Michael Mizrachi on the 2025 WSOP: MTT by Day, Drinks & Slots by Night

— Alright guys, welcome back and a very special guest, Mike The Grinder Mizrachi is with us today.

Thank you, guys. Thanks for having me. I don’t know about “immediate” — it’s already been a month and a half, but I still haven’t rested up yet. Every time I try to go on vacation, it’s gotta be for work or a podcast or a news station. But it’s worth it. I love it. I enjoy doing it, so I’m having a great time.

— But just in case you haven’t, we like to take people back to when you were a lowercase “g” Grinder — coming up, aspiring to be a doctor, saving lives — then turning to the world of gambling.

Well, I don’t know how people came up with this doctor thing, but here’s the true story behind it. My mom was training to be an RN, and I said, “Mom, I’ll help you out.” I told her I wouldn’t mind being a doctor later in life, maybe.

So I’m helping her study — reading her homework, reading through the material — and somehow that flipped into this whole “Mike wanted to be a doctor” narrative. Maybe I said it when I was really young, like 14 or 15, but that was never the case. I was always a poker player.

I actually wanted to play football, truthfully. That’s how it all started.

I was playing street football up until sixth grade — tackling people, good hands, knocking kids over. Then my mom said, “Okay, I’m going to put you into a good school.” She sent me to American Heritage in seventh grade. My brother Eric went to American Academy — lower school — and we basically got kicked out of the other school because of Eric. So I had to follow him.

Then she takes me to the football field and sees kids coming out on crutches. And she says, “Son, I’m sorry. You can’t play. You’re not playing football.”

And that’s how my poker career started, pretty much.

— Were you a big teenager?

I mean, I was pretty big. Now for football I’m not that big, but I’m about 245, 6'2". It’s all muscle, guys — I don’t know if you can catch it on camera — but it’s all muscle with a lot of fat.

– Did you make some kind of bet?

"No, nothing like that. About seven years ago, I made a bet that poker was the only gambling option I could play. It was a small bet—$10,000—but I made it. I didn't know what to do with myself, so I worked out five days a week—swimming, boxing, weightlifting, jiu-jitsu, and so on. I spent a whole year like that."

– How many brothers do you have?

– Three – the eldest Robert, Eric – we are twins, and the youngest – Donnie.

— So like you said, you just knew you wanted to be a poker player when you were 15, 16. What were you playing at this time?

Well, we were playing like five-card draw, so it was not really… no betting. Pretty much flipping for baseball cards and comic books. And at the end of the day, I think I had the garbage full of baseball cards and comic books out of everyone’s collection.

That shows you — that was the luck factor. That was the luck part. So I was always lucky. I was always lucky.

And I don’t know what happened to the baseball cards. I’m sure they’re worth something. I think we had a lot of José Cansecos in there. And then I actually ended up playing with José Canseco recently at his house. But everything got thrown away, tossed away. I’m sure it was a lot of valuable cards, but I don’t know where they are.

— So, did you have aspirations of going to college? What was your high school timeline?

Well, I did go to college for a little bit. I was in community college, but I was like, “How am I going to do this?” The only way to stay awake was drinking lots of Red Bulls early mornings — and that’s what I was doing.

Then I said, “This is not for me.” So I withdrew from all my classes. I went on to my poker career.

— But you were, like, the definition of a grinder back in the day. You probably still are.

Yeah, I was one of the first guys to play online poker when it came out.

Planet Poker (Editor – not the same as PokerPlanets, but at least PokerPlanets is thriving today!), Paradise Poker, then PokerStars and Full Tilt… I played them all. Everyone. Absolute. Dive. All the crazy ones. I played every single one. I was on everything.

And that’s how I got my name. My name on there first was “Michael34,” nobody knew that. Then I changed my screen name — what suits me? — and I said, “Alright, I’ll name myself The Grinder.”

And it stuck to me for like… I don’t know… 25 years, 30 years, however long online poker started.

— No, for sure. Like even before you went on your run — and we’ll get to your tournament stuff in a little bit — but I mean, I remember hearing about you before you even cashed a tournament.

Just like: “this kid in Florida will play 48 hours straight, no problem — take a four-hour nap and come back and do it again."

