For years Robert Mizrachi has been quietly amassing cashes in poker tournaments while his more well-known younger brother Michael has been a rising star. However, after The Grinder had a great 2006 tournament season, 2007 saw a shift in the spotlight as Robert became the first of the poker-playing Mizrachis to win a World Series of Poker bracelet.

The Mizrachi brothers grew up in Florida where Robert, the oldest of four brothers, learned to play poker from their mother. He then taught the rest of the boys how to play and it became the common thread that kept them all together.

Michael and his twin brother Eric both went on to become professional poker players, as did Robert.

According to his site on Full Tilt Poker, Robert’s first poker win was at the Victoria Casino in London early in his career, but it wasn’t until he came in second in a $1,000 buy-in tournament in Atlantic City in 2003 that people started to take notice of him.

In 2004 he added a win in the €5,000 Masters Classic of Poker event in Amsterdam to his growing list of cashes and final tables.

From there, his poker tournament career seemed to start picking up steam. In 2005, he cashed in three World Poker Tour events as well as four WSOP events. One of the WSOP cashes was also a final table finish as he went all the way to fourth place in the $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout.

The following year saw him go even deeper in two WPT tournaments. The second WPT cash, at the Mirage Poker Showdown, was his first appearance at a WPT final table.

It didn’t take him long to add a second one to that list either. Less than a year later, he placed fourth in the PokerStars Caribbean Poker Adventure as well.

His fourth-place cash was a great kickoff to 2007, and he followed it up with another WPT cash later that same month and then six cashes at the World Series of Poker.

As far as the Mizrachis go, the 2007 WSOP was the year of the Robert. Of his six cashes, three were final tables, and the win was in the $10,000 World Championship Pot-Limit Omaha event.

In what was one of the most star-studded final tables of the 2007 Series, Mizrachi went up against the likes of Patrik Antonius, Marco Traniello, and Doyle Brunson as well as Rene Mouritsen, Tommy Ly, Stephen Ladowsky, Jonas Flug-Entin and Steve Sung.

While many were hoping for a historic win for the Texas Dolly to tie his bracelet count with Phil Hellmuth’s now record 11, it was Mizrachi’s night to shine.

After his win, Mizrachi told PokerListings.com, “Poker's my life and I'm playing my best right now so I'm very happy with the accomplishment. And this is a game that Europeans are the best in the world at so I felt like it was a real challenge for me. But I'm part European myself. It was very exciting because I think it was more challenging than any other event.”

His opinion is that the event is one of the toughest because it requires all math and strategy and some of the best players in the world. His secret to success in this and any event – diversification.

“There are so many great No-Limit Hold’em players,” Mizrachi said. “But if you want to be really considered a great (player), you have to master all forms of poker.”