Michael Mizrachi

Michael Mizrachi Wins World Series of Poker $50,000 Players Championship
“The Grinder” Tops a Final Table Stacked With Pros, Including His Brother Robert

World Series of Poker records were broken as the ESPN cameras rolled at the 2010 $50,000 Players Championship. Huge crowds were at the rails of the tournament during the preliminary days, and an even larger group gathered for the final table. They stayed late into the night and cheered all the way through to the wee hours of the morning. There was even a final-table sibling rivalry thrown in for good measure.

The tournament had kicked off on the first day of the WSOP, four days prior, with a tribute to the inaugural champion of the event, the late Chip Reese. This year, in addition to the five H.O.R.S.E. games, no-limit hold’em, pot-limit Omaha, and deuce-to-seven triple-draw lowball were added to spice things up and entice more players to pony up the huge buy-in. The $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. world championship attracted 95 players last year, and this year’s $50,000 event drew 116 players.

Each of the players who won the title following Reese in 2006 entered the event, including Freddy Deeb, Scotty Nguyen, and David Bach. None of them made the final table, and in fact, none cashed, either. The players who did cash are among the best in the game, including the player who battled with Reese in the famous heads-up marathon for the first title in 2006, Andy Bloch.

Ninth-16th Results:

The final table was an epic affair, and that’s not just because it lasted 235 hands. It had everything you could ask for at a final table. There were huge swings, different styles of play, changes in pace, and a first-time bracelet winner.

The 2010 WSOP may have begun on day 1 of this event, but it didn’t have its first story until the Players Champion, Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, was awarded $1,559,043, his first gold bracelet, and the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy. Read on below to get a taste of the drama. Here were the chip counts when final-table action began:

The first dozen hands at the final table marched into the record books quietly before a compilation of double-ups turned the leader board upside down. A short-stacked David Oppenheim doubled up to kick-start an impressive comeback, while Mikael Thuritz danced on both sides of fate’s good graces. He survived elimination three times, but eventually fell in eighth place ($182,463) when he ran into a full house held by Michael Mizrachi.

The Grinder then doubled up through David Baker a few hands later. Baker had come to the final table in second chip position, but The Grinder was not the first player he had doubled up during the early going, and Baker’s stack was hurting. Alaei had suffered a fate similar to Baker’s, and was eliminated by Shchemelev (A-K over A-6) in seventh place ($221,105), just before Baker fell in sixth place ($272,275) against The Grinder (A-K over A-J).

Robert Mizrachi was the next player to bust out, in fifth place ($341,430). It was poker’s version of Cain and Abel, as The Grinder took out his brother with Q-J on an 8-3-2-J-2 board. Robert missed the board completely with A-10 after moving all in preflop. It was a surreal moment at the final table that was eerily quiet (read more in the “Brothers Mizrachi” sidebar).

Four-handed play didn’t last too long, as John Juanda busted out in fourth place ($436,865) a few hands after Robert departed. Juanda shoved preflop with K-9 and Shchemelev made the call with pocket tens. The board ran out A-A-4-3-Q, and the start of a three-handed battle was set. Oppenheim had played well at the final table, and had run his initial 460,000 up to 9.8 million. Shchemelev trailed with 5 million, and The Grinder was at risk with 2.6 million.

It took 45 hands for the final three to find themselves in a three-way tie, and then another 10 hands transpired before Oppenheim fell in third place ($603,348). The Grinder scored the knockout in exciting fashion. Oppenheim was all in preflop with pocket eights, and Mizrachi completed the coin-flip situation with K-Q. The board came 9-6-4-7-Q, and the crowd exploded into “Grinder! Grinder!” chants that had become a familiar chorus line.

Thanks to Oppenheim’s chips and his aggressive play during prolonged three-handed action, The Grinder held 10,635,000 in chips before heads-up play began, while Shchemelev had 6,765,000. Shchemelev scored the first blow, as he won 1.9 million of The Grinder’s chips with the 8 6 on a Q 9 3 Q 6 board when The Grinder mucked. The Russian wild card continued to roll after winning that pot, and he held a 3-1 chip advantage at the first break in the action.

After the break, The Grinder made his stand, moving all in with the A 7 preflop after a series of raises. Shchemelev made the call with the A J, and it looked like it was over. The K 10 9 on the flop opened the door, and the anticipation was at its height when the Q was followed by the 5 on the river. The overwhelming pro-Grinder section erupted into cheers once again, as he doubled up to survive and drew even in chips.

