Year Of The Grinder: Michael Mizrachi Crushes World Series Of Poker Main Event

Photo credit: PokerGO/Enrique Malfavon.

At the end of day 9 of the 2025 World Series of Poker main event, Jeff Platt interviewed overwhelming chip leader Michael Mizrachi. When asked what it would take to finish the job, the 44-year-old poker pro from South Florida simply said, “An hour.”

When the final card of the tournament landed Wednesday afternoon, it had been one hour, and five minutes, since the start of play on day 10. Mizrachi was crowned the 2025 WSOP main event champion, securing the $10 million win, his eighth career WSOP bracelet, and the most incredible double in poker history: winning both the biggest tournament of the year and the Poker Players Championship in the same year.

“I played my best poker in my life,” said Mizrachi. “Especially in the PPC. I do [well] in big buy-ins. I do [well] in small ones too. But this one, I just played my best. I never gave up. It was just fate.”

Mizrachi after winning his record fourth PPC title.

Just weeks removed from winning his record fourth WSOP Poker Players Championship title, another surprise was in store for Mizrachi. A contingent of Poker Hall of Famers, including Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, Eli Elezra, Brian Rast, John Hennigan, David Oppenheim, and Jennifer Harman, walked onto the stage.

Following a spontaneous, unanimous, 33-for-33 vote, Mizrachi was immediately inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame under extraordinary circumstances.

“What you’ve done is phenomenal,” said Hellmuth. “This is a fucking battlefield promotion… winning the main, winning the Players Championship, and now… the Hall of Fame. ”

“I mean, I was thinking next year, but [happening] this year, I can’t explain the feeling,” said Mizrachi. “It’s amazing, winning the main event, win the PPC, and now getting into the Hall of Fame.”

This win grew Mizrachi’s career tournament earnings to more than $29.1 million. This was Mizrachi’s second multi-million-dollar payday, with his first being the $2.3 million he secured with a fifth-place showing in the 2010 main event. In an interesting bit of symmetry, he also won the first of his four PPC titles that year.

The 3,300 Card Player Player of the Year points that came with this victory were enough to catapult Mizrachi into ninth place in the 2025 POY standings presented by Coin Poker. His two huge wins at the series this summer are his only qualifying scores. Both of these monumental triumphs also came with PokerGO Tour points. The 2,250 total points he accrued have moved him into first place in that high-stakes-centric leaderboard.

Wasnock: A Grateful Runner-Up

As if the short, whirlwind first day of the 2025 WSOP final table wasn’t wild enough, the field went from four players down to two after the first two hands of the day.

Mizrachi picked off both Kenny Hallaert and Braxton Dunaway to further increase his chip stack. But John Wasnock was also a tremendous beneficiary of that action. He didn’t have to do a single thing, and his guaranteed money was doubled in the blink of an eye.

“I came over to my rail and I was like, ‘You ever make $3 million in two minutes?'” Wasnock recounted.

Had one or two cards fallen differently, most particularly Mizrachi’s three-outer on the river on day 9, Wasnock very easily could have found himself in a similarly dominant position to Mizrachi at this final table. But in the aftermath of his second-place finish, Wasnock was completely satisfied with his effort, and the result.

John Wasnock. Credit: PokerGO /  Miguel Cortes.

“I mean, obviously you want to go all the way,” said Wasnock. “But given the stack sizes, my first goal was to at least get heads up. For me, that’s a big difference. I still felt like if he took them both out early, which I thought he would and he did, that I would still have a chance heads up. I was going to need some cards to come my way.”

“It didn’t fall my way, but I have no regrets with the way I played. I’m happy with this is, this has just been an amazing run. One of the best experiences of my life,” continued Wasnock. “All week, it just kept getting better and better.”

Never Tell Me The Odds

Mizrachi embodied the parable that luck is when preparation means opportunity in stunning fashion. He wielded each and every chip that he won masterfully, and was able to do so because he maximized upon the opportunity that luck provided.

On the very first hand of day 8 in this tournament, Mizrachi lost all but three big blinds when he ran A♠J♦ into Wasnock’s A♦Q♦. From that point until he reached heads-up play with Wasnock on day 10, Mizrachi went nine-for-nine in preflop all-ins. Four times, he was ahead and remained ahead. Twice, he hit his key card on the turn. And on two separate occasions, both of which saw his tournament at risk, Mizrachi hit runner-runner flushes to survive and double up.

The collective odds of Mizrachi winning all nine of those preflop all-ins, based on pre-flop percentages, were 0.275%, or about 1 in 364.

“You’ve got to get lucky at that point,” Mizrachi said of his comeback. “It’s hard to win the main event, and you’ve got to win flips. A lot of flips. I got that far through a lot of bluffs. But next year, I’m not gonna bluff anymore.”

