"We want to talk to The Grinder, not the monkey," we told 'em. And so here he is. Bluff recently met up with Michael Mizrachi to find out how a sweet-natured family guy could possess such a relentless, bloodthirsty ruthlessness at the table that he makes The Terminator look like R2D2. Here's what we discovered.
Bluff: Hey, Michael. Do people call you Michael these days or is it just Grinder?
Grinder: Oh, it's always Grinder. If someone shouts, "Michael" these days, I don't even turn around.
Bluff: Right then -- Grinder. You've been unstoppable recently. How the hell do you do it? What are you on?
Grinder: Sometimes I don't even know how I do it. I'm like, "Wow, this just keeps happening." Then when you stop winning, you're like, "What happened?" and you go back and analyze the patterns to see where you went wrong. But I just like to play a lot of pots cheaply and get a lot of chips early. I make sure I know my opponents, too -- whether I can bluff them or not. If you've got a lot of chips, you can take the chance and make that bluff, and you're giving yourself a second chance if the bluff goes wrong. But it's just amazing. Just recently I finished first in a tournament, and my twin brother Eric finished second. The guy at the Bicycle Club said that's the strangest thing he's seen in 33 years of poker. My tournament success has been unbelievable, but I'm trying to play a lot of cash games to even things out.
Bluff: Have you ever played in the Big Game?
Grinder: I played in the Big Game once. I took a shot with $100,000. I lasted about nine hours -- I don't think I scooped a single pot the whole session! It was a tough game, but I wasn't running good. Yesterday I played in GSN's High Stakes Poker and I won $52,000, and that was a real tough match with real good players. It was more of a grind -- that's how I got the name The Grinder, from playing cash games. I play much more conservative in cash games because there's no pressure to win lots of hands. I play carefully and make sure I don't get in a situation where I could tilt -- if you tilt in a cash game, you're going to go broke. You've got this fierce image at the table.
Bluff: Does that mean players are more likely to avoid you, or do they try to take a shot at you to put you in your place?
Grinder: Well, I've got a bluffing image. People think that I can't have a hand all the time, so they look me up. But these days, people are increasingly cautious of me. I think I have a more believable image. But I have to change my style a lot, because people watch me on TV and try to learn how I play.
Bluff: Which of your recent successes meant the most to you?
Grinder: The Borgata Winter Open. I won the tournament and, 24 hours later, my wife gave birth to a baby girl. What greater feeling is there than winning lots of money and getting the greatest prize of your life the next day?
Bluff: Congratulations, Grinder! You've got a couple of kids now, haven't you?
Grinder: Yeah, I got a boy and a girl. The boy was born in September '04. I started having a lot of success just before his birth, and I haven't stopped since. It seems that my best strategy for winning tournaments is to have kids [laughs].
Bluff: You're like this nice-guy family man who becomes a merciless killing machine when he hits a poker table. How do you reconcile these two contrasting facets of your personality?
Grinder: I'm a totally different person on and off the tables. Poker is business, and I have no friends at the table. I mean, I'm polite enough, but I want to destroy you and I want you to hate me. Off the table, I'll be your best friend. That's just the way I am. It's an image I like.
Bluff: Did you really say that you only play the $1,000 tournaments to "ruin people's dreams"?
Grinder: I think Mike Matusow quoted me saying that. It's not really true. But sometimes I like telling people when they play badly, and there are a lot of players who don't play well in those games.
Bluff: We were playing a tournament on the WPT video game last night, and we ended up heads-up against you. And we beat you! So you can't be that good.
Grinder: You beat me?
Bluff: Candy from a baby...
Grinder: [laughs] I don't know how I play on that game. They just contacted me and asked me what hands I like to play, and I told them. They made me look real skinny, too. But I'm happy to give you a live rematch if you want.
Bluff: Er ... let's change the subject. What's it like being famous? Is it strange getting recognized from your appearances on TV and video games now?
Grinder: I did have some guy come up to me the other day and say, "You're the poker player, right?" I said, "Yeah. Do you play poker?" He said, "Only on Playstation." This guy had recognized me purely from the game, which was kind of weird. But generally, it makes me feel good. Some people look up to me like I look up to my favorite sports athletes. They come up to me and say, "You're a great poker player." That's a nice feeling. I'm proud to have fans out there. A lot of people are really supportive and I appreciate that a lot.
Bluff: Let's backtrack a bit. Tell us about The Grinder's formative years. You grew up in Florida...
Grinder: Yeah, Miami Beach. Me and my brothers would play street football all the time. We were always very close to each other. We played a lot of chess, too. I used to play chess tournaments when I was 12 or 13 years old and did pretty well. I was much better then than I am now. Now I play about two games a year; but back then, I had a chessboard with me at all times and I really developed my strategic way of thinking at that age.
Bluff: And it was your elder brother Robert who introduced you to poker... Grinder: Yeah. We started going to the cruise ships and the casinos together, playing $1/$5 seven-card stud. I started playing hold 'em online, and I just had a passion for it right away. It was all I wanted to do.
