When I first started in this business almost four year ago I was told on numerous occasions that Sorel Mizzi was one of the best tournament players in the world.
Define ‘best tournament player?’
It’s not as easy as it once was. A few years ago you would look to the people who were stuffing their trophy cabinets full of World Series of Poker (WSOP), World Poker Tour (WPT) and European Poker Tour (EPT) hardware, but the introduction of the elite tier of poker has changed that.
These days the very best players in the world compete against the very best players in the world in the High Rollers, and Mizzi is amongst them. He may not have any hardware in his trophy cabinet, but he is racking up a series of impressive scores, and more importantly some serious Wonga.
Whilst everyone else got jiggy with it in the Aviation Club de France (ACF), I found Mizzi patiently railing Max Altergott onto victory at the WPT High Roller.
So why wasn’t he playing in the main event?
“I can’t let poker run my life.” Said Mizzi.
That’s fortunate for me, because it gave me the opportunity to sit down and talk to the great man, and we started by talking about the new age of the High Rollers.
“I have been on a really hot streak in the High Rollers this year getting third in three of them. To not win one of them is painful, but it’s also a lot of money, which helps to pay the bills. If I had run a little bit differently at the right times, then things could have been different.
“I have never won a major title, and I would have considered all of these major titles, so it’s a little bit frustrating but my time is coming.”
When you pit your wits against the very best players in the game, you must learn a lot come rain or shine?
“Absolutely. The way I have learned poker is by replicating other things that good players do and then creating my own style from that base. Playing against the world best players, and getting ideas from them just by talking with them or watching them is a huge experience. I am reminded of things that I should be doing that I no longer do. Playing against the likes of Ivey and Negreanu, and the Internet superstars helps me see what they do to win.”
“Ivey and Negreanu are two great examples of players who didn’t come up through the route of the online super kids. Instead they are two old school live pros that still manage to win. Seeing what they do to compensate for their lack of game theory understanding, and seeing what they do to make them super profitable in these tournaments, is intriguing to me.”
Mizzi is not just taking this knowledge and applying it to his game. Like many other great people in the world he is using it to give something back.
“I have a training site called 3D Poker Training and we specialize in poker seminars. Our first one was held in London and we had about a dozen people involved over a two-day seminar where we discussed a lot of game theory stuff. It was a very interactive class. Our goal is not to tell people how to play, but to help them think about what they are doing and then create their own style. I think it was successful and we are going to be doing more in the future.”
The poker seminar concept is a wonderful thing and I was curious to understand if Mizzi had reached out to the biggest tours in the world to incorporate his training in their festivals?
“We are talking with PokerStars about a few things. Our European strategy is to try and do something in conjunction with the EPT so we’ll see what happens with that.”
Fifteen minutes after the interview had ended I walked through the cramped ACF playing area and who should be sat in front of a fresh 30k stack but none other than Mizzi.
It’s a could job that kid doesn’t let poker run his life.
