Sorel Mizzi
Name: Sorel Mizzi
Winnings to Date: $3,636,245Mizzi was born April 16, 1986 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is said that he always had a competitive nature, constantly locking horns with his two older brothers growing up. He first started playing Texas Hold'em in high school and is rumored to have learned the game from Josh “JJprodigy” Fields, though he later developed his own distinct playing style as he grew familiar with the game.
In 2006, the now legendary online pro was said to have first made the resolution to become an online tournament master and within a year, he started cashing in major online and live tournament events, finishing 10th at the 2006 UltimateBet Aruba Poker Classic and 11th at the 2006 Ongame Network Poker Classic.
2007 was a major year for Mizzi. It was that year he would establish himself as one of online poker's top pros cashing regularly in events on Absolute Poker, PokerStars, and Full Tilt Poker, even winning more than a few events. His online success trickled over into live events when he managed to cash three times at the WSOP and once on the WPT.
There was a dark cloud to all of his success however, in December of 2007, Mizzi admitted to cheating on Full Tilt Poker, taking over the account of his friend Chris Vaughn in order to win an event for him. He was successful but he got caught and was forced to hand over his winnings to the original second place finisher and release a public apology.
The scandal may have hurt a lesser man's career, but Mizzi continued to perform remarkably on the virtual felt in 2008 and the scandal was soon forgotten. In December of that year he won his first major live event title taking down Event #4 of the Five Diamond World Poker Classic.
In 2009, Mizzi began playing almost exclusively on PokerStars winning events regularly. On the live tournament scene he nearly won his first WSOP bracelet finishing second in Event #35 of the 2009 WSOP.
In March of 2010, Mizzi became the leader of Titan Poker's Pro Team though he continued to compete on PokerStars online. On the live tournament scene he won Event #4 of the 2010 Borgata Spring Poker Open and finished second in Event #11 of the EPT Tallinn stop.
Over the years Mizzi has proven to be one of the most consist online poker pros in the industry. He cashes regularly in almost every online event he plays in and appears to be improving on the live tournament scene with each passing year. While he may not get as much press as some of the online pros we talk about, he is definitely one you'll want to look out for, especially if you end up competing against him on the virtual felt. He typically goes by the online screen names “Imper1um” and “Zangbezan24.”