They call him “The Grinder” and he was down to two and a half big blinds on the final three tables. Fast forward to the penultimate tournament day of the 2025 World Series of Poker Main Event and Michael Mizrachi is on the verge of making history with more than three quarters of the chips in play with four players still in contention. He has the eyes firmly set on WSOP bracelet number eight and the $10 million top prize.
Even before the first part of the rather short-lived final table, many people in the poker community called it one of live poker's most incredible achievements and even demanded he'd be inducted into the WSOP Hall of Fame after missing out on that feat in the current year. When the final day resumes on Wednesday, July 16, 2025, there will be 234 big blinds in play and Mizrachi will have 178 of them because that's just what kind of day it has been.
After winning the $50,000 Poker Players Championship for the fourth time earlier in the summer and bringing up his bracelet tally to seven, Mizrachi reached the WSOP Main Event final table for the second time after 2010. Back then, he was the chip leader but had to settle for fifth place, and he returned with a vengeance to become the odds-on favourite with just four hopefuls out of 9,735 players remaining.
"I’m feeling great, but I’ll be feeling much better when I have 100 percent," Mizrachi said when asked about his overwhelming lead on the cusp of victory.
To get into such an overwhelming lead, Mizrachi needed some luck on his side, especially when he was all-in and at risk against the chip leader John Wasnock with ace-king versus pocket kings and spiked an ace on the river. That very hand changed everything and Mizrachi stormed to 445,500,000 in chips in just one and a half levels to increase his tally by more than half of the total chips in play.
"It was one of the best feelings. It was like when I had my firstborn. It was a great feelling. That changed everything. That ace saved my tournament and everything. Made a lot more money with that ace, for sure That was definitely the biggest card of my career. Before it was against Duhamel, when I had threes against ace-nine, but that was bigger. That pot was so huge."
Wasnock survived the tormenting tornado next to him and made it through with the second-largest stack of 94,500,000 while the other two contenders have a mountain to climb. Braxton Dunaway has 25,500,000 at his disposal while Kenny Hallaert sits at the bottom of the leaderboard with 19,000,000. Hallaert had been the chip leader on Day 6 and 7, while Mizrachi topped Day 1b to then regain the top spot two weeks later in incredible fashion.
There was also the story of Leo Margets, who became the second woman in history to reach the final table of the WSOP Main Event after Barbara Enright in 1995. Her journey ended in bittersweet fashion, but seventh place came with a payday of $1.5 million. Adam Hendrix bowed out only two hands later as the frantic pace continued to wreak havoc at the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.
The quartet has already locked up at least $3 million for their efforts but each pay jump is worth seven figures with the biggest individual pieces of the $90,535,500 prize pool still up for grabs. Many will have little doubt that it is going to be Mizrachi who is claiming the top prize of $10 million tomorrow.
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenny Hallaert | Belgium | 19,000,000 | 8 |
| 2 | Braxton Dunaway | United States | 25,500,000 | 10 |
| 3 | John Wasnock | United States | 94,500,000 | 38 |
| 4 | Michael Mizrachi | United States | 445,500,000 | 178 |
While all eyes will be on Mizrachi, the story of 50-year-old investment banker Wasnock is certainly one to remember. He has only participated in the WSOP Main Event for the second time and already parlayed that into a payday of at least $3 million with plenty of reasons to be full of confidence ahead of tomorrow's showdown.
"Still feeling good. Other than that one beat I took on the river, feel pretty good. Obviously, I feel pretty good about how that hand played, just not the result. But I still feel confident. We’ve got a couple of short stacks left. I’ve got enough chips to do some damage if it comes to that."
He didn't crumble like many others may have had after the crucial preflop contest with Mizrachi that turned the tides entirely, and remained consistent while being fully aware of Mizrachi's super aggressive playing style.
"Can’t change what happened. I still had more chips than I started the day with. We’re so deep. These pots have been so many bigs deep, sometimes unnecessarily, so it’s been going fast. But we’ve still got a lot of play if you look at how deep-stacked we are."
