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NAME: Noah Jefferson
AGE: 32
HOMETOWN: Lafayette, CA
YEARS PLAYING POKER: 10 years, 3 years professionally
FAVORITE FORM OF POKER: High stakes mixed games
I’ve known Noah Jefferson for about four years now and consider him a good friend. We came up playing poker together at Lucky Chances in south San Francisco, and have since worked our ways through the tournament circuit. Noah is typically found playing big mixed games or larger NL Hold’em. While Noah primarily focuses on cash games, he made the decision to play a large number of major tournaments this year, so I figured he was a good candidate for a profile.
I would describe Noah’s game as sharp, flexible, solid, and tiltless. He’s not afraid to make moves when he has to, yet he doesn’t ever seem to get out of line. He’ll play in any game and can hold his own with the best of them. Even though he’s been playing poker for ten years now, he’s really put in his hours and chiseled his game in the last three years since taking a hiatus from law school.
Although playing only a limited number of tournaments, Noah has already had a strong showing, placing third in last year’s EPT World Masters in London, picking up $130k, in addition to cashing in last year’s WSOP Main Event. Given that he continues to play the large events, I have no doubt you will see Noah make his fair share of final tables this year.
NAME: Sorel Mizzi (Zangbezan24)
AGE: 20
RESIDENCE: Toronto, Ontario
YEARS PLAYING POKER: 2 years 1 year professionally
FAVORITE FORM OF POKER: NL tournaments
Last month, I spoke of going to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas with the hope of tracking down two players, Annette_15 and Zangbezan24. I was able to profile Annette last month, and this month I’m excited to have the chance to profile Sorel Mizzi, aka Zangbezan24. I’ve been tracking Sorel for some time online and had the chance to play a number of tournaments with him at my table. I was pretty blown away. The kid is truly a magnificent player.
Sorel has an uncanny ability to correctly place his opponents on a hand and make perfect size bets that practically hypnotize them into giving him their chips. And it’s usually a lot of them, because it seems like every time I look at the chip counts, Zangbezan24 is at or near the top. After deciding to profile Sorel, I asked a few players what they thought. Responses came back praising his game, but one that I felt really fit him was “Zangbezan is a ridiculously good LAG” (loose-aggressive player). He describes himself similarly. “I’m fearless and bold. I make a lot of plays and I’m willing to commit my entire stack on a bluff if I feel that my opponent will lay down his hand.”
When asked how he got his start: “I was initially introduced to Texas Hold’em at a friend’s house and caught on pretty quick. I sharpened my skills while in the Army Reserve. A lot of us would play poker in our spare time. I made the transition to online poker when I turned 18 and got my first credit card.” Not bad, considering that last year in November alone, he cashed close to $144k. October was close to $47k. And it goes on and on. Sorel played his first live event in Aruba last year, with an astonishing tenth place finish. He turns 21 soon and, trust me, I know this kid will have an impact.
