650 - MICHAEL “The Grinder” MIZRACHI - The Man Who Partied Himself Into Poker Hall Of Fame (WSOP Winner)

35:02So since then, you've not had a normal job? No, since I was 21, that was the last time. Wow. 24 years ago. I need time to process that. And you've got super sperm as well. Super sperm, yeah. I don't miss. Yeah. I think out of 300 guests we've had on this show, I think you're the most confident. Yeah. Use condoms. So when did you, so you go to this casino in Connecticut, you say? Yes. And you play for 30 days straight and you're leaving the casino every single night with money. I think I won like for 30 days, almost 70 ,000. It's not bad when I was 21 years old. What was your bankroll before that?

35:47When I started playing there, I was probably like, I would say 10 ,000 bucks. Nothing crazy. And back then. 7X'd it, something like that. That's pretty insane, yeah. So back then when you're walking into that. But I had a nice car too. I had a convertible BMW. I still like, I mean, I had more. I don't remember exactly what I had, but I had money. How'd you get that if you were a busboy? Well, that was when I was 18. I was playing poker from 19 to 12. I was still playing for the last three years. Right. Yeah, so I quit when I was 18. Did you never feel like when you're doing the busboy job, you're leaving that job earning only tips, she said.

36:17Yeah, tips, I know you get a wage, a small wage. Back then it was really small. But you'd go home, play poker online. Play poker online, a little bit here and there. I play like small games, you know, nothing crazy. Would you not feel - Like$50,$100 buy-ins, nothing crazy. Yeah. Would you not feel like if you weren't way more doing that, you'd be a bit like, why am I doing the busboy thing? Well, I knew poker was for me and I was like, yeah, I'm done with this job. This is not for me anymore. Did you always know you were going to be a poker player? I always knew that because I was probably playing when I was 13, 14 years old, playing for baseball card comic books and stuff like that.

36:49So I always knew. It's in the blood. My mom loves to play poker. My dad just started playing now. So now he's every day at the poker table. He just retired. He's 78. So now he's seen playing. I just saw him in Vegas. He was in a Venetian casino with me. He was watching me play. He was playing. So now he's been playing every day poker. Is he any good? People tell me he's really tight. so I like he's very you know just waits for good cans basically yeah yeah he just started getting he's always played but he didn't play like this he never now he's been playing a lot I heard he's been at the casino every day playing so he enjoys it you know he's retired and God bless him he's been working his whole life yeah I mean so my mom plays every day a lot of it and all of us like the family brothers love to gamble so I had one of your brothers is a DJ Donnie's a DJ yeah he's a producer slash DJ he played in Vegas a few times back now I was managing him, played in Europe a couple times.

37:42But now he's making a lot of music, yeah. You have a pretty cool family, don't you? Yeah. Eric, my twin brother, lives in Vegas, and Robert lives in Florida. So, yeah. You said that before you were gambling for money, you were gambling for baseball cards and stuff like that. Baseball and comic books, yeah. You must have an extensive selection. To tell you the truth, I probably had a lot. I just can't find them. They were in garbage bags. I think I threw them all. I don't know. I remember. Probably expensive cards, too. I don't know what happened. You know, with the - baseball card those those those crazy like they just sell these cards 20 million 15 i'm like what the hell you probably had something nah not that much i probably i probably had a couple thousand dollar cards maybe i don't know well in lockdown it was pokemon that boomed wasn't it logan paul and all that they sold a pokemon card for like 16 million something yeah the other day 15 million or 15 yeah the one that he's got on the chain yeah yeah have you met logan paul i haven't met him no what's your opinions on logan paul i don't know if i don't know him i really can't see i from what I see.

38:37He seems like a cool guy. I don't know. Big Paul and him. They seem really cool. I met him once. He was quite scary. Yeah? Scary? Yeah. I'd said some not really nice things about him on the podcast before. Yeah. Were your hands sweaty? Always. That's a given. Not as sweaty as they are right now. So when we had Jason Kuhn on this show a couple of years ago, who we loved to bits, he's a great guy, he told us that his motivation for getting into poker was because he wanted to impress like the tough kids and he wanted to be bigger than them. What was your main motivation for becoming really good at poker?

