Poker Player Mike Mizrachi Dire Financial Straits
Written by Matt W | Monday, May 17th, 2010
Sadly, we picked up on the story that Michael Mizrachi, known by his avatar “The Grinder” has hit some hard times and is being forced to sell his homes to pay his debts. The young poker pro was ordered by the government to sell his house in Florida, as well as one in Miramar to cover a bill over nearly $340K that he owes in income tax.
The 29 year old Mizrachi’s plight shines light on the problem that many other professionals face. While we sometimes feel that that live in a world of dazzling riches, the truth is that they need to make a lot of money in order to play the high stakes circuit to put themselves in line to win big. Not everybody can reach these standards, and many try and fail, even though they are very talented players such as Mizrachi.
“If you’re in a $10,000 event every other week, that’s $240,000 just for buy-in, not to mention all your expenses,” explained another poker pro, Marc Levy. “There are plenty of guys I know who do well playing poker but still go through their money.”
Mizrachi has certainly earned the kind of money that most of us only dream of touching, never mind earning. He has reportedly earned over $6.7 million from live tournaments and an unknown – but equally large amount – online in high stakes internet poker games.
However, Mizrachi has been hit hard by claims by the tax office that he owes $339,000 in unpaid income tax; so much so that his homes have been foreclosed by the government. Court records show that his Hollywood, Florida home went to online auction last week, while his Miramar property is up for sale this coming week.
Michael Mizrachi plays as a professional for Team UB.com (formerly Ultimate Bet). He blames his current dire financial straits on a bad accountant who mismanaged his funds. “They were doing a bad job,” he said. “I’m working on settling the liens.”
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· Written by Matt W · Filed Under Poker News · Comments Off
