Michael David Mizrachi is a US professional poker player who started playing at 13 and is better known as “The Grinder”. This nickname signifies his determination and fiercely competitive spirit when sitting at a poker table and the fact that he keeps grinding out results. He has won the 2010, 2012 and 2018 WSOP and two World Poker Tour Titles.
Personal Life
Mizrachi was born in Miami, Florida, on the 5th January 1981 and has a fraternal twin named Eric, a poker player, and an older brother, Robert Mizrachi, who has numerous WSOP and World Poker Tour finishes. Mizrachi is fluent in Hebrew, and growing up, he wanted to become a doctor but instead left college to play poker full time.
Poker Career
In 2005 Michael made a name for himself in the WSOP, with seven money finishes in a single year, going on to winning the Card Player of the Year Award in 2006. Michael then finished third in the 2008 World Series of Poker playing the $10000 Pot-Limit Omaha World Championship and won his first bracelet Poker Players Championship, defeating Vladimir Schemelev.
His brother Robert finished 5th in the same event. Even though Mizrachi’s performance was strong at the 2010 WSOP Frank Kassela received the Player of the Year Award. In 2011 Mizrachi just missed winning his second bracelet when he took second place; however, at the 2011 WSOP he defeated Shawn Buchanan in a heads up play and won his second bracelet. He continued grinding out results, and in 2019 Mizrachi won his fifth bracelet in event #27, beating a field of 460 players for $142 801.
As of January 2020, Michael Mizrachi’s live Tournament winnings exceed $17 million, with his 64 WSOP cashes making up for $9,169 857 of those earnings. It seems there is no stopping “The Grinder.”
