These of you who’ve been following PokerNews’ High Tales of 2025 sequence could also be left scratching your heads, questioning the place Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi‘s unimaginable summer season was going to characteristic. Scratch no extra as a result of Mizrachi dominating the 2025 World Collection of Poker (WSOP) ranks because the primary poker story of 2025; here is why.
The reside poker world has seen a number of gamers take pleasure in sun-runs through the years. One solely wants to take a look at Fedor Holz‘s superb 2016 outcomes or Justin Bonomo‘s excellent 2018 to see some comparatively latest epic runs, however what Mizrachi achieved on the 2025 WSOP stands alone, even heads and shoulders above the remaining. Moreover, it’s a pair of outcomes that may doubtless by no means be seen once more.
Taking up the Position of Poker’s Ambassador
Whoever wins the WSOP Major Occasion robotically turns into poker’s unofficial ambassador, not less than for the following 12 months. Some gamers want to draw back from the limelight, whereas others seize the chance with each fingers and do what they’ll to advertise the sport. Mizrachi falls into the second camp.
PokerNews’ Connor Richards spoke solely to Mizrachi in the course of the 2025 WSOP Paradise competition and requested “The Grinder” about him being one of many extra lively Major Occasion champions in latest occasions.
“I have been simply touring round, going all over the place world wide,” he advised PokerNews. “I’ve simply been to Panama, Estonia, Israel, Cyprus, Romania, Italy, Slovakia, Sweden, Estonia, I do not know, all over the place, everywhere in the world. I got here in from Colombia, flew to Miami at some point, and got here right here.”
“I’ve performed just a few tournaments right here and there. In Colombia, I used to be taking part in some money video games. Simply continuous, simply having fun with my time and having fun with my household. I imply, I like touring, and my son retains me sane. It is arduous if you’re alone, so it is a lot better when he comes with me. Now he is 21, he can play poker himself.”
It is troublesome for poker gamers to fathom how unimaginable Mizrachi’s double victory was, by no means thoughts attempting to clarify it to these outdoors of the poker group. What he achieved will virtually actually by no means be achieved once more in our lifetimes, an achievement greater than worthy of high spot in PokerNews’ high 10 tales of 2025.
A Report-Breaking Fourth $50,000 PPC Victory
Mizrachi had already cashed in ten bracelet-awarding occasions on the 2025 WSOP earlier than he entered the $50,000 Poker Gamers Championship. A twenty fifth place within the $1,000 No-Restrict Maintain’em Battle of the Ages event was his better of a set of in any other case unremarkable in-the-money finishes.
Though the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy, awarded to the $50,000 Poker Gamers Championship winner, is taken into account one of the troublesome to seize, Mizrachi received his fingers on it in 2010, 2012, and for a 3rd time in 2018.
The 2025 version of the PPC drew in 107 entrants, together with Mizrachi. The person affectionately often called “The Grinder” dominated proceedings all through. Mizrachi bagged up the third-largest stack on Day 1, the second-largest on Day 2, the third-largest on Day 3, earlier than claiming the chip lead with solely seven gamers remaining on the finish of Day 4.
“I in all probability performed higher than the final three I gained…”
Mizrachi eradicated 5 of his six ultimate desk opponents, together with runner-up Bryn Kenney, as he received his fingers on a record-breaking fourth $50,000 Poker Gamers Championship trophy and $1,331,322 in prize cash, the seventh seven-figure rating of his glistening profession.
“I in all probability performed higher than the final three I gained,” Mizrachi advised PokerNews shortly after his victory. “All the things went my approach this event. I used to be all the time on the high of the leaderboard, by no means actually received quick, and possibly performed my greatest total.”
“The Grinder” joked that he may discover himself in rivalry for induction into the Poker Corridor of Fame if he gained the PPC for a fifth time, earlier than calling out Brian Rast, who was tied with Mizrachi on three victories on this prestigious occasion till Mizrachi cast a lead for himself.
Little did Mizrachi and his legion of supporters know {that a} Corridor of Fame spot would come before they thought.
The Most Dominant WSOP Major Occasion Last Desk Efficiency Ever
Whereas the $50,000 Poker Gamers Championship is taken into account the hardest reside occasion to win, because of the caliber of gamers frequenting it, the $10,000 WSOP Major Occasion World Championship is remarkably difficult to take down due to its immense dimension.
Mizrachi navigated to the ultimate desk of the 2010 WSOP Major Occasion, the place he began seventh from 9 in chips, and in the end completed fifth for a career-best $2,332,992. Most gamers by no means get the possibility to combat it out on the WSOP Major Occasion ultimate desk twice, however Mizrachi just isn’t like most gamers.