39:11Well, obviously you want to make all the money in the world. I mean, I think the biggest motivation is watching Rounders. I don't know if you've seen the movie Rounders. Yeah, yeah. Back in the day, it was with Matt Damon and Edward Norton. Yeah. So I think that's what inspired a lot of people. We got people who wanted to play poker, and that's like, I think the movie came out in maybe 99. Yeah, right. Yeah, there or thereabouts. So that's one of the classics. So, you know, just watching the hustle, going to private games. It's like the same thing as my life. Same thing I exactly do. But my actual girlfriend would want me to play, not play.

39:44In the movie, like, that's why they got divorced and separated because he was playing poker. My would be like, you better go play. How did you get good at poker? Like, did you have to study the game a lot or was it just from constantly playing? You know, what's funny is like I never really studied before. That's why mine's more old school, like just instincts. like I'm very different than everybody else you know they do the GTO and all the studying and all that stuff I just me I'm just more old school I just I just know what you're gonna do before you do it and it's the way I think it's a lot different than everybody else yeah I've heard you say before the phrase no more robots yeah I'm dumb yeah those I'm dumb yeah I can't stand those like people wear their hoodies the guys I don't wear anything I'm just like this I don't change the way I don't put glasses on nothing is it fair to say Jason Coon's a bit of a robot or no no actually he's really cool to play with.

40:29He's a lot of fun to play with. Because he's like, he's somebody who's like, and again, I don't know too much about poker, but I'd assume he's like GTO. He's like locked in. He knows like the, but he's, he's fun to play with. There's a lot of people that aren't fun to play with. And he's, he's, he's a really cool guy. And he's got a really good, great personality. So I'm getting it mixed up then. So, so when you say no more robots, I don't, I feel like people like that play really slow. They put their hoodies on, they have their glass sunglasses on and they just like move slow like this, you know just take like a minute like hollywood every every every every time it's on them that's where i put a lot of shot clocks in poker now yeah do you do you like that yeah i could i know my decision one second do you super fast yeah if i want to play faster than anybody no one can play faster than me in poker well even if you're even i play like i used to play speed chess like yeah i used to play actually chess tournaments i was 13 too i'm not good anymore but yeah does that make you harder to read because obviously normally if someone's like taking a while over a decision you might be i'm just harder i always have this smirk on my face now people always think i'm bluffing i'm known to bluff like everyone's like every hand i'm bluff so i try to minimize the bluffs as much as i can because i know i'm using that against them because they're they're taught like me for bluffing a lot so i try to maximize as much i can when i'm not bluffing yeah as much to extract as much chips i can from them i'm struggling to believe that you don't study poker because you're so great i i don't study i mean i'm basically learning as i'm playing but that's what and i'm learning i can rewind to hands what i've done wrong and then just fix it up do you remember and then i i just knowing the player what i could do or or like it doesn't matter what habits what you think i have so it doesn't matter i can have i can have seven deuce in a man i can make you think i have aces so i'm gonna if i'm gonna play a seven deuce i gotta make and want you to think it's aces i gotta play them like aces but then if you don't study how do you know the the perfect way to play aces every time i just it's 30 years of experience i mean i do it every day yeah it's not a big deal and then and you gotta know who you're playing with as well so i like a lot of guys that play with every day i already know how they play so it's like is it is it hard to play against people that you've not played against before that makes it a little bit tougher but i play really good against bad players so i'm known to play really good against bad players so are you saying that if we played now we could beat you?

42:43You have no shot you never even cashed. It's not hard to play against someone who if they don't even know what they're doing. You might get your first cash if it's three-handed. Right. But if that person doesn't even know what they're doing how are you meant to know what they're doing? Well um I just figured out just knowing their skill level just the way they said that when they said the table just they're just just that they're comfortable or not just a lot of things I look for uh into a player and I could just tell if they're beginning or not just the way they play hands it only take me take me 10 to five you know it's in round this is 30 minutes to know if you can't find the sucker at the table you are the sucker yeah yeah so this i could figure out like five ten minutes if they play well or not and i'll just figure them out because i'll pick them apart eventually i don't play poker often so i always forget the hands so i put it up on my phone sometimes and just so i can see what the hand is a flush better than a straight oh that's a big problem you know the hand rankings you shouldn't even play poker at all how would you feel playing against me bring out the deck