The final table started in unprecedented fashion as South Korea's Daehyung Lee was eliminated in the very first hand. Having raised with ace-queen, Lee flopped top pair and top kicker against chip leader Wasnock but had a mountain to climb against the bottom set of Wasnock. Some hope came with a gutshot on the turn but Wasnock rivered a full house for good measure to further cement his top spot. Just like that, the South Korean flags vanished from the rail and it wouldn't be the first clash in the opening stages.
Only a few minutes later in hand seven, the next short stack made his move. Former snowboarder Jarod Minghini raised and then called all-in when Kenny Hallaert moved all-in with the covering stack. It was a classic flip for the tournament life of Minghini, who failed to improve with ace-queen suited against pocket fours to become the second casualty.
Things became even more heated shortly after. In a limped battle of the blinds between Luka Bojovic and Adam Hendrix, the latter four-bet a queen-high flop to force a fold from Bojovic and showed six-deuce for bottom pair.
The start of the new level saw a shift in momentum when Wasnock pulled away from the pack thanks to a showdown pot against Braxton Dunaway. However, there would be a dramatic change soon after when Mizrachi got it in with ace-king against Wasnock's kings and spiked an ace on the river to let the Horseshoe Event Center burst into motion.
Little did everyone know that the drama was just getting started. Leo Margets had become the second woman ever to reach the WSOP Main Event final table and took a flip with ace-ten suited against the pocket sixes of Hallaert. An ace on the turn propelled Margets into the lead but Hallaert rivered a flush to end her run in seventh place.
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On Day 8, the Spanish poker pro had been on the other side of this coin when she rivered a flush with jacks against the ace-king of Sergio Veloso but Margets had to settle for $1.5 million this time.
Two hands later, the rail exploded yet again when Mizrachi got it in preflop with ace-king against the pocket jacks of Hendrix. The number one on the all-time money list of Alaska remained ahead on the flop but Mizrachi's fortune continued with a king on the turn, no miracle two-outer came thereafter and just like that the field was down to the final five already with fewer than two hours played.
Once Mizrachi held the commanding lead, the pressure of “The Grinder” was relentless and he soared up to more than half of the chips in play. The largest pot without a showdown also went to Mizrachi when he fired three barrels against Hallaert and was good with two pair against top pair to skyrocket up to seventy-two percent of the chips in play.
“We will rock you,” the chants came from the rail and suddenly there were five contenders left and three of them below 15 big blinds. The shortest stack belonged to Bojovic, who was at risk for eight blinds with ace-king against the ace-jack of Wasnock. Three clubs on the flop were a huge sweat for the Vienna-based grinder and the turn brought a jack to give Wasnock a huge lead. The river was a brick and Bojovic departed in fifth place.
Only a few more hands were played thereafter with most of them seeing the chips pushed to Mizrachi, and he bagged up the overwhelming lead for tomorrow's grand finale. The tournament may have even been over this evening if the action continued given the chip distribution.
"I wanted to keep going. I didn’t want to stop. We would’ve been done in an hour if we kept going. I wanted to finish it off today, but I know they can’t. They have a schedule," Mizrachi said before heading out of the Horseshoe Event Center.
| Rank | Winner | Country | Prize (in USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000,000 | ||
| 2 | $6,000,000 | ||
| 3 | $4,000,000 | ||
| 4 | $3,000,000 | ||
| 5 | Luka Bojovic | Serbia | $2,400,000 |
| 6 | Adam Hendrix | United States | $1,900,000 |
| 7 | Leo Margets | Spain | $1,500,000 |
| 8 | Jarod Minghini | United States | $1,250,000 |
| 9 | Daehyung Lee | South Korea | $1,000,000 |
Recommencing blinds in level 41 will be 1,200,000-2,500,000 with a big blind ante of 2,500,000. The second and most important part of the 2025 WSOP Main Event final table will again recommence at 2 p.m. local time on July 16, 2025, with cards-up coverage and commentary on PokerGO with a one-hour delay.
The hand-for-hand coverage on PokerNewswill follow the delay of the live stream action in order to not spoil any of the action on the final day of the 2025 WSOP in Las Vegas.
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