,911)
17. Perry Green ($5,911)
18. Jacob Boyle ($5,911)
19. Shawn Buchanan ($4,728)
20. Daniel Zack ($4,728)
21. Senovio Ramirez ($4,728)
22. Daniel Dipasquale ($4,728)
23. Denis Ethier ($4,728)
24. Kendrick Lo ($4,728)
25. Gavin Smith ($3,880)
26. Robert Brobst ($3,880)
27. Gabriel Nassif ($3,880)
28. Todd Brunson ($3,880)
29. John Lukacs ($3,880)
30. Brendan Taylor ($3,880)
31. Calvin Anderson ($3,297)
32. Mikal Blomlie ($3,297)
33. Jeffrey Mervis ($3,297)
34. Francesco Barbaro ($3,297)
35. Thayer Rasmussen ($3,297)
36. Jason Schwartz ($3,297)
37. Kyle Loman ($2,799)
38. Yuebin Guo ($2,799)
39. Matthew Rosen ($2,799)
40. Jesse Martin ($2,799)
41. Brian Rast ($2,799)
42. Jimmy Fricke ($2,799)

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