Michael ‘The Grinder’ Mizrachi dominated the final table of the 2025 WSOP Main Event to win the championship and a first-place prize worth $10,000,000. It’s been a memorable summer for Mizrachi in Las Vegas, who won the $50,000 buy-in Poker Players Championship a few weeks ago for a record fourth time. He continued his hot streak by taking down the prestigious $10,000 buy-in Main Event.
The Main Event victory also marked an eighth-career bracelet for Mizrachi. Only seven other players have reached that rare milestone, including English pro Benny Glaser who won his eighth bracelet earlier in the 2025 WSOP. Only six players have won bracelets than Glaser and Mizrachi, including Phil Hellmuth (17), Phil Ivey (11), Doyle Brunson (10), Johnny Chan (10), Erik Seidel (10), and (9).
Third-Largest Main Event Field in History
The 2025 WSOP Main Event attracted 9,735 entrants. The prize pool exceeded $90.5 million, and the top 1,451 places were awarded prize money. Everyone at the final table would win at least $1 million, with $10 million set aside for the champion.
The 9,735 entrants this year were the third-largest Main Event field in WSOP history. The WSOP had set a new attendance record in consecutive years beginning in 2023. The 2023 Main Event broke a 17-year record with 10,043 players and passed the pre-Black Friday record of 8,773 runners. The 2024 WSOP was even more popular with 10,112 entrants.
Mizrachi, Margets, Hallaert Advance to Final Table
For Kenny Hallaert and Mizrachi, this year marks the second time they appeared at the WSOP Main Event final table. Mizrachi finished in fifth place at the 2010 Main Event. Hallaert, a former tournament director from Belgium who now resides in London, was knocked out in sixth place at the 2016 Main Event.
Spanish pro Leo Margets made history as the second woman to secure a spot at the final table. It had been 30 years since Barbara Enright final tabled the 1995 WSOP Main Event when she finished in fifth place. Margets was also the last standing woman in the Main Event twice, including in 2009 and 2025.
John Wasnock, an investment banker from Washington state, entered the final table as the chip leader with 108.1 million. Mizrachi was second with 93 million, followed by Braxton Dunaway (91.9 million), Hallaert (80.5 million), Margets (53.4 million), Serbia’s Luka Bojovic (51 million), Adam Hendrix (48 million), South Korea’s Daehyung Lee (34.9 million), and Jarod Minghini (23.6 million).
Dunaway, an oil and gas man from Midland, Texas, considers himself an amateur. However, Dunaway was one of three final table players who won a bracelet, including Mizrachi and Margets.
Two short-stacked Americans had some experience as a pro. Hendrix grew up in Alaska before relocating to the lower 48. He banked over $10 million in career earnings. Minghini is a former pro snowboarder from Reno who won five WSOP Circuit rings.
The Grinder Dominates the Final Table on Day 9
The 2025 Main Event was one of the most memorable in over a decade, and some argue that it was the most exciting since Chris Moneymaker won the 2003 Main Event. The action was fierce, quick, and thrilling. A player busted on the first hand, two players were out in the first orbit, and five players were eliminated in the first 55 hands.
Lee became the first player to bust when his Ace-Queen lost to Wasnock’s pocket fives. Wasnock flopped a set of fives, and Lee lost his stack with just a pair of Queens. Lee earned $1 million for ninth place.
On the seventh hand, Minghini attempted to double up with Ace-Queen suited against Hallaert’s pocket fours. Hallaert’s pair held up against two overcards. Minghini exited in eighth place, which paid out $1.25 million.
Mizrachi won a pivotal pot on Hand #25 when he avoided an elimination, doubled up, and surged into the chip lead. He was involved in a pre-flop raising war with big-stacked Wasnock and got his entire 71.7 million stack all-in preflop. Wasnock led with pocket Kings against Mizrachi’s Ace-King. Mizrachi caught an Ace on the river to avoid a bustout in seventh place. Mizrachi seized the lead with 151.4 million while Wasnock slipped to 110.3 million.
Margets met her fate three hands later when her Ace-ten lost to Hallaert’s pocket sixes. Margets took the lead on the turn with a pair of Aces, but Hallaert picked up a flush draw. The river filled in Hallaert’s four flush, and he dragged the pot. Margets was knocked out in seventh place, which paid out $1.5 million.
On Hand #30, just two hands after Margets’ bustout, a short-stacked Hendrix made a final stand with pocket Jacks. Mizrachi called with Ace-King, which proved to be his lucky hand once again. Mizrachi turned a pair of Kings, which held up. Hendrix earned a payday worth $1.9 million for a sixth-place finish.
A short-stacked Bojovic had been quiet for most of the final table and patiently waited for a spot to make a move. On Hand #55, he bombed it all-in with Ace-King. Wasnock called with Ace-Jack but trailed Bojovic’s Big Slick. Wasnock flopped a flush draw and turned a pair of Jacks, which held up. Bojovic headed to the rail in fifth place, which paid out $2.4 million.
The WSOP originally intended to pause the final table with three players remaining. However, WSOP officials called an audible and halted the action with four players to go. Mizrachi was running over the final table and had amassed a monster stack that accounted for 76 percent of the chips in play with 445.2 million.
The Grinder Steamrolls the Final Four
Four players returned to the Horseshoe Casino for the tenth and final day of the Main Event. Wasnock was second in chips overall with 94.5 million. The two short stacks were Dunaway with 25.3 million, and Hallaert clung on with 19.4 million.
Mizrachi did not waste any time, and his hot run continued when he knocked out two players in the first two hands when play resumed. Hallaert made a valiant final stand with Ace-Queen against Mizrachi’s King-Jack suited on Hand #60. Mizrachi turned a Jack and dragged the pot with a pair of Jacks. For a fourth-place finish, Hallaert earned $3 million.
On Hand #61, Mizrachi rumbled with Dunaway in a battle of the blinds. Dunaway was all in with the ten-six of hearts against Mizrachi’s Ace-ten of diamonds. Mizrachi won the pot with a nut flush, and Dunaway was knocked out. For a third-place finish, Dunaway took home $4 million.
When heads-up began between Wasnock and Mizrachi, Wasnock trailed 491 million to 93.5 million. Wasnock could not rally back, and he would bust after a mere 18 hands of heads-up action.
Wasnock made his final stand on Hand #79. He flopped top two pair with Ace-nine off-suit, but opted to slowplay his hand even though there were two clubs on the board of Ad-9c-7c. Mizrachi held the 10-3 of clubs, and he improved to a club flush on the turn. Mizrachi check-raised Wasnock, who moved all-in, and Mizrachi happily called. Wasnock had some outs and could avoid an elimination with a full house of the river was either an Ace or a nine. However, the five of clubs hit the river, and Wasnock lost the hand and the tournament. For a runner-up finish, Wasnock won $6 million.
Mizrachi outlasted 9,735 players to win the 2025 WSOP Main Event. He banked $10 million for first place and also added bracelet #8 to his collection.
“The PPC (win) was pretty good,” Mizrachi told reporters after his Man Event victory. “Everything went my way. It felt like the same thing in this one as well. I had 75 percent of the chips in play today; there was no way I was not going to win.”
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