Marcin Horecki Denies Mike Matusow, Wins WSOP $1,500 Stud Eight-or-Better Event

From a field of 566 entries, the 2023 World Series of Poker $1,500 seven card stud eight-or-better event came down to a battle between Marcin Horecki and four-time bracelet winner Mike Matusow. In the end, Horecki came away with the title, scooping up his first bracelet and the top prize of $155,275. The Polish player now has nearly $1.2 million in lifetime tournament earnings after this latest win.

Matusow took home $95,957 as the runner-up. The 54-year-old 2023 Poker Hall of Fame finalist is approaching $9.8 million in career cashes after this recording his seventh podium finish at the series.

Horecki became just the second Polish player ever to win a WSOP bracelet, and the first to do so in a live event. In 2021, Dominik Panka took down a $2,100 buy-in bounty event during the WSOP Online festival to become the first player from Poland to have captured the gold.

Horecki came into the third and final day of this tournament in 14th place with 18 contenders remaining. James Cheung started out at the top of the leaderboard, and went on to finish fourth.

Brian Rast entered day 3 in eighth chip position, just one spot behind Matusow on the leaderboard. The six-time bracelet winner and three-time Poker Players Championship winner ultimately placed seventh in this event, adding $18,709 to his lifetime total of more than $24.8 million in tournament earnings.

Horecki knocked out Cheung and Scott Numoto (3rd – $66,950) to take roughly a 3:1 chip lead into heads-up play against Matusow. Horecki pulled away multiple times, only to have Matusow fight back. Horecki landed the decisive blow when he won a big pot with trip tens against the kings up of Matusow, who was left short after that hand. He was forced out of a pot not long after that to be left with less than a single big bet. Even after managing to double-up twice, Matusow was still dangerously short.

The final hand saw Matusow get all-in on fifth street with (A8)84J. He was facing the (K6)