Having purchased into Day 1b, Mizrachi bulldozed his technique to the highest of his flight’s chip counts earlier than ending within the high 10% on Day 2abc. Mizrachi misplaced virtually half of his stack on Day 3, leading to him bagging up a stack within the backside third of the counts, however regular enterprise was resumed thereafter. Day 4 noticed Mizrachi end the night time in forty third place out of 522 surviving gamers, earlier than ending forty eighth out of 202 on Day 5 and second out of 57 on Day 6.
Day 7 was one other tough one for The Grinder, who completed nineteenth from the 24 remaining gamers. The then seven-time WSOP bracelet winner shone brightly on the penultimate Day 8, bagging and tagging 93 million chips, sufficient for second place on the nine-handed ultimate desk, regardless of being all the way down to solely three large blinds at one stage.
“Final time I used to be seventh of 9; now I am second in chips out of 9 gamers. I am in a great place and have place on the large stack, so I like my state of affairs,” Mizrachi advised PokerNews after Day 8 concluded.
Anybody who has performed in opposition to Mizrachi or watched him in motion through the years will attest to his capacity to wield a giant stack with lethal impact. Mizrachi is famend for placing his opponents beneath most stress with large bets, his loose-aggressive fashion seemingly 1,000,000 miles away from the GTO kinds of a lot of in the present day’s top-tier execs.
Mizrachi rode his luck in the course of the twenty fifth hand of the ultimate desk’s motion, four-betting from the small blind with ace-king and calling John Wasnock‘s shove, which he made with pocket kings. Mizrachi seemed to be heading residence in sixth place till he discovered the ace of diamonds on the river to double his stack to 151,400,000 and declare the chip lead.
5 fingers later, and with blinds of 1,000,000/2,000,000/2,000,000a, Mizrachi opened to 4,300,000 with ace-king from beneath the gun, and Adam Hendrix three-bet to 12,000,000 within the cutoff with pocket jacks. Mizrachi responded by transferring all-in, and Hendrix known as all-in for 56,600,000.
They are saying it’s a must to win your coin flips if you wish to win poker tournaments, and Mizrachi should have obtained that memo. After a queen-queen-four flop saved Hendrix’s fish hooks forward, Mizrachi spiked a king on the flip to ship his rail into raptures. A 3 on the river busted Alaska’s best in fifth place, and propelled Mizrachi to the highest of the pile with virtually 215 million chips, and he by no means regarded again.
Twenty-nine fingers later, after the 59th hand of the Major Occasion’s ultimate desk, Mizrachi bagged and tagged 445,200,000 chips, with John Wasnock’s 94,500,000 being the second-largest stack. To place his stack into context, there have been 234 large blinds in play, and Mizrachi owned 178 of them!
“I wished to maintain going. I did not wish to cease. We’d’ve been achieved in an hour if we saved going. I wished to complete it off in the present day, however I do know they cannot. They’ve a schedule,” Mizrachi stated after bagging up his monster stack.
True to his world, Mizrachi had the 2025 WSOP Major Occasion wrapped up inside an hour of the tenth and ultimate day. First, he eradicated PokerStars ambassador Kenny Hallaert with king-jack versus ace-queen on solely the second hand of the day. He then despatched Braxton Dunaway to the rail in third place on the very subsequent hand, his suited ace-ten besting Dunaway’s suited ten-six.
Heads-up lasted all however 18 fingers. Wasnock min-raised to five,000,000 with ace-nine, Mizrachi known as with ten-three of golf equipment, and the flop fell ace-nine-seven with two golf equipment. After each gamers checked, the vendor put a Mizrachi flush-completing 4 of golf equipment on the flip. Wasnock wager 10,000,000, Mizrachi raised to 30,000,000 earlier than snap-calling the 70,500,000 jam from Wasnock. An ace or 9 on the river would have spoiled the Mizrachi get together, however it was the 5 of golf equipment, busting Wasnock in second place, and incomes Mizrachi the title of World Champion and a career-best $10 million.
Quick Induction Into Poker’s Corridor of Fame
In an unprecedented transfer, Mizrachi was instantly inducted into the Poker Corridor of Fame with out the standard voting course of going down. WSOP Vice President Jack Effel, flanked by such luminaries and Corridor of Famers as Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Brian Rast, David Oppenheim, Jen Harman, John Hennigan, and Eli Elezra, made the announcement within the aftermath of Mizrchi’s Major Occasion victory.
Due to his brace of World Poker Tour (WPT) titles and eight WSOP bracelets, together with 4 within the $50,000 PPC and a Major Occasion, Mizrachi was already a poker icon. His deserved induction into the Poker Corridor of Fame made him a poker legend.
Matthew Pitt
Senior Editor
