His last recorded cash coming into today's final table of the World Poker Tour Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship was a first-place finish at WPT Jacksonville bestbet Fall Poker Scramble in November. There, he defeated a final table that included Blake Purvis and Ryan Eriquezzo. He pocketed $252,749 for the victory, just barely the biggest cash of his career over a second-place finish at the Wynn Classic in a $5,000 buy in back in 2010 when he collected $246,477.
The WPT has been Jaffee's lucky charm, as he also has fourth and fifth place finishes on his resume, but he's also had a little bit of success at the World Series of Poker. He sports final table finishes in the $2,500 8-Game Mix (Seventh - $30,319) in 2010 and $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em Four-Handed (Third - $129,447) in 2013.
Jaffee's table draw is both advantageous and a little disadvantageous. On the bright side, he has Vladislav Mezheritsky, the shortest stack, on his right, so he may be able to open a little wider early on without fear of constantly being shoved on. On the downside, he's going to have Anthony Maio on his left. Maio seems to like to call a lot of raises in position, and he has a big stack to boot, so Jaffee may be put in some tough spots by Maio today. Jaffee's out-of-position game will have to be on point today.
[user253757]
Vladislav Mezheritsky Has Translated His Skill on the Virtual Felt to Become a Beast on the Live Tourney Circuit
Vladislav Mezheritsky calls the Borgata his home away from home.
Whenever the casino hosts one of its wildly popular Poker Open series, Mezheritsky makes his way here for the duration, playing a full slate of events in search of that one big score. After five days of action here at the 2014 WPT Main Event Championship, he just might be on the verge of accomplishing that long held goal.
Mezheritsky - who was born in St. Petersburg, Russia but calls Brooklyn, New York home - has amassed $86,505 in live earnings over the last eight years, grinding the local circuit, travelling to EPT events and playing in this year's PokerStars Carribean Adventure. For reaching the final table here today, Mezheritsky is already guaranteed to triple his lifetime earnings, but with an April wedding on the way - his fiancé Katherine jokingly told us she's already upgraded the honeymoon package - the 31-year old will be looking to take home the life-changing payday awaiting today's winner.
Mezheritsky has played the game for nearly a decade under the screen name "imjuniar," using the heyday of online poker to strengthen his skills before Black Friday, and obviously his experience grinding thousands of hands per day has translated to the live arena.
Although he enters the final table at a decided disadvantage - short-stacked and with dangerous pro Jared Jaffee to his left - but after watching him grind for hours yesterday while bigger stacks went bust all around him, we don't expect him to go down without a fight.
[user253757]
The 2014 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Final Table set
Today marks the culmination of a five-day poker marathon, after 1,229 entries were recorded over the first two starting flights to create one of the largest World Poker Tour fields in recent memory. As the premier event of the Borgata Winter Poker Open, the WPT Main Event Championship sported a $3,500 buy-in, and with many of the game's bankrolled pros firing multiple bullets in an attempt to make Day 2, a total prize pool approaching $4 million was generated.
Yesterday saw 36 hopefuls take their seat with a spot at the televised final table on the line, and after 12 hours of a grueling grind, six players emerged as the fortunate few to earn the right to play under the bright lights of the WPT final table stage. Along the way, several of the game's most recognizable names came and went, including Chad Brown (26th), Faraz Jaka (22nd), Byron Kaverman (21st), Ronit Chamani (13th) and Chris Reslock (10th).
In the end it was a group of accomplished pros like Jared Jaffee, David Paredes making it through, along with up-and-coming players like Anthony Maio, Vladislav Mezheritsky, Farid Jattin and Robert Merulla.
Below you will find the seating assignments and chip counts for the six-handed final table - along with payout information - which will kick off today at 4 p.m. local time. Check back with PokerNews then to see who will emerge victorious, becoming the next player to have their name engraved on the glittering WPT Champions Cup.
