His dad may be the reigning champion, but Paul Mizrachi is looking to be the next member of his family to make a deep run in the 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event.
Mizrachi, who made his poker debut at 21 years old last winter in the WSOP Paradise Super Main Event, played his first $10,000 Main Event today. The final starting flight treated the youngest Mizrachi kindly as he bagged more than three starting stacks with 197,200 in chips.
“That was pretty awesome,” Mizrachi said after putting chips in a bag for the first time. “I played better than I expected.”
World Champ Michael Mizrachi’s Son Takes on WSOP Paradise
Another Grinder
Mizrachi came into the tournament with high nerves after a short and unsuccessful run in the Bahamas Super Main Event.
“After playing the Super Main Event in the Bahamas I busted after two hours, so I came into this kind of nervous, worried that it would happen all over again,” Mizrachi told PokerNews.
Mizrachi drew a tough table on Day 1d, one that included high-stakes French poker pro Johan Guilbert to his direct right and American pro Kristopher Burchfield a few seats to his left. He also had to fare with Lithuania’s Kasparas Klezys and American Charles Furey, both of whom have around seven figures in live earnings.
But that didn’t stop Mizrachi from building a stack in the event that he watched his dad win last year for $10 million.
“Did I get lucky today?” Mizrachi asked the table as he tried to assess his play.
“You grinded your ass off,” Burchfield told him.
Best Performing Mizrachi
Paul was far from the only Mizrachi in the field. His uncles Eric, Daniel and Robert all played, as did his grandfather Ezra. But Day 1d was all Paul.
“I have more chips than all the other Mizrachis combined!” Mizrachi told PokerNews during the final level of the evening.
But it wasn’t always looking that way. Mizrachi revealed that he was involved in a “huge, huge pot ten minutes into Level 1 where I probably made a mistake but it ended up being a chopped pot.”
“And it kind of just took every single nerve out of my body,” he said. “Because after that it felt like I was freerolling.”
Even a minimum cash would be a career-high for Mizrachi, who is looking to add to his $4,941 in live earnings and bring his family a second bracelet this summer. Just a week ago, his dad took down the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship for $1.3 million and his ninth career bracelet.
Eric, Daniel and Robert Mizrachi all bagged middling stacks on Day 1d, while Ezra was eliminated during the last level of play. Michael Mizrachi bagged a little over starting stack in the Day 1b flight.
There were 3,638 players who bagged on Day 1d of the Main Event. Be sure to follow PokerNews‘ live coverage of the 2026 WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas.
Connor Richards
Senior Editor U.S.