Bluff: How do you rate your brothers as players now?
Grinder: Rob's very successful. He'll always be a great poker player. I'd say we're about the same level, it's just he hasn't played as many tournaments as me and hasn't had the chance to put himself out there. He's an awesome player, and so is Eric. They're Grinders, too. We're all Grinders. My little brother Daniel, who's 19, is also good. He just plays for fun, though -- he wants to be a magician.
Bluff: What did your parents think when all their sons became poker players?
Grinder: My father wanted me to go to college and he always hated gambling. My mother, though, was always happy with whatever I wanted to do. She loves poker, too -- she plays every day online. My father's fine now; he's super-supportive, and he's taken an interest in the game. He'd still probably rather I'd been a lawyer or a doctor, but he's part of the whole poker thing now. I don't think I'd be happy being a lawyer or a doctor; I love being a poker player.
Bluff: You started your career as a dominant online player. Do you still play seriously online?
Grinder: To tell you the truth, I'm not as serious as I used to be. I'm a bit of a maniac now. I have to take it more seriously. I'm probably breaking even every year -- maybe even losing a little bit. When you make so much money from live games, you start not caring -- which is really bad, I know. I'm going to have to get back to being the player I used to be. It's important to remember where you started and that money is valuable; and I have a lot of responsibilities now, so I should be more careful.
Bluff: Your predictions for this year's WSOP. Are you going to win your first bracelet?
Grinder: People are telling me they've got money on it. I have lots of hopes. My goal is to win as many as I can. If I can win one, I'll be really happy; if I win two, I'll be ecstatic; three would be unbelievable. Last year, I played around twenty events and cashed in seven, which is a pretty good record, but I was real disappointed not to make a final table. I've done a lot better in the WPT than the WSOP, but hopefully I can change that.
Bluff: One of your great strengths is being able to place your opponents on hands. Tell us about that&
Grinder: I just have very good instincts. For instance, I'm playing a hand against Mike Laing, and the board comes 10-J-4, with two diamonds. I have Kc Qc. He checks the flop and I decide to take a free card -- I know I'm going to win the pot, no matter what comes. The turn comes a four. He makes a small bet, and I just flat call to represent a strong hand. I don't think he has a jack or a ten; it looks more like he has a small pair to me. The river comes a ten and he makes another bet. I'm thinking that he wouldn't bet an ace on the river like that; it doesn't make any sense. I just know he has a small pair that has now been counterfeited, deuces or threes. I become so sure he has threes, I say, "Hey, look everybody. I'm calling with king-high because I know Mike has pocket threes." Mike looked amazed and turned his threes face up. He said, "That's why you're the greatest."
Bluff: What do you do in your downtime to help take your mind off poker?
Grinder: Actually, golf is my new hobby. It helps me get away from poker, although it's quite like poker in that it can be pretty frustrating at times. So I wanted to learn something new, and now I just love the game. I am practicing now, but when I get good, I'm gonna be playing for money -- big money.
Bluff: What car do you drive now that you're a rich man?
Grinder: I have the Cadillac Esplanade, which I won on the WPT in February; I have an M5 BMW 2006; two Navigators, 2004 and 2006; and a Mercury Grand Marquis -- that's the car I use to burn off a lot of miles, the one I don't care too much about. One of my cars got stolen at a golf course, so I decided I needed to be careful.
Bluff: Which sports team do you root for?
Grinder: Any team that involves Florida: the Miami Dolphins, the Miami Heat, the Florida Panthers, the Florida Marlins&
Bluff: What irks you at the table?
Grinder: I hate it when people slowroll -- guys that take five minutes of Hollywood and then turn over great hands. I know they're trying to suck me in and get me pissed although it won't get me pissed -- but I just don't think it's right.
Bluff: So what's The Grinder's favorite sandwich?
Grinder: I like the turkey sandwich from Subs; I've been eating that a lot. I've been trying to stay away from pizza. I love Italian food, but I gain a lot of weight eating it.
Bluff: On the subject of weight gain, what's your longestever poker session?
Grinder: My longest session was actually at The Mirage; I played for seventy-five hours. This was at a $6/$12 Limit Hold'em game about five or six years ago. I was drinking a lot of strawberry daiquiris to keep me awake -- lots of sugar. I was just running really well and making a lot of money, so I didn't want to leave. Everyone was worried, wondering where I was. I turned up three days later, with my mother demanding to know where I'd been. I went straight up to bed and passed out for a long, long time. I wouldn't recommend that to anyone, though; the longest session I'll ever play now is around ten hours.
Bluff: Can you give our readers a tip to help improve their game?
Grinder: It's important to know where you are at all times. Know when you have the best of it and when you don't. If you're unsure, remember that it never hurts to sometimes lay down the best hand -- that's OK. Take your time, don't commit all your chips on a bluff, and just try to make sure every decision is a good one. Sometimes you have only one chance to make a decision, so make sure it's the right one.
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