Big-Name Pros Dominating at Mirage Poker Showdown

Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi is among the poker pros winning early events at the Mirage Poker Showdown. (AP Images)

With the preliminary events of the 2007 Mirage Poker Showdown in Las Vegas underway this week, both online poker pros and live tournament veterans are making a splash early on. The World Series of Poker is just a few weeks away so many of the biggest names in poker are taking advantage of this event to brush up on their skills in anticipation of poker's premier tournament.

From the online poker world, two of the most feared online players have taken down two of the early events at the Mirage. Bodog poker regular Jared "TheWacoKidd" Hamby, who won two events at the Bellagio Five Star World Poker Classic, continued his live poker dominance by winning the $1,000 buy-in event. For his win, Hamby takes home a handsome $86,383 and a seat for the $10,000 WPT championship event on Saturday.

Darrell "Gigabet" Dicken, who is widely thought to be the world's best online tournament player, continued to show that he could translate that success onto the live felt by emerging victorious from the 537-strong field in the $500 buy-in event. Dicken receives $48,189 for his first place finish and a $10,000 seat to the WPT championship event at the Mirage.

Two tournament veterans have also made their mark. 2006 CardPlayer Player of the Year Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi won the $2,000 buy-in event for a first-place prize of $75,031 and a $10,000 championship seat, and past WPT winner Joe Tehan took down the $2,500 buy-in event for a take home of $95,910 and a $10,000 seat to join the others at the WPT championship event, which gets underway this Saturday, May 19.

Stay tuned to Bodog Beat for more updates from the 2007 Mirage Poker Showdown, and head over to the Bodog Poker Room to compete for your own shot at playing in a WPT event by winning a $12,000 WPT prize package.