Mizrachi’s 10th consecutive all-in victory was a little bit different, as the chips went in on the turn. But with 10 straight all-in victories, Mizrachi put an astounding exclamation point on his historic WSOP main event win.

Two Up, Two Down

The two short stacks from overnight had a lot of waiting to do in between the first and second days of final table play, only to both hit the rail just a matter of minutes after play resumed.

On the first hand of the day Hallaert got all-in with A♥Q♣. The 43-year-old poker player and tournament director open-shoved for 19,000,000 from the cutoff.  Mizrachi called with K♦J♦ from the big blind. The board ran out 10♠5♠4♠J♣9♠ and Mizrachi made top pair with a king kicker to end Hallaert’s run in fourth place.

Kenny Hallaert. Credit: PokerGO / Enrique Malfavon.

The Belgian earned $3,000,000 for his latest deep run in the main event, topping his sixth-place showing in 2016 ($1,464,258). Hallaert also finished 123rd in 2015 and 64th in 2017. He ended up with an average finish of just shy of 64th place from 2015-17, with the average field size over that three-year span clocking in at 6,793 entries.

Hallaert now has more than $9.5 million in career earnings to his name.

“Lots of emotions leaving my body, probably, right now,” Hallaert told PokerGO sideline reporter Natalie Bodie. “There’s the relief that it’s over, in a way. There’s a bit of disappointment for losing that last hand, which was a standard hand in poker. There is happiness for being fourth in the World Series of Poker main event. There’s gratefulness for having the privilege to play this tournament for I think the 17th time.”

Dunaway soon followed. The 42-year-old bracelet winner and oil and gas industry worker from Midland, Texas looked down at 10♥6♥ in the big blind on the next hand, facing an open-shove from Mizrachi with A♦10♦ out of the small blind. Dunaway elected to call for his last nine or so big blinds. The K♣Q♦4♦ flop gave Mizrachi the nut flush draw and a gutshot straight draw to go with his ace high. The 4♠ left Dunaway in need of a black six on the river. The 3♦ rolled off instead, giving Mizrachi the nuts and his second knockout.

Braxton Dunaway finishes 3rd in the @WSOP Main Event for $4,000,000.

Another unforgettable performance 2 years after his breakout bracelet win! 🏆

Watch LIVE on https://t.co/v5qF0qsSw4 pic.twitter.com/A7BQ0MF8kF

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) July 16, 2025

This third-place showing was worth $4,000,000 to Dunaway. This was his second seven-figure score, having won $1.16 million as the champion of the 2023 WSOP monster stack. His overall haul on the tournament circuit now sits at more than $5.5 million.

Closing Out A Legendary Victory

It was 491,000,000 for Mizrachi and 93,500,000 for John Wasnock of North Bend, Washington. The 50-year-old investment consultant and father of four was the chip leader to start the final table, but lost a crucial all-in with pocket kings against Mizrachi’s A-K that shot ‘The Grinder’ up into the top spot.

Wasnock got off to a positive start, winning two decent-sized pots after Mizrachi took a few small ones to start. Any progress that he made was erased, and then some, when his top pair of kings ran into the eighth-high straight of Mizrachi.

Both players had flopped a pair of kings, with Mizrachi’s superior kicker eventually improving to the straight on the end. Mizrachi made a chunky value bet on the river and Wasnock quickly called, falling to 48,000,000 after receiving the bad news. That gave Mizrachi more than an 11:1 chip advantage. Wasnock managed to bounce back a bit from that, but was still well behind when the final hand of the tournament was dealt.

Wasnock min-raised to 5,000,000 from the button with A♠9♦ and Mizrachi defended with 10♣3♣. The flop came down A♦9♣7♣ to give Mizrachi a flush draw. He checked to Wasnock, who checked behind with his top two pair. The 4♣ turn completed Mizrachi’s flush. He checked and Wasnock bet 10,000,000. Mizrachi check-raised to 30,000,000, gesticulating to his rail before throwing the double thumbs up to indicate his raise.

Wasnock moved all-in for 61,000,000 total and Mizrachi quickly called. The 5♣ completed the board and Mizrachi’s flush earned him the pot and the title.

The 2025 @WSOP Main Event Champion is Michael Mizrachi! 🏆@TheGrinder44 takes home $10,000,000 and the @WSOP Main Event bracelet.

He is also the newest member of the Poker Hall of Fame. pic.twitter.com/Ftv9ywdUB3

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) July 16, 2025

Wasnock earned $6,000,000 as the runner-up. Prior to this run, his top score had been the $56,330 he secured for a win in a $550 buy-in at this year’s Spring Poker Round-Up at Wildhorse Resort Casino in Pendleton, Oregon.

Final Table Results