The Mizrachi brothers have been pushing each other for just about as long as they can remember. As kids, the four young grinders even went so far as to build a casino in their Florida home. Did their early start in poker bear fruit? Three WPT titles and 10 WSOP bracelets between them would say yes. Now, decades after those first nickel-and-dime games at home, it's impossible to understate their impact on poker.
PokerOrg had the opportunity to sit down with all four brothers — Eric, Michael, Robert, and Donny — for a deeper dive into their upbringing and the family's legacy.
Before the seven-figure scores
The four brothers from Florida have been on the grind since an early age, and they figured out quickly that they had a knack for cards and strategy.
“We built a casino in the house!" says youngest brother Donny, "I used to save my lunch money from middle school and elementary school to play.”
“We had a slot machine, roulette table, we had everything,” Michael adds.
Branching out into the wider world of poker, they soon found success on a bigger stage. And while that success may be well documented, the bond that kept them together never needed to be — it was in their blood.
"We definitely push each other," Donny says.
"Help each other, push each other," adds Eric, "Financially, mentally, whatever we could do."
"There were times when we went broke, and the other brother had to help us out," Michael remembers.
Outside of the family gambling festivities, the moniker 'Grinder' has been synonymous with the Mizrachi name ever since Michael adopted it as his online handle. His time at the online tables also earned him a reputation for an aggressive play style and an unrelenting drive to win pots.
Was the move from live games to the online arena a difficult one?
“We were all good at the transition," Michael explains, "We miss it because, obviously, it’s not legal in the States. But I really miss playing on Pokerstars, Paradise, and Full Tilt.”
Poker-wise, the brothers obviously had what it takes to make the transition to online play back in the day, but as Eric notes, there were other, more technical, challenges that presented themselves.
“I actually had to set everything up. These guys had no idea about computers,” he says. “So we set up Mike’s name, I set up his avatar, and I used Photoshop to make a grinder machine with faces that go in and turn into chips.”
“Poker was a lot cooler when it was a lot smaller," Eric continues, "We all traveled together and were a small tight group. Bahamas, Tunica, Vegas — we all basically went to one spot. Now there are tournaments that you got here; you got there, there are 15 tournaments going on in Vegas at one time.”
Brotherly feats
In 2005, Michael won his first World Poker Tour (WPT) title, earning $1,859,909. The following year, he won another one, this time for $1,173,373. Robert won his first WPT title some time later, in 2022, securing $894,100.
Since his WPT wins, Michael has won the WSOP Poker Players Championship (PPC) three times, in 2010, 2012, and 2018. As we speak, Robert and Michael have 10 WSOP bracelets between them — five each, with Robert winning his fifth this summer — while Eric has also been to numerous WSOP final tables, including three in 2023 alone.
Robert also brings up the infamous 2010 World Series of Poker, where he and Michael both made the final table of the $50K PPC. “The first event that year was the $50K Championship that we won. He came in first and knocked me out in fifth.”
Two brothers making the final table of one of the most coveted events of the year would have been enough, but this was just the jumping-off point for the 2010 Main Event later that year, as Robert remembers. “I think the most exciting moment in 2010 was when we all cashed the Main Event. We all got deep.”
You read that correctly; all four brothers cashed the Main Event in the same year, a feat that maybe only the Mizrachi brothers could ever pull off again.
'Poker is in our blood'
Although there may have been a time when they lived, ate, and breathed poker, they say that family always came before everything.
“Well, family will always be first, then health, then poker,” says Michael.
“Poker is in our blood no matter what," adds Eric, "It's like riding a bike for us. No matter what, we are always in the game, and we know how to evolve in it. No matter what changes happen to the game of poker, we’re in there, we make it happen.”
They have cemented their mark on this game, and even if they never win another penny in poker their names will always be in the conversation when it comes to the game's greats. But does the legacy the brothers will leave behind mean anything to them?
“It definitely matters," says Robert, "We have to take our games to the next level. We have to keep winning and be on top of our game. There’s a lot more to learn, but we can always get better. There's always more studying that can be done. You have to keep improving and winning... Heroes get remembered, but legends never die.”
And, after all's said and done, is poker still fun?
“I still wanna steal their souls, but yes!” Michael laughs. “I like to socialize and have fun at the table. People just take it too seriously.”
Eric agrees: “I’m enjoying being at the poker table, making people laugh. There's not one person that doesn’t laugh when I sit at the table.”
The game that started in the family casino may have moved onto the world stage, but it seems it hasn't lost its appeal. And with all four brothers at the WSOP once more, might we even see a repeat of their famous family achievements? Time will tell.
