The Prince Reigns Supreme at World Poker Open

Ending a drought which saw him go over a year without a major tournament victory, Scotty Nguyen, “The Prince” of poker, emerged as champion of the 2006 Gold Strike World Poker Open. Nguyen left the Gold Strike Casino Resort in Mississippi with $969,421 and an entry into the $25,500 World Poker Tour World Championship.

It was a basically a two-horse race between Nguyen and Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi during the final television table. Nguyen started as the chip leader with $2,144,000 in chips, while Mizrachi was second with $1,271,000.

Nguyen held the lead for the first hour and half until Mizrachi took down a $1.4 million pot against him, vaulting him to a $300,000 chip lead. Two hands later, Nguyen yanked the lead back from Mizrachi. Barely twenty minutes later, they were virtually even.

The two competitors continued to battle, trading the chip lead a few times, with Mizrachi actually holding a $1.2 million chip margin over Nguyen at one point. By benefit of knocking out the third place finisher, Raul Paez, Nguyen went into heads-up play with Mizrachi with a slight $200,000 edge.

And in one hand it was all over.

Scotty Nguyen raised to $300,000, only to see Mizrachi re-raise him to $1.2 million. After pondering his next move, Nguyen put all his chips at risk and was insta-called by Mizrachi. And no wonder they both wanted to get all their chips in the pot. Mizrachi had Ace-Jack, but he was dominated by Nguyen’s Ace-Queen. Mizrachi got no help the rest of the way and Nguyen became the 2006 World Poker Open champion.

Final Table Results

(Place/Player/Prize Money)

1. Scotty Nguyen -- $969,421
2. Michael Mizrachi -- $566,352
3. Raul Paez -- $298,908
4. Gavin Smith -- $173,052
5. An Tran -- $125,856
6. Bau Le -- $88,099

Originally published January 24, 2006