Well my World Series of Poker is over. I played in three events and cashed in none. But I had a great series in cash games and came out ahead for the month-and-a-half I was in Las Vegas.

It was hard to leave the casino sometimes, and it’s hard to leave now, but soon, I’ll be heading back to London, with WSOP-Europe dreams dancing in my head.

Michael Mizrachi is one of the November Nine

While I may have had a decent June and July, it pales in comparison to the series that Michael Mizrachi had — and is having.

The troubled star made the November Nine, outlasting more than 7,000 others, guaranteeing him more than $3 million in earnings this WSOP.

If you recall, “The Grinder” won the first big tournament of the 2010 WSOP, the $50,000 Poker Players Championship amid issues with the United States Internal Revenue Service. Apparently, the Grinder owed the government $339,000 in taxes and was facing foreclosure on two homes in the state of Florida. There were rumors he was broke.

Well, that’s obviously in the past.

Now, Mizrachi stands to re-emerge as one of the biggest stars in poker, making the final table in two out of the three events ESPN will televise this season.

It’s a lucky break for a poker player who needed one. Time will tell if he can keep this up, or if another four years down the road, we’ll be hearing another hard luck story about the Grinder.