I put a lot of hours in online for sure. Probably more than anybody. I was on all the time. And I actually enjoy playing online, and I’m looking forward to playing again hopefully soon.

— How was your bankroll going at this time? Because it’s tough to manage a bankroll when you’re 18, 19, 20, 21 years old.

I mean, I was always up and down. I was probably playing over my limits — couldn’t care less. You know, we all take those chances.

Got rich, went broke, got rich, went broke, got rich, went broke. That’s a poker player’s life. And I try to enjoy every minute. I had a lot of fun — liked to party here and there. Not as much now, but I still enjoy it here and there.

But I think how much I’ve learned in the past… I would never make that mistake again as of now when I’m 44. So, I will never take anything back, but now we’re in a good spot.

— So what did your family think about this career path?

I mean at first, my mom was always supportive. It was always my mom.

My father was a hard worker. He was a gambler, but he was in the clothing business. He loved roulette. My mom loved casinos, playing slot machines. And I think it’s just Mizrachi genetics — that’s how we got it in our blood.

When we were younger, we used to have slot machines in our house. Rob used to book us. My father used to get a pack of quarters like this — a roll of quarters for $10 bills. Wake up in the middle of the night — we have to wake up Rob to go play.

That’s how sick our Miami was. We were always gamblers.

One morning I woke up, I put a bunch of quarters in the machine, I hit the jackpot on Rob’s slot machine. He says, “This casino’s closed!” He pulled out the plug because all the quarters were coming out. But that’s an older brother.

We had crazy stories. We had a little roulette wheel in there. Everybody gambling, coming over to gamble. It was a fun house, that’s for sure.

— When was the first time you found yourself in a real casino?

We had the Seminole Casino — before the Hard Rock was open. The Classic. Sometimes I’d go in there underage in high school. You have your car — why not? I remember the max pot could be $10 and they raked $2.50 out of the pot.

They took 25% — impossible. Nobody could win. I was like, “You know what? You can’t win here. Might as well deal here.” So I dealt there for… I lasted 3 months. My termination sheet… it was so long. So many things.

Then they called me up:

“Mike, where are you?”
“I’m stuck in a snowstorm.”
“It doesn’t snow in Florida.”
“No, I’m in New York. I can’t catch a plane to get back to Florida.”

And that was it. I got fired after that.

That was a blessing in disguise. After that, I drove straight to Foxwoods. Played 30 days straight. Cash game seven-card stud and I never had a losing day. I won about $70k at $75/$150.

— How did tournaments appear in your life?

This is hard to go back. I mean, I play way more cash than tournaments — not even close — but when you see those big numbers, everybody wants to win that big number. And it’s TV and everything, you get recognized. So I just felt like, “Let me try some tournaments, take a crack at it.”

And then I was good at it right away. So I was like, “Alright, why not?”

When you say right now you’re not going to win two million in a cash game right away playing 5/10 or 10/20 no-limit. But you buy in for a $5K, $10K — you can win a $2 million score. So I’m like, “Alright, there we go.”

Then the next one — 2005, I think — the one Negreanu one-outered me — fifth. Then I went home, won the PokerStars Sunday Million.

— Your close friend Chino Rim was a guest on one of our first episodes. You must have had a lot of funny stories?

He’s done really, really well, but we had some crazy stories in the past. He lived with me for a long time.

We don’t have to get into all of that — but the best story ever is one of our favorite Chino stories from when we were younger.

So, Eric — my twin brother — was playing online. The only way you get on the account was swipe-finger login. On the laptop, you swipe your finger and it logs you in. So Chino took Eric’s finger while he was sleeping, swiped his account, got into his PokerStars account — one of those accounts — and he wiped out all his money.

But now Chino is a lot different. Nothing but amazing. Great poker player. Done amazing things. I’m very proud of him.

— You have three children. Are they interested in poker?

My eldest son recently turned 21, and in August he played his first $10,000 tournament in Cyprus. It was the first tournament in history to feature five Mizrachi players. Only Eric and I made it into the money. Luckily, my middle daughter hasn't shown the slightest interest in gambling. My youngest was born in 2008, and he's also interested in poker, especially after my summer success.

