Getty Image / Jeff Bottari
Audio By Carbonatix
Prior to the conclusion of the 2025 World Series of Poker Main Event on Wednesday afternoon in Las Vegas, chip leader Michael ‘The Grinder’ Mizrachi was asked what it would take for him to win it all. He joked ‘about an hour.’
Almost exactly one hour later, Michael Mizrachi would make poker history by winning the Main Event, his 8th WSOP bracelet, cementing his name as one of the all-time greats and poker, and being immediately inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.
Michael Mizrachi Wins World Series of Poker Main Event, Gets Hall of Fame Nod
The latter, the Poker Hall of Fame induction, came as a shock. According to a post on X, the Poker Hall of Fame Committee met and unanimously voted to induct Michael Mizrachi into the HoF after his feat.
The reason given for the unprecedented Hall of Fame decision speaks volumes. WSOP wrote that Michael Mizrachi’s surprise induction was “for not only an outstanding career but pulling off the most incredible performance that the WSOP has ever seen.”
For years now, maybe even decades, the poker world has bemoaned the fact that the top poker pros will never win the Main Event again because of the field size. There are simply so many players in the field each year that luck gets the best of the top players in the game.
This year, Michael Mizrachi, one of the all-time great poker players, also had luck on his side.
Two WSOP bracelets in a month
The Main Event wins was The Grinder’s 12th cash at the 2025 World Series of Poker and he came into the most prestigious tournament in poker on a heater.
On June 27th, Mizrachi won Event #66: $50,000 Poker Players Championship for $1,331,322. It was his 7th World Series of Poker gold bracelet and his 4th time winning the Poker Players Championship, a record amongst players.
With the momentum on his side, Michael Mizrachi could not be stopped in the Main Event. There were times it looked like he was on the outs but the Poker Gods™ were on his side.
On Day 8 with 24 players remaining, Mizrachi was all-in for his last 2.3 million chips with Ad6s. He saw two spades on the flop and hit runner-runner spades to make a flush.
From there, he went on to dominate the field in a way the World Series of Poker has never seen before. The Grinder could not be stopped.
After winning, Michael Mizrachi told PokerNews “it was a crazy hand. I think, after all these days. I couldn’t even see the cards. I thought he had the ace of clubs, then I thought he was drawing dead. And then they said, no, no, he has two pair. I didn’t even realize that.”
He went on to say “I thought he was drawing dead. I thought maybe he just had a nine. I was just blacked out at that point. I knew I was winning.”
PokerGo just released a video of every big hand from the 2025 World Series of Poker Main Event final table. In normal years, a video like this would be hours long but there was nothing normal about the 2025 Main Event. Mizrachi made mince meat of his competition:
‘The Grinder’ Cemented As A Poker Legend
He was already considered to be one of the all-time poker greats but winning the Main Event, and doing it the way he did, has moved Michael Mizrachi to the highest tier of the game amongst his peers.
With this win, Mizrachi moved to #3 on the all-time World Series of Poker money list with $20,985,514 career earnings, only trailing Antonio Esfandiari and Daniel Negreanu. He is now tied for 7th all-time with 8 WSOP bracelets.
And in normal years, only one player gets inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. For 2025, that induction went to Nick Schulman. But again, there was nothing normal about Michael Mizrachi’s year and they made the decision to induct him on the spot.
Just an incredible run and one we will likely never see matched again in poker.