Michael Mizrachi said he would finish off the final table in an hour. This was belief, not arrogance. He said he felt like he was going to win the whole thing on Day 7 and predicted “trouble” if he got a deep stack.
He got that deep stack and played true to his word in the wildest Main Event final table we've ever witnessed.
Day 1 of the 2025 WSOP Main Event final table was quick. We got down from nine to four in around five hours. Day 2 looked like it might be over before we'd sat down.
Mizrachi sent Kenny Hallaert to the rail on the first hand, then knocked out Braxton Dunaway on the very next.
Hallaert got it in good with 
but Mizrachi had the poker gods on his side, and his 
connected on the turn of the 
runout.
Dunaway tried to get it in bad and win, but Mizrachi is running both ways at the moment. Mizrachi shoved the small blind with 
and Dunaway called with 
. Dunaway was the clear short stack, but this was a big gamble with a $2 million difference between second and third.
The 
flop gave Mizrachi an iron grip on the hand. Only a black six would save Dunaway, and he didn’t find it on the turn or river. Braxton was done and away.
Thankfully there was a break at this point so we could catch our breath and watch the money come in.
The unstoppable Michael Mizrachi
Mizrachi was on the cusp of making history, but recreational player John Wasnock was likely the happiest person in the building. He’d played two hands, folded two hands, and just made $3 million. That’s an hourly rate of around $60 million.
Would it be over in three hands? Sadly — though not for Wasnock — it wasn’t.
But it felt like it was only a matter of time before Mizrachi closed off a feat that probably won’t ever be done again. Winning the $50K Poker Players Championship is hard enough. Winning that and then going on to win the Main Event with a field of around 10,000 players is a statistical anomaly — so much so that players like Daniel Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth had campaigned to have Mizrachi put straight into the Poker Hall of Fame if he did it. Hold that thought for now.
Heads-up lasted a while, but Wasnock couldn’t stop the unstoppable. He lost with his first all-in heads-up, and the look on Wasnock’s face afterwards showed that he still wanted to win it — and probably thought he had won the last hand until Mizrachi flipped his cards.
They think it's all over... it is now
Wasnock raised with 
and Mizrachi defended with 
.
The 
flop gave Wasnock two pair and Mizrachi a flush draw. The action went check-check and Mizrachi's flush came in on the 
turn.
What happened next was unique. MIzrachi checked, Wasnock bet 10 million, and Mizrachi turned to his rail and started urging them to make some noise.
They obliged, and he raised it to 30 million. Wasnock wasn't deterred. He moved all-in, Mizrachi snap-called and wheeled away to his rail to celebrate.
He came back for a look at the cards and shouted to his rail, "It's over, it's over, let's go!" He threw his hat off and screamed, "Let's f*****g go!"
But this wasn't over yet.
Someone whispered in his ear, and he rushed back to look at the board again. "Oh s**t, ace or nine, I didn't see that. S**t."
This was a 153 million pot. If an ace or nine hit, Wasnock would be right back in it, and Mizrachi would have to compose himself, locate his cap, and play on. Wasnock only had a 9% shot, though, and the way Mizrachi was running, that was probably more like 0.09%.
The 
river meant it was all over.
Except the good news wasn't over for Mizrachi. Surrounded by poker legends like Phil Ivey and Jen Harman, he was snap-inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.
Party time for Mizrachi and friends
Talking afterward, Mizrachi said, "I can't even fathom this. I got this far with a load of bluffs, but next year I can't bluff anymore. I didn't really expect an hour... two, maybe.
"I played the best poker of my life. It was just fate. I knew I was going to win it. I can't explain the feeling. It's amazing."
It wasn’t hard to guess the answer to the next question: what was he going to do tonight?
"A very big celebration," he said. "I've got a lot of people with me, but we can afford it."
Asked what it felt like to do something that’s unlikely to be repeated, Mizrachi had the perfect response:
"What do you mean? We're going to do a repeat next year."
2025 WSOP Main Event payouts
- Michael Mizrachi — $10,000,000
- John Wasnock — $6,000,000
- Braxton Dunaway — $4,000,000
- Kenny Hallaert — $3,000,000
- Luka Bojovic — $2,400,000
- Adam Hendrix — $1,900,000
- Leo Margets — $1,500,000
- Jarod Minghini — $1,250,000
- Daehyung Lee — $1,000,000
2025 WSOP Main Event chip race
How did Mizrachi end up with all the chips? Watch the race to the bracelet below.
