Michael Mizrachi chosen as ambassador for inaugural ISPT in London
- by Josef Rantamaki
Wembley Stadium in London will host the inaugural International Stadiums Poker Tour (ISPT) in 2013, and Michael ‘The Grinder’ Mizrachi, aged 31, has been chosen to be the tournaments official ambassador.
The ISPT will run from 31st May to 6th June and it is the creation of Groupe Bernard Tapie.
After his appointment, Mizrachi went public on his twitter account writing, “I just want to announce I will be @ispt_poker official ambassador. Will be one of the biggest tournaments ever held May 31, 2013!”
Mizrachi, a native of Florida, is an ideal choice as ambassador for the tournament. One of poker’s most successful players, he currently stands in seventh place in the game’s All Time Money List, with $14,069,764 in earnings to his name. On top of this, he has won two World Series of Poker bracelets, the last being awarded to him only a few weeks ago after taking $1,451,521 in the WSOP $50k The Poker Player’s Championship.
Hoping for a prize pool of €20 million, with the winner lifting €10 million, the tournament is anticipated to attract a huge pool of 30,000 players. Wembley Stadium seats 90,000, but a statement on the ISP website explained how the event would work. “Apart from the online qualifications and the live final stage around real tables set up on the lawn of the stadium,” it said, “ISPT will propose an unpublished game format, midway between online and live.”
One slight problem, which does not seem to concern Mizrachi overly, is that the ISPT may possibly clash with the 2013 WSOP in Las Vegas. This year the WSOP Las Vegas ran from 27th May to 17th July and around half of Mizrachi’s winnings have come from this live tournament. However, with events spread over a couple of months, ‘The Grinder’ should have no problem fitting in the weeklong tournament at Wembley Stadium.