43:42i'm ready i've got a big question for you um so when i started working with 888 poker as an ambassador i a lot of well not a lot but there was a small minority of people online that had a big problem with that with me and would call me out um for promoting gambling right no they were saying oh you speak to people on this podcast who have gambling addictions and then you go and take a gambling sponsorship i was i'm i'm of the belief that poker is more of a skill based game there's elements of gambling what's your what's the grinder's opinion on that well let's base it on results so uh i've done really well for myself so uh when i when i'm playing poker against i think the best players in the world i think this i mean like when you're playing somebody like as bad as you are you say as bad yeah i think the skill factor there's no the luck doesn't even matter because the skill is going to crush you you're gonna you have no shot of winning right but like When you're playing against the best players in the world, they're probably 1 % or 2 % better.

44:35Against you, you can't win. You might win one match, yeah, because cards don't have brains. You might win one match. You might get lucky. The best move for you to go against me is probably just shove all in, and hopefully you're getting 30 % dog or your 4-1 dog. You're going to win one of those, right? Right. But for a lot of players, just that 1 % or 2 % makes that huge difference. And there's a lot of, obviously, a lot of skill of me winning the Poker Players Championship four times. I actually came fourth in it as well. I almost won it for five times. Yeah. But, you know, obviously a lot of skill into poker, winning the main event.

45:08I mean, there's a skill. It's not the same thing as going to play roulette, blackjack. This is my point. Yeah, this is my point. Or like sometimes slot machines. But it's not the same thing. Poker is a skilled game and should be allowed everywhere in the world. Before we get into your 2025 main event win, which is just fantastic. It's incredible. I want to know a bit about your biggest wins away from poker. What's the most you've won on roulette? What's the most you've won on blackjack or on a slot machine? Yeah, there's more slat stories than happy stories, that's for sure. But this is happy hour.

45:40So I would say my biggest win in roulette, I started with$1 ,000, I turned into a quarter million. I'm probably still up in roulette. I'm probably up in roulette and slot machines in Lifetime. But probably a quarter million. But then I blew$167 ,000 back in Baccarat. in the last, those three days. This is a long time ago. Yeah. I had stories where I bought it for$100 in Baccarat. I turned to 96 ,000. I only have a few good stories. And one story, I was down exactly 204 ,000 in Baccarat, but I don't play it anymore. I had eight, a hundred, one crumpled$100 bills in my pocket. So I had$800 left.

46:16Yeah. I took that$800 and I ran it to 204 ,000. And then I said, my friend's like, and I had my friend betting for me because the limits were 15 ,000. So I was the only way I can get back if I'm betting 30 ,000 in. So I had my friend come in and bet for me 15. I was betting 15 for me. And then I got to 204 ,000. And I was like, oh, quick, quick. You got even. I said, no, I need the white meat. I won a 4 ,000. I ended up leaving with 208 ,000. I won 4 ,000. That session was the happiest 4 ,000 ever won. Wow. So I mean, I have some crazy stories. Lots of crazy stories. A lot of bad stories. I mean, you know, poker I've lost in cash games.

46:48I lost maybe over 100-something thousand twice. But I won over that, too, in a few sessions. There is so much NFL on ESPN right now. Monday night football, plus pregame and postgame. NFL Live, NFL primetime. Everything you need to stay on top of every game, every week. Unbelievable. And now NFL Network is on the ESPN app. More football, more coverage, more ways to watch. Football's on, all season long, on ESPN and streaming on the ESPN app. This episode is brought to you by ChatGPT. Hey, it's Bill Simmons from the Bill Simmons Podcast. Have you guys heard about ChatGPT work? It's the new way to use ChatGPT for bigger multi-step projects.

