Poker Writer
Michael “the Grinder” Mizrachi and Martin Kabrhel, currently two of the hottest names in professional poker, headlined a high-stakes cash game at the Venetian on Wednesday night.
Mizrachi and Kabrhel won the WSOP Main Event and Mini Main Event, respectively, this summer. The Grinder’s win won him instant entry to the Hall of Fame, though it was Kabrhel who first looked like he’d be the breakout star of the 2025 WSOP. The two players’ arcs kept them apart during the WSOP, but on Wednesday night, poker fans had the chance to watch the two of them finally collide.
The Grinder was about 30 minutes late to the new Venetian streaming room as Kabrhel played with WSOP bracelet winner Eric Wasserson, popular cash game player Jean-Robert Bellande, and Brian Orkin, among a couple of others.
The game had crazy action from the start. Players were going all-in with speculative hands that were on the lower end of any poker cheat sheet. Every player was tossing money into the middle and showing willingness to gamble.
Before Mizrachi even arrived, Kabrhel got off to a bad start when his pocket Kings were cracked by Brian Okin, who made trip Tens on the river.
Tight Start for the Grinder
Mizrachi, who is often the aggressor at his tables, took a while to get adjusted to the style of play at the table, which was volatile even by his standards. He folded many of his early hands and sat back. Eventually, he started playing back at his opponents and winning pots, while Kabrhel continued to bleed chips.
The largest pot of the night came toward the end between the two headliners. Mizrachi won a pot from Kabrhel, flopping top pair with Ace-Jack, while Kahrel missed his Broadway draw with King-Queen suited. The players declined to run the board twice, and Mizrachi scooped the $128,000 pot.
At the end of the night, Mizrachi finished with a $94,000 profit while Kabhrel was $75,000 in the red. The Czech player took it in stride, however, maintaing his gregarious style of play throughout. Overall, the table dynamic was light and fun despite the amount of money changing hands..
The stream on YouTube was popular, drawing as many as 8,000 simultaneous viewers at its peak. Most came away with positive things to say, praising the crazy action as well as the fun vibe of the players.
😂😂😂
🔗 https://t.co/pyKMnOX7i6 pic.twitter.com/WF1PmeNMTf
— Venetian Poker Room (@VenetianPoker) July 24, 2025
Kabrhel “helping” The Grinder to make his signature “two thumbs up” signal to raise was one of the funnier moments of the night, shared by the Venetian on X.
No HCL Apperance For Kabrhel
Kabrhel was supposed to follow up with another live stream appearance on Thursday, on Hustler Casino Live (HCL). However, earlier in the day he announced he would be unable to make it.
Apologies to everyone expecting me on@HCLPokerShow tonight. This really is not my style to cancel last minute, unfortunately I can not make it today.
I was looking forward to it, but there is always next time!
Over half of the replies to this announcement were some sort of play on his now-famous catchphrase “Not like that!”.