The two finalists hunkered down once again, and The Grinder once again assumed the role of the aggressor to increase his chip stack to 14 million. Shchemelev was far behind with 3.4 million, and at one point, his stack dwindled to a paltry 575,000. The Grinder kept the pressure on until Shchemelev decided to make an all-in call preflop with Q-8. The Grinder flipped over Q-5. He was dominated in a key hand again, but his supporters rose to their feet and cheered as if their willpower might affect the outcome.

The flop missed both players, but a 5 fell on the turn, and it was enough to win The Grinder his first gold bracelet. He was mobbed by family and friends, and the celebration rang out through the otherwise empty Amazon Room. After the initial elation had subsided, The Grinder congratulated Shchemelev, who took home $963,375 in prize money after a strong performance. Mizrachi was awarded the top prize of $1,559,043, and the Card Player 2006 Player of the Year award winner ran his career earnings up to $8,758,298. He also won something that no one can ever take away from him, a spot on the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy.

Final-Table Results:

‘The Grinder’ Flourishes in Shorthanded Play to Capture Title
By Julio Rodriguez

Michael Mizrachi was well into the money in the Players Championship at the World Series of Poker and was high up on the tournament leader board, but the mounting blinds and antes in the limit games made his presence at the final table anything but a certainty. Deciding to get aggressive, Mizrachi took it upon himself to make the most of both the no-limit hold’em and pot-limit Omaha rounds to increase his stack to a healthy level.

Despite the high variance associated with Omaha, “The Grinder” had no problem pushing his hands hard preflop in order to force his opponents to make tough decisions. After his single-suited aces took out Brett Richey, Mizrachi continued to press, planting the seed of doubt in his opponents’ minds about what he was holding. When he finally did pick up another big hand against Lyle Berman, his lack of credibility almost cost him his tournament life.

Berman limped in, and Mizrachi raised from the button. Berman called, and then checked the flop of A J 6. Mizrachi continued with a pot-sized bet before Berman said, “There’s no way you could have aces again, Grinder,” and he pushed all in. Mizrachi tabled the A A 5 4 for top set, but Berman’s 7 7 6 6 caught a one-outer when the 6 hit on the turn. In one of the most dramatic moments of the tournament, Mizrachi hit the A on the river to send Berman to the rail.

From that point on, The Grinder had all of the confidence he needed to make a run at the title. “I knew it was my time,” he said. “After that hand, I thought I was going to win the tournament.”

It also helped that the game permanently became no-limit hold’em at the final table, Mizrachi’s bread and butter. “I think it was to my benefit,” he said after the win. “I think I’m a really good limit player, but the blinds were so big in those games that nobody really had an advantage. If you lose two or three pots, you’re out. No-limit played a lot smaller, so it allowed me to play small ball and overcome those beats when they came.”

Mizrachi elaborated further, explaining his edge at the final table. “I have great results when it comes to final tables. I have 19 of them. When I make it deep into a tournament, most of the time I win it. I’ve had a lot of success in those situations, so it favored me when they changed it up.”

Although he clearly had the no-limit hold’em experience to make him the favorite, Mizrachi held back in the early going. Of the 152 hands played before heads-up play began, Mizrachi won 44, but more than 30 of those came after the table became shorthanded. When John Juanda was eliminated in fourth place, Mizrachi had only 2.6 million in his stack. When he busted David Oppenheim in third place 56 hands later, he had more than quadrupled his stack to 10.6 million.

When he got heads up against Vladimir Shchemelev, Mizrachi nearly let the title slip through his fingers, but he made adjustments during the breaks to win his first WSOP bracelet. “I started out with a chip lead of about 10 million to his 7 million, but my first plan of attack didn’t work. I was playing too many pots out of position and I was playing them too fast. I was super tired, my body was aching, and I just wanted to leave. I was losing my confidence, but my friends got me back into it during the breaks. I came back in with a more positive mentality and started to take my time and play a bit slower. I noticed that he three-bet a lot, so I started to play in position, keeping the pots small so that I could outplay him after the flop.”

The Brothers Mizrachi — Entering the Record Books Together

Michael and Robert Mizrachi set a new World Series of Poker record for highest finish in the same tournament by a pair of siblings when they finished first and fifth, respectively, in the $50,000 Players Championship. They topped the sister-and-brother duo of Annie Duke and Howard Lederer, who finished sixth and ninth, respectively, in a $1,500 pot-limit hold’em event in 1995, and the brother duo of Ross and Barny Boatman, who finished seventh and ninth, respectively, in a $1,500 pot-limit Omaha rebuy event in 2002.

