The Scoop -- Michael Mizrachi

Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi recently won the World Series of Poker $50,000 Players Championship, and is the owner of two World Poker Tour titles. He won the Card Player 2006 Player of the Year award, and has cashed for more than $8.8 million. He spoke to Adam and Diego of The Scoop about his recent big win.

Diego Cordovez: When you got to the final table, I thought that it really played to your advantage, because it became straight no-limit hold’em. Even when you were three-handed and you were low on chips, you were much more of a no-limit player than the two guys you were up against, even though they are great players, because you have won a lot of no-limit tournaments.

Michael Mizrachi: When I make a final table in no-limit, it seems that I usually close it out pretty well. I’ve been in situations where I was the shortest stack going in, and I ended up having almost all of the chips by the time we were three- or four-handed. It was almost that situation … but you know what? I thought [David] Oppenheim played really well in this tournament. He came back from nothing and made it up to 10 million, but then I found a way to make a comeback. I took a coin flip against him, with a lot of money in the pot; I thought he had a medium pair, and I had K-Q. I knew that if I knocked him out, I’d be heads up with the lead, so I thought it was the right call.

Adam Schoenfeld: This is your third seven-figure score; very few people can say that. When you’re sitting there at the final table, does the enormity of the cash start weighing on you, or do you still feel totally comfortable?

MM: Well, I always feel comfortable. I mean, I haven’t even felt this tournament yet. People are like, “Wow, you won one of the greatest tournaments that anybody has ever won,” but I look at every tournament as just another tournament. It’s a series of tournaments that we have to play, so I’m just moving on to the next one. Maybe after the World Series is over, I’ll have the high and be like, “Wow, I can’t believe I won the Poker Players Championship.”

DC: Maybe it’s the timing of it, because most people are already $50,000 in the hole, and you are freerolling for the rest of the event.

MM: That’s true.

DC: The story line, which was great, was that you and your brother Robert both made the final table. Obviously, you are very happy for each other, but it’s also awkward when you are at the final table. Was there any awkwardness from the other players?

MM: Well, I don’t know how uncomfortable the other players were … but it’s a weird situation and it’s going to happen, where siblings make a final table. I know that it happened before.

DC: It seems like more of a disadvantage than an advantage in a lot of ways, because you feel like you are scrutinized, and you might not make a play that you otherwise would make.

MM: Yeah, sometimes people are like, “Why didn’t you make that call? Usually, Grinder would make that call.” I don’t want people to think we’re playing together, so I made sure of that by knocking him out in fifth place (laughing).

I made a raise with Q-J, and when we got all in, everybody was looking at me and saying, “Let’s see who your mom is going to favor.” She screamed out, “Jack!” She thought that Rob had Q-J; obviously, she was confused, because I had Rob covered and she wanted him to stay in. Rob had A-10 and I had Q-J, and after I won the hand and Rob was knocked out, she started crying, “How could you do that?” So, you’ll see that on TV; it will be funny.

DC: You made your mother cry, though.

MM: So, the next day, she asked Rob for a bonus, and he said, “No, you were rooting for Grinder; have him give you the bonus!” So, I had to give her some money.

AS: That’s fair.