— In 2010, you also won the Players' Championship and placed 5th in the main tournament. Were your impressions much different then and now?

Well, I mean to tell you the truth — during this World Series PPC and Main Event — I didn’t sleep much. I was doing a lot of slot machines, some drinking, two hours of sleep, and that’s it. I was just trying to keep the momentum.
I don’t know — I just couldn’t sleep. I was too… like, it’s hard to sleep. You just want to play. I wasn’t getting enough rest.

— What do you remember about the main tournament of 2010?

Maybe the hand where I moved in with threes and he called with A-9 — which is probably Duhamel’s “let’s gamble” moment. I don’t think I made a mistake — I just didn’t have to do that. I didn’t have to shove. I think I open-shoved and he called.

Not really. It’s so long ago — 15 years — millions of hands.
I kind of play the same way, but I take risks. I’m not afraid. People want to ladder up — I’m going for first.

Not really. It’s so long ago — 15 years — millions of hands.
I kind of play the same way, but I take risks. I’m not afraid. People want to ladder up — I’m going for first.

Duhamel raised to 2.5 million and called all-in. In that hand, Michael lost half his stack and was soon eliminated.

— When you won the Players Championship for the first time, were you playing HORSE?

No, eight games, and the final table was NLHE, it was done for TV. I knocked Rob out in fifth place. He had six blinds left, he shoved with AT, I called with QJ. Our mom was standing in the stands and started shouting, 'Queen, jack!' Rob got really upset with her. And I don't rule out the possibility that she simply didn't understand who had what cards.

— What games do you play better than Rob?

"No-limit hold'em, definitely. At the other games, he's probably stronger, or we're close. It's just that I have eight bracelets, and he only has five."

— What are your plans for the near future?

"I'll be traveling to different series—Panama, Estonia, Vegas. At the end of October, I'll definitely be heading to the Bahamas for the World Slots Championship, and I'm very good at that."

— Tell me some gambling stories.

One day I started with 100 bucks in baccarat.
Bet the tie — pays 8-to-1.
It hit — so I got like $900 back.

Took that $800 or whatever the $100 became…
Ran it to ninety-some thousand.
That was one good story.

Then another one:
I started with $1,000 in roulette and over three days I turned it into a quarter million.

And then one more — this one’s insane:
I was down $24,000 in baccarat.
This is many years ago.

I had eight $100 bills in my pocket — crumpled up, ripped up — just garbage bills.
I took that, ran it to $204,000.
And I was the happiest person in the world.

Then someone said, “Are you going to get up now?”
And I said, “Nope. Time to get the white meat.”

I won $4,000 more.
Ended up cashing out $28,000 profit.

— Did you prepare for the Players’ Championship in any way?

"Until the very last moment, I wasn't sure I'd even play it. I was planning to focus on low-stakes tournaments this year. I played well, cashed about 10 times, but never even came close to winning big. So, I ended up registering for a 50k tournament thinking, 'You're playing great, this kind of bad luck can't last forever.' I won the championship, and then the main event. I don't think we'll see anything like that again in our lifetimes."

— Do you have a favorite game?

"The one my opponents play the worst, but overall, it's probably Stud-8. I can confidently say my least favorite is Razz. It's the stupidest game. That's why I've never won a single Razz tournament; I simply don't play them. I've never even registered for $10,000."

— Are you satisfied with the current format of the Players’ Championship?

"Are you sure this is the right question? I'm the last one to complain. I'm happy with everything, and I wouldn't add any new games; that's what Dealer's Choice is for."

By the way, this year, for the first time in the history of the $25k draft, I wasn't picked by any team. It's understandable, as I hadn't played any tournaments for a whole year before the World Series, but it was still a fun experience. Next year, I'll definitely be a good pick; I plan to play the entire series.

– Do you have any plans for rest?

– Not yet. I'm fully booked until February. I stop home to change and then head straight to the airport. I only get to relax in Vegas when I'm there for a couple of days.

— You’re unlikely to answer in detail, but how do you manage your money now?

– Investments, trust funds, and so on. I entrusted the management to smart people. Now I have an understanding of how much I can spend. I definitely don't plan on repeating the stupidity of my youth. You don't have to worry about me on that front.