“To go into the record book with my brother is a great accomplishment. It might never be broken. It would be pretty hard to do,” said Michael, a few days after the event. He is probably right; a pair of brothers would now have to finish first and fourth in the same event to top the Mizrachis.

Furthermore, Michael and Robert (who won a bracelet in the $10,000 pot-limit Omaha world championship in 2007) became brother bracelet winners. This made the Mizrachis the second set of brothers to hold WSOP bracelets. Blair and Grant Hinkle became the first when they both captured WSOP gold in 2008.

At the final table, the shared joy and pride among the brothers and their family was also mixed with conflicted feelings. At the same time that the brothers were setting a record together, they also were competing against one another.

“I’ve never had feelings like that at a poker table. I don’t know who I wanted to win,” said Michael.

“It took me off my game. It was tough to play against him at the table. It was really tricky and confusing, because we know so much about each other’s game,” added Robert.

The battle at the final table pitted brother against brother in one of the most surreal poker hands you will ever see. The hand was normal, as Robert’s A-10 was all in preflop against Michael’s Q-J, and the board gave Michael a jack to win the hand, but the emotions attached to it were anything but normal. “Just looking at my mom’s face during that hand, I could see that she was crying when it happened,” said Michael. “I don’t know if it was a lose-lose situation or a win-win situation, as I’ve never knocked him out of a tournament before, let alone a big one like this. After that, I really stayed focused. I knocked my brother out, so I thought to myself, ‘Let me at least win this for my brother.’”

In the end, there were no hard feelings between the two, only support and the knowledge that they are a part of WSOP history together.

“I’m very happy for him; he did very well. I think he played amazing poker, and he deserves it,” said Robert.

Michael added, “There’s no competition between us. We root for each other all the time, and we learn from each other every single day.”

Lessons Learned From ‘The Grinder’

When Michael Mirzachi won the Card Player 2006 Player of the Year award, he was on top of the poker world. “The Grinder” had won tournament titles and the millions of dollars that come with them during a short period of time, and at a young age, that can be dangerous. He lived the life of a poker superstar as he raised his family with his wife, Lily. As his expenses added up, his tournament results faltered and his investments went south, as they have for many in today’s economy.

Much has been said about his financial troubles lately, but now The Grinder gets to tell his side of the story. Card Player sat down with Mizrachi and his new tax attorney Steven Chung, and the conversation focused on the last few years of The Grinder’s career and the lessons he has learned.

Ryan Lucchesi: What were some of the pitfalls that led to your financial troubles?

Michael Mizrachi: Poker is a roller-coaster ride; I have seen everybody have their ups and downs. I’ve been in cold places; I have had my highs and lows.

I have realized that a lot of poker players are not good businessmen. I have a lot of friends who do stupid things with their money. Some friends are smart, but some friends don’t recognize the value of money anymore. At the table, I understand that, but away from the table, people still don’t value money.

If they spend money, they want first-class airline tickets, they want to eat at the nicest restaurants, they want to go party all the time, and that is what brings a lot of people down and throws them off their game. For me, I’ve realized that it is important to be with my family. If I want to stay on top, I always have to be focused. Instead of sitting in the first-class section, I will sit in economy, things like that, just to cut those expenses down. It is very hard to overcome those expenses. Traveling to Europe five to 10 times a year, flying throughout the Untied States, renting cars, gas … it takes a lot of money.

Poker players are not like golfers or NBA stars; we’re not guaranteed anything. It can always be a minus-minus trip for us. We can lose money, so we have to make the right decisions and be very smart with our money.

What also put me down was the real-estate market. I bought when it was high, and then everything turned upside down. I put money into renovations on some houses, and sometimes tenants weren’t paying on time, so that set me back a lot. I was stuck paying multiple mortgages every single month, 15 to 20 grand. It takes a lot of your bankroll. I have lost at least $600,000 to a million in the real-estate market.

RL: What are some of the lessons you’ve learned financially by dealing with the IRS, and the particular rules that apply to poker winnings?

MM: The best thing to do is keep a journal of what you do every day and how you’re spending your money. That way, you can keep track and have an idea of whether or not you are a profitable poker player. If you can’t overcome the expenses and the buy-ins, maybe you should seek another career. In poker, there are ups and downs all the time. When you’re on a hot streak, you’re hot, and when you’re cold, you’re cold. One win, and you’re back on the map and they all love you again.

It might show $8.7 million in your career winnings, but it doesn’t mean that you have that. A lot of poker players swap pieces, and a lot of people get backed in tournaments. So, you’ll never get 100 percent of yourself. Sometimes you’re lucky to get even 35 percent to 50 percent of yourself. So, whatever number your gross income shows, it’s not even close; it’s what you net that’s important.

