‘The Grinder’ Just Crushed the WSOP -- and the Poker Hall of Fame Just Crushed Its Own Credibility

^{Michael Mizrachi, standing in front of all his WSOP hardware, which this year included a surprise trophy for the Poker Hall of Fame. (Photo: courtesy of WSOP)}

The 2025 World Series of Poker couldn’t have asked for a more thrilling finale. Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, long one of the game’s most underrated pros, bulldozed a talented final table to win the WSOP Main Event and dominate the biggest stage in poker.

Celebrate the performance? Absolutely. But the poker powers’ over-the-top coronation of Mizrachi went one step too far, trampling over decades of Hall of Fame protocol in the process.

A Run That Redefined Dominance

Mizrachi’s 2025 WSOP was the stuff of legend. He began by storming through the $50,000 Poker Players Championship -- recognized as THE toughest test that a poker player can face because of its multi-game format -- to claim his fourth career title in that prestigious event (adding to wins in 2010, 2012, and 2018). That alone would’ve cemented his place in history.

But then came the Main Event. Despite barely cracking the top 1,000 after Day 3, Mizrachi mounted a steady ascent. He reentered the top 50 by Day 5, climbed into the top 20 by Day 7, and by the time the final nine were set, “The Grinder” was sitting second in chips and smelling blood.

From there, he did what Mizrachi does and devoured his opponents. In just 79 hands -- the shortest final table since 2015 -- he mowed through the field like it was a nightly home game. After a 59-hand blitz on Tuesday, he owned nearly three-quarters of all chips in play. By Wednesday, it was over. Poker had its new world champion.

To the victor go the spoils, and there were plenty for Mizrachi. In addition to the World Champion’s bracelet worth a half million dollars, the 44-year-old live and online grinder from Florida picked up a tidy $10 million to drive his lifetime earnings up to $30 million and into the Top 40 for all-time tournament earners. 

And then came a surprise no one saw coming.

Poker’s Hall of Fame Shoved All-In Without a Vote

In 2021, Mizrachi turned 40 and was nominated for the Poker Hall of Fame. At that time, he was the only player with three PPC championships to his record (Brian Rast wouldn’t win his third until 2023) but he lost out to Eli Elezra. He was nominated again in 2022, only to be leapfrogged by the late Layne Flack. Then … nothing. No nominations in 2023. Or 2024. Or even this year. Not a whisper from the fans who make the nominations.

This despite Rast -- who equaled Mizrachi’s PPC record, but did not not exceed it -- being inducted in 2023.

And then, without any public process, without fan nomination or peer voting, Mizrachi was simply and instantly inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. It came with a special trophy that was presented to him at the same time as the WSOP Main Event bracelet. 

WSOP CEO Ty Stewart praised Mizrachi for achieving “what might be the most impressive feat in poker history,” referring to his same-year takedowns of the $50K PPC and $10K Main Event. Stewart then informed the world that by unanimous vote of living members, Mizrachi was instantly inducted as the 65^th member of the Poker Hall of Fame. 

I was surprised he didn’t bring back Criss Angel to perform this magical feat. But it was a jury of poker peers at the feature table – Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, John Hennigan, and Rast – who welcomed Mizrachi to their fraternity.

It was an unprecedented break with 45 years of tradition.

Mizrachi’s Championship Titles at a Glance

Starting with his first victory in a $500 Bellagio weekly (for $21,000) in 2004, Michael Mizrachi has gone on to win 34 tournaments over a 21-year span -- in a variety of no-limit hold'em and mixed game formats. In that time, he’s recorded 289 cashes and reached more than 80 final tables. It’s a résumé built on relentless consistency and high-stakes dominance. Here are some of the bigger wins The Grinder has ground out.

Yes, He Deserves It, but Not This Way

Look, I’ll admit it: I left Mizrachi off my own list of people who should already be in the Hall of Fame. It was a massive oversight on my part, and one for which I am willing to be hoisted on my own petard. 

But the way to correct an oversight isn’t to torch the rules and bum-rush a coronation. The way to do it was to wait until 2026 -- let the fans nominate him properly, let the living Hall members cast their votes, and then give him the recognition he’s always deserved.

Instead, whoever currently holds the keys to the Hall -- Caesars? GGPoker? NSUS Group? -- just waved him in by fiat. No vote. No ballot. No transparency. And no respect for the process that has existed for nearly 50 years. (The Poker Hall of Fame was established in 1979.)

What’s the point of having rules if they’re abandoned the second they become inconvenient?

Believe me, I agree there is plenty of room for improvement for how we select PHOF inductees. And there is precedent for inducting more than one person at a time. But that's not what we saw here. If a comparable situation occurs in the future, is the process for induction going to be overridden again?

Poker Deserves Better

I am all for honoring Michael Mizrachi for what he has done in his poker career. I’m not for violating the history of poker to make an exception because a player has a magical year, or because the “fans” were not smart enough to nominate him. 

The Hall of Fame isn’t a social media poll. It’s meant to recognize not just greatness, but sustained excellence, and to do so through a consistent, credible process. When that process is ignored -- especially by the very people who enforce it -- it turns poker’s most sacred institution into a marketing prop.

Maybe this was damage control. Maybe Mizrachi’s induction was meant to be a feel-good moment after weeks of William Kassouf chaos and Martin Kabrhel controversy. But shortcuts don’t solve problems. They just create new ones.

Mizrachi had a year for the ages. He’s a living legend. But even legends should have to walk the same road as those before them.

Otherwise, the Hall becomes less a hallowed institution -- and more a game that’s rigged.