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48:51So basically every$100, you bet you're going to lose 5.26. Yeah. And if you want to play, play the European wheel, which is 2.63%. It's only a single zero. But I don't play. I play once in a while. I don't do it every day. I did one sports bet last night on the plane ride just to get a little sweat. So I put in a sports bet. Obviously, I lost. And then you came here and got a little sweat off you. You got a little sweat off you, yeah. You have it in America. They have the triple zeros as well, don't they? on the roulette yeah so that's uh your 7.89 underdog in that one so uh that's like i don't know why the casinos would put that in i think it's just like why would somebody play triple zero when you could play a single zero yeah or even double zero like your odds are way worse and then i just hated the casinos put that in i just feel like it's kind of like like a robbery but whatever it's slap in the face i get mad i get kind of upset when people play it but i can't see anything right right that when you won the quarter of a million on roulette well there's no you can't single zero yeah right but you can't have there's no there's no way to beat roulette right i mean there is but uh it's there is but there no one does it anymore it's probably timing the speed of the ball so you know what section's more likely it's going to land in can you do that sections i can't i'm not trained for that and if i did i wouldn't tell you We had a card counter on here a while back.

50:14We did, yeah. Yeah, there's a lot of good blackjack players, card counters, yeah. There's a lot, but they don't last very long. They get blacklisted and they get kicked out and they can't play anymore. So the edge is small, but you're going to make money in the wrong one for sure. You're going to make a lot. You're probably 2 % edge on the casino. Right. Casinos don't like it when the people win, do they? Of course they don't like it when they win. There's the technique on roulette, isn't there, where if you say you pick a colour and then you just double your bet each time, you double your stake each time.

50:38It's like a Martin Gill theory. maybe. Maybe you're talking about Martin Gil. If you lose, you're saving a$100 unit, you lose about$200, you lose about$400. When you win it back, you start back at$100. Until you lose 10 in a row, then you're dead busted. The only way you could actually probably win in the casino, if you could bet as much as you want. The reason why you can't win in the casino is because they limit your bets. And they have unlimited money and you don't. That's the reason why a casino is a big favorite. Because if you had no limits, and you're a billionaire, the casino's 100 % going to lose to you because that's the way I'd play.

51:13You'd just keep doubling. Double it, that's yeah. Until eventually. You have to win, yeah. The casino can't win, it's impossible. If you're a billionaire and there are no limits, you can't lose. Do you have any... It's just mathematics. Yeah, do you have any sort of, what's your best tactic, your best theory, without giving us too much away? So some people like to do thirds, some people cover the same amount of numbers. Do you have a... You can't actually generate that. I mean, I like getting paid$35 to one the maximum I can get paid and the maximum bet usually. So I've done like the other day, like I would say like two, three weeks, within a month ago, I had free play at a casino.

51:51So I took that$325. I played slot machines and won$40 ,000 with the$325. Then I went to roulette. I lost it in 30 minutes to$40 ,000. So I feel like I lost 40, but I broke even. I started with$0. But that's like the last, that's the most I've lost in a long time,$40 ,000. So your advice for us on roulettes to just not play it? If you just, you know, what you're comfortable with, you know. Yeah, not play it. Take a small shot, a few hundred bucks. If you lose, leave. What's the most you ever bet on one number on the roulette whale? One up$2 ,000, which paid$70 ,000. You get back$70 ,000, you get back your two, so you get back$72 ,000.

52:23When it came in. Yeah, of course it came in. Of course it came in. But, because I was stuck. The max you let me bet was$1 ,000. I think my brother put$1 ,000 for me and I bet$1 ,000. yeah so I was most ever bet on one straight number two thousand dollars that is mad to me I get nervous if I put a quid on yeah you're not for that gambler life that's why I do good in poker I have no fear I'm not afraid to like take those risks and I put a lot of pressure on people and I like I play like I play the main event final table like it's a home game with my family yeah you do and I try to make it fun and a great experience for people when they play against me yeah that makes such a difference like even if we'd play at your house even at like the first like blinds right at the start if someone starts going higher and i'm like we just started like you're tight don't do yeah i'm very tight you play like mike's dad yeah that's what that is i'd get on with your dad what's your what's your opinions on las vegas as a whole do you do you enjoy that place i mean i'm there every month i'm always at the venetian casino have my own game every month over there uh so it's grinder's game i have it and i have my own tournament there as well the bounty term you get knocked me out you get it you get money for knocking me out but i'm Yeah, I love Vegas.