If somebody won $7 million, he probably made $1.5 million to $2.5 million most of the time. Most people don’t realize that; they just see that you won $7 million. If you don’t file things right in regard to your backers, the taxes are on you. If you don’t fill out the 1099, you’re liable and you’re screwed.

Steven Chung: Generally, it’s a lot easier if you keep all of your records: what your payouts to your backers are, what your travel expenses are, and document your gambling losses whenever possible. For people like Mike, poker is a trade or business. Mike is a professional poker player, so these are actual business expenses. So, if he wins a lot of money, there are a lot of business expenses, as well. Even though it seems like he wins a lot of money, at the end of the year, he might not make anything. It is very important to keep track of what you do, especially when you are dealing with large amounts of money and with a large amount of airtime, like Michael.

RL: What advice would you give to a young player who wins a major tournament for his first score, and all of a sudden has a ton of money at his fingertips?

MM: My best advice to somebody who wins a big event is to just say no, like drugs. Everyone is going to ask you for stuff, and there will be a lot of people around you who want something. When you’re at the bottom, you know who your friends are; that is something that I’ve learned in life. When you’re at the top, you’re going to meet a lot of new people, and it doesn’t hurt to take their advice, but you also need to learn how to say no. If 1,000 people were to ask for $100, that’s a lot of money.

SC: If you win more than $1 million, resist the urge to spend money quickly. Take some time to think about it, because a lot of people, when they see a seven-figure payout, are thinking about buying a Ferrari. You can buy the Ferrari, but I think that you should wait until you, or you and an advisor, have figured out what your net winnings are. Then, have a talk about what your future expenses are going to be. If you can still comfortably buy yourself a Ferrari or that house that you want, go for it. You don’t want to be in a situation where you buy a bunch of luxury goods that are going to depreciate, and you will have nothing to show for it when the time comes. Sleep on the money a little bit.

MM: For example, when I won $1.85 million [in the 2005 World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic, the next day I bought an RV. I don’t think it was the smartest decision in the world, but I always wanted one, so I just got it. I said, “Who cares? I’m just going to get it.” Five to six months later, it had depreciated in value. When I sold it for $135,000, I lost $40,000 on it, along with the cost to store it at an outdoor resort at $1,100 a month. It was a waste of money, and it wasn’t worth it. You’ve got to be smart. Don’t just go out there and throw your money away.

I’m starting to invest my money and make very good decisions. I’m becoming more business-minded and a better poker player. I’ve been making a lot of good decisions lately, and that is why I’m back on top again.

RL: Has raising your children with Lily helped you to refocus and become financially responsible as a provider?

MM: Kids are very expensive. My number-one thing is to send my kids to good schools. I have them in a Jewish community-center school, and it costs a fortune. They are my top priority. My family comes first, and I want to provide them with the highest level of education possible. Rob has a son, as well, Vitaly, who just turned 2. I have Paul (5), Julie (4), and Joseph (2). Hopefully, they will take over our jobs, so that we can retire and stay home all day and do nothing [laughing].

RL: You have been playing professional poker for a number of years now, and have experienced both ends of the spectrum. Was there ever any point at which you thought about going into another career?

MM: There was never a point when I thought about doing something else. I always wanted to play poker ever since I was 15 or 16. At the beginning of high school, I was skipping class and going to cruise ships at night, to play $10-$20 limit hold’em or $1-$5 seven-card stud. And I would play online on Paradise Poker. It’s always been poker for me.

RL: Would you say that you are the true embodiment of the never-say-die mentality of The Grinder persona now that you’re back on top in the poker world?

MM: I think that I have one of the greatest nicknames in poker. It suits me well. I would consider myself a grinder, but sometimes I play a little crazy and I’m exactly the opposite. I got the name when I was playing online poker. Now, my kids call me Grinder, everybody calls me Grinder; it’s like I lost my first name. I never hear Michael anymore.

RL: What does it mean to have your name on the Chip Reese trophy, knowing that your name is going to be on it for eternity, and no one can ever take that away from you?

MM: If your name is on the Chip Reese trophy, you are amongst the all-time greats. Chip Reese was a legend in everyone’s eyes. Having your name on it is a poker player’s dream. I’m glad that I won the tournament, and hopefully I’ll keep on winning.

I’m going to play as many events as I can this summer. I can play every single game, so I’m going to try to play in every single tournament that I can. Maybe I will win the Player of the Year award at the World Series, and maybe I will repeat as Card Player Player of the Year. I’m going to do my best.