Things you might not know:
- Mizrachi learned poker from his older brother Robert, and his mother.
- Mizrachi's brother Robert suggested they go check out some cruise ships and casinos to play a little poker when Michael was only 15. He started playing 1 to 5 spread limit 7 card stud and started winning immediately.
- Mizrachi wanted to become a doctor while growing up, but dropped out of college to play poker full-time after seeing his brother Robert's success.
- Mizrachi claims he never read a poker book.
- Mizrachi has a twin brother Eric.
- In 1997, Mike entered his first WSOP event playing Omaha8/better and finished second to Scotty Nguyen.
- Mizrachi is fluent in Hebrew, as his father is of Iraqi Jewish origin.
- Mizrachi credits his early days of playing online and seeing four times as many hands with advancing his game so quickly.
- Mizrachi's "The Grinder" nickname came about due to his having a very consistent and solid style of always grinding his way through tournament fields.
- Mizrachi's break out year was 2005 when he finished in 5th place in the World Poker Open, won his first WPT and had seven cashes at the WSOP.
- Mizrachi won the 2006 CardPlayer Player of the Year Award.
- Mizrachi is married to Aidilyi, who is also a good poker playing going by the nickname "Miss Grinder." They have two children.
- After his WPT win at the Commerce, he bought a tour bus for he and his family to travel the poker circuit in style. He has since sold it.
- Before the 2010 WSOP, Mizrachi was near to declaring bankruptcy due to IRS liens placed for hundreds of thousands owed in back taxes.
- Mizrachi was supposedly backed by Patrik Antonius to play all his major WSOP events, thus owing him nearly half of all his winnings.
- The Mizrachi established a new record when all four Mizrachi brothers cashed in the 2010 WSOP Main Event.
Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi is on the upswing after a few lean years. He is an active self-promoter and is launching several poker businesses to capitalize on his poker fame from having made the November 9.
When asked in an interview whether he prefers tournaments or cash games, Mizrachi said...
"I love tournaments. The do-or-die of the situation the sudden death of tournaments is the greatest feeling. I can apply more pressure because each player only has one chance and can't go back into their pocket to keep playing. You get to make more bluffs and pick your spots more. When I sit down at the table people are so intimidated by me and play so cautiously that I keep accumulating chips. In the cash games, people can play less scared since they can always reload if they make a mistake. In a tournament, it's one mistake and you're out."
A couple video interviews with Michael and the most dramatic hand he played at the 2010 WSOP ME Final Table:
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