53:31I mean, I actually like the weather better now than the summer because it's a lot colder. Summer's grueling. It's really brutal. But that's a great time to play poker because you always want to be inside. You never want to go outside because it's so hot. I mean, they have the pool parties and stuff like that. Do you get involved in the pool parties? I used to. I might have done one pool party this summer, last summer. I don't think I did many because I was always stuck in an event. I got deep in every event. But I do it once in a while. But it's so hot in the summer. I hate that dry heat. I love it.

54:00I love it. I love it now. I'm ginger. So I burn so easy. Where do you stay when you're in? Always. I always have Venetian Palazzo. So that's my home base. Actually, my car is in the employee parking right now. Really? My car is in the employee parking at Venetian Casino. You just leave it there? Yeah. Well, I work with them. So, you know, I'm under contract with them. So I have my own parking spot. Are you like Las Vegas mob boss when you're there? Are everyone just chucking the keys at you? I'm very close to the guys high up there. I've got friends with a lot of people, but they treat me like a king, that's for sure.

54:33Free rooms? Yeah, well, Venetian, yes. A lot of casinos, I do get free rooms. I like to give some action, so they give me free rooms. Is it true, this might be bollocks, but is it true that you can give them a list of stuff you want and it will just be in your room? You could ask for a real flamingo and shit like that. uh like the hangover and put like a line in there whatever a tiger whatever yeah yeah yeah uh i don't probably make it happen i'm sure we could we could do something i mean be cool if i had like slot machines in my room i can just play at night and i don't have to leave the room or something like that your brother plugs it in the middle yeah something cool like that right now before we let you go mate we want to obviously talk about the wsop the main event you are the what's it called the current holder of the title the 20 25 winner of the main event And for the listeners who don't know poker, it is the most prestigious poker tournament in the world.

55:27In the world, yes. It's the Super Bowl of poker. How many people, we're going to ask you really sort of like basic layer like questions here, but how many people enter it each year? Well, last year was 9 ,735. And I feel like this year, because last year I won it, it's going to bring a lot more players. I think we're going to, this year is going to get about 10 ,200 for 2026. Is that your prediction? 10 ,200 is the number I'm going to get. What, because you're going to bring new? I think more players, just because I won it last year, just made it a lot bigger. Did it? I think it makes it bigger, yeah.

55:57Or maybe some people are like, we have no chance if he won it. Or it can go the other way. But I just feel like a lot of people are happy for me that I won it. You know, it's been a while since like a big-name pro won something like that. It's very rare for that to happen to what I did. So I think it's going to get a lot more players this year. And then we have one. We actually have one in Bahamas too, the GG Poker. we have the the paradise one the super main we do the super main in friday in december which play first place paid 10 million as well so is that going to get that's going to have that's going to have record-breaking numbers too so both of them yes for sure and how much is it to enter that one was uh the super main was 26 000 to enter and the main event is 10 000 the one in vegas and this is probably the craziest answer we're going to ever get to any question here on this podcast but how much did you win for winning that one tournament well first place was 10 million for the main event.

56:49And then the Poker Players Championship was like 1.1, 1.2. So it was like 11 million in two weeks, three weeks, whatever it was, man. So it was pretty good. That's insane. Is the bracelet worth a decent whack as well? Well, I think if I was going to sell, it would kind of be like a Pokemon card or something crazy like that. If I was to sell it, which I probably wouldn't, but if things go bad, maybe. I don't think they are. But they said they paid 100-something thousand for it. and I hear crazy prices but if I was to sell it I'd probably sell a couple million if somebody wanted to buy it right now if I was going to sell because I wanted it's like if somebody offered me 2 million I'd probably sell it would you?

57:282 million dollars that's offering it and great Britain pounds not dollars well does it not have more sentimental value I mean yeah but I mean whatever I mean I'll take a few pictures with it that's it when I give it away but I'm sure if I ever want to see it again whatever but 2 million is 2 million I'd still sell for two million. But that's the, this surprises me because to me, two million is two million. To you, two million is 10 bucks. Like, it's not 10 bucks. Two million is two million. Of course. But, well, you know what I mean? Like you have so much money now. Like what, what, what difference is it going to mean going to the ATM and seeing another two in there?

58:04I mean, cause I can make a lot more with the two million. I mean, I, you know, I can, it's an investment. Yeah. Do you invest in it? Well, I'm now, I'm looking to, I'm doing a few things right now. I'm doing a few problems. I'm just looking at it. I'm starting. We'll see. I mean, I've done a little bit of investments right now, but we'll see. I just, I mean, I haven't seen the bracelets. I haven't seen the one they made. What's the difference? I have it in the safe. Right. And I haven't seen it in seven months. So I'll pretend it's still in the safe if I sold it. What do the players do with their bracelets?

58:32Like, you're not wearing it out and about, are you? I mean, if things go bad, it could be in their pawn shops. I mean, things go bad. I mean, seeing people like, you know, desperate times, you know, a bit of poker, you know, I've seen the ups and downs. like a roller coaster ride yeah yeah and the ones you go by yourself on but uh yeah do you see i mean that's how that's how it is up and down i've seen it for the last 30 years so i've seen i've we all had the highs and lows and i everybody's been like there where they're you know had a lot of money went broke i mean well i've heard you say this before that you've got rich went broke got rich yeah that's how it is is there a world and a timeline in which the grinder could go broke again or are you past that point now i don't think so yeah i don't think so i just like and i'm always in the stage if that happened i would have always like you know people anybody in the world will like want to do business with me you know to play so yeah but it's never gonna happen that's never gonna happen can people buy stakes in you now when you end i sold like uh i sold 10 for fun on on the 25 000 buying 26 000 just to have just like to engage with a lot of people like that like like i don't know how people bought me like 50 people just like a really small piece yeah just for fun just i sold 10 of it that's pretty cool yeah i do it once in a room I might do something like that.

59:43This main event win that you won last year for the 10 million, is it like 11 days you have to play for to get that? So my calculations after, because there's a lot of breaks, days off, this, that, long. So I think it's about, I would say, 96 to 100 hours of playing if you're going to play straight through. Yeah. Straight through like that. The furthest I've got in that is level four in the third day. That's the furthest. Oh, yeah? Yeah. And you know I was partying every night, right? I didn't sleep at all. I slept two hours every day. So when I went to main event, yeah, I was out. Day six, I think, I didn't show up to the table on the TV table.

1:00:23I was 45 minutes late. I was partying all night. They found me. I just went to nightclubs, everything. I just did the same routine. I was gambling and partying every night. I'm superstitious a little bit when it comes to that. So if I'm doing good, like not partying, going to gym focus, then I'll do that. but if I'm doing good partying, usually the things I want is from partying the night before. So I'll sleep two hours and then go straight to the tournament. I came 45 minutes late. I think it was day six. That's mad. All the chips were on the table with me not there. And I said, let him have a head start.

1:00:57And the greatest line ever in poker probably I think it was like, they asked me Mike, what is it going to take to win? To win when the final table, like four people left. I said, they always talk strategy, said one hour. and it took 58 minutes is that how long the final table there's on the final table they asked me what they do what's it gonna take to win to for you to win tomorrow i said one hour they thought i was gonna talk strategy and everything that's always one word answer and it was like the greatest line ever everyone keeps telling me it's the greatest line in poker yeah because it's come in i've actually seen that now i remember it i don't think well our listeners who don't know poker they won't grasp how great good of an achievement this is we're talking about people that have studied the game for every second of their life for 30 40 50 years and you rock up at that final table which is already the most terrifying fucking thing i could ever imagine and you've been out the night before you're on two hours sleep are you drinking at the table i was drinking at the table yeah i was drinking i think i had tequila my friends they know they come i do better drinking so they started handing me drinks at the table yeah i'm not supportive and it's not for everybody but i just i just feel like it loosens me up and then uh i could probably drink a few bottles and be fine but i don't i didn't have that many i would drink maybe four or five drinks nothing crazy be honest with me here though is there a bit of you that's nervous when you go into that final table are you nervous at the podcast so when you're fucking sweating i don't i don't get nervous at work no no job no no i try to make it i try to make it i have the best time of my life when i'm playing especially when i'm deep in those tournaments those big ones i try to make it fun do you i was drinking a lot i was probably like some of the guys we had so much fun yeah fun of the some some of the tables i was a blast it's mad to have that much fun and also know you're taking home that money because even if you didn't win there's still good amounts of money sound isn't it but so what's second place second place was six million third i think was fourth i get the vibe from you you'd have been pretty fucked off if you come second well the thing is it's it makes a world of difference i don't know where i'd be at this point i probably wouldn't be in this podcast if I was second place.

1:03:00I'd probably be at sad hour, not happy hour. So, I don't know. So, like, I just knew at that point I was not going to lose. I just felt like, I just felt like, I just felt like it was mine. It was history and I had to win it. I think it would have made a big difference. First and second is a huge difference. I mean, no one remembers. Usually no one remembers second place. Right. Did you find that you, so you mentioned it yourself, you were already a big name in poker when you got it? Yeah, I was, yeah, I was ready. I mean, I already won the player's championship the fourth time. so that was already like craziness that people were talking about then i went to the main event they're like what the fuck yeah did you find that your level of celebrity sort of proceed like exceeded yeah and it's funny they do like a they do a poker draft every like like a fantasy yeah yeah i've seen it and then i picked every year this the 2025 is the first time i've never been picked and like and i was like it was the craziest thing ever and i was like all right you guys don't want to pick me i think that's what like inspired me me push myself i was like all right you fucked stuff wow so and so you get this money obviously for anyone hasn't seen the scenes all the cash obviously it's prop cash but it's all on the table isn't it and you're sat there in front of this like yeah 10 million yeah yeah but it's all the dollar bills in the middle obviously just the security yeah yeah it's the hundreds are wrapped on the outsides but is there a moment that the 10 million like just goes in your account do you just get like a notification on like barclays yeah i took I took a wire.

1:04:19Yeah, I took a wire. I think we took a few hundred thousand and took a wire. What does that mean to two English folks? Well, you send a wire to the bank. I deposited$25, opened a new account, and then I said, don't worry, there's going to be$10 million there. They didn't think they were messing with you. Boom, two days later, you see the$10 million. And when you go to an ATM, does it show? Well, I move the money. I don't leave it in the checking account. I don't make interest off that. See, we don't understand anything like this. I saw Ed Sheeran at a cash point once. You leave 10 million in a bank account.

1:04:50No, you don't leave that much in a bank. It's crazy. Where'd you leave it then? Investments. You move it out and invest it. I don't know anything about this. I just, I love the idea. You leave your money in a checking account with no interest? I mean, what good is that for you? And you're not even insured for the whole thing. So what if something happens? What's the craziest thing you've ever spent your money on?

1:05:162005 or 6, I think 2006, I won the LAPC for$1.8 million. I said, you know what I always wanted was an RV. It's a recreational vehicle. So it's a true story. So I go buy the vehicle for$178 ,000. The first day, the second day, the next day I won the event. So I went there, went in California, bought this big RV. And I said, what kind of class license do you need for this? Like, this is a 40-foot bus. It's huge. I was like, I mean, I don't know if I should drive this thing. This is kind of crazy. So I drove it out to probably a brand new bus. I took it to drive it right to the casino. All I heard is I had the stop sign.

1:05:51It scratched the whole bus the first day. No. So then you got to clean up the poop and all this. After six months, I hated driving. I was like, if I had to drive it, it would be cool. But six months later, I just got rid of it. I think I camped out in one of the casinos. I slept in it. And I was like, you know, I had somebody drive it to Vegas. I don't want to drive anymore. I think I lost like 40K on it. And that was it. that was like the crazy thing I bought just sold it to a friend or something no I sold it to a company just to get rid of it what am I going to do with it then I bought a house in Vegas makes more sense that was quite a while, that was 20 years ago the final thing we want from you mate if it's okay is again not extensive poker knowledge guys but we've got eight names here, seven or eight names here of your peers, poker players and we just want you to give us a little one line or a little paragraph I'll do my best whatever I can do Okay, we've got Phil Ivey.

1:06:42The greatest. Has he got that aura when you're around? Yeah, he's one of the greatest. He's been up to, you know, you think of him as Tiger Woods of poker. Yeah, that's cool. Daniel Negrani. Amazing human, funny, just great to play with on the table. And he loves to socialize, for sure. He's a talker. Doyle Brunson. That's the legend, the legend of poker, for sure. Yeah, miss him. When I first played the main, I was so new to poker. I still am now. You think 10 deuce when you think of him. Yeah. He was on the table next to me. And even me, new to poker, I knew how much of a legend that guy was.

1:07:22Phil Helmuth. The brat. I mean, some people like him, some people just like him. But Phil and I always had a great relationship. You know, he complains about hands and shit like that. But at the end of the day, he's a great, great person. Have you ever fallen out with him? I have a couple of times. just bullshit and like i think he said sorry a few times but we're cool we're always cool with each other friend of the pot jason coon jason coon uh there's a true story about jason coon i don't think anybody knows but he actually drove he dove into a shark tank at the lanus bahamas long time ago i was just talking about it i was like i was like damn you do that crazy stuff again there's no mike that'll do that anymore that was back in the day so like uh he's just he's a he's a really cool human i love jason he's a really good nice guy he's a shark tank he did it's a true story why i mean we all do stupid things i mean it's pretty i mean nothing's to happen to sharks on it he's a lot more normal now when i saw him i had a hangover and he took he took me to whole foods and gave me a ginger shot yeah it's on that yeah uh steven chidwick uh well i know he's from here uh i never like i mean obviously he's the guy's a genius he's one of the top players in the world so I never really played with him that much, to tell you the truth, but obviously his numbers don't lie.

1:08:38And Stu Unger? One of the best gin players, photographic memories. Wish I got to play with him. That would have been my dream player to play against. That's a player I always want to play against. My cousin Sonny is a huge poker fan. He's the guy that got me into it, and he's a massive fan of Stu Unger. He showed me the documentaries on YouTube and stuff. I mean, I wish, I wish, I know. I mean, poker is, I mean, I don't know how he would be on this. I'm sure he would adapt to it. It would be great. Yeah. Mike, this has been good fun. Yeah. Thanks for coming on. Are you sure you want to? With the sweaty hands?

1:09:16I should have shook your hand first. Oh, no. I'm going to get the residual. Do you think you'll ever win enough money to stop playing poker? It's not that. I just love the game so much, and I don't think I'll ever stop. I'd be like Doyle Brunson, go all the way. Yeah. till I die. And is there anything in poker still yet to achieve that you want to achieve? Somebody asked me this question yesterday. Like, what else do you want? You want everything. You want my friend pick me up from the airport today. Sid picked me up from the airport. He's like, what else do you want to do? I was like, I guess, I don't know.

1:09:46Keep winning bracelets. I mean, just like, but I enjoy the game. So like, what else am I going to do? Well, I'm going to be a doctor that I was never going to be. Or play for the Broncos. Or play for the Broncos. Yeah, so I think, I think I don't know. there's no quitting in me and I want to just make it like I want to do some legendary stuff and break records how many bracelets are you going to predict that you're going to win I actually think I'm going to be I'm going to have hold the most bracelets in the world at some point what's the record at the moment still I'm at 17 but I have 8 but I'm up I think my pace I'm going to I'm going to win a lot more quick we're going to stay glued to your career I'm actually going to WSOP Europe coming up in Prague so hopefully I want to bracelet there love it I hope to see you do it mate thanks man there we go this has been Jack Mates Happy Hour Podcast with me Jack Mates Stevie White and the man himself the grinder the grinder we always finish with the same question what's the meaning of life?

1:10:37the meaning of life I mean every day like I mean I love life every day I wake up it's a blessing so I was smiling on my face but every day I've been waking up lately I was like where am I? and who's your football team? Miami Dolphins West Ham yeah thank you mate cheers thanks man

1:10:59Jack makes happy hour. There is so much NFL on ESPN right now. Monday night football, plus pregame and postgame. NFL live, NFL primetime. Everything you need to stay on top of every game, every week. Unbelievable. And now NFL Network is on the ESPN app. More football, more coverage, more ways to watch. football's on all season long on ESPN and streaming on the ESPN app. This episode is brought to you by chat GPT. Hey, it's Bill Simmons from the Bill Simmons podcast. Have you guys heard about chat GPT work? It's the new way to use chat GPT for bigger multi-step projects. And when you need more than just answers, give chat GPT work access to your apps and files, and it can create real work documents like spreadsheets, slides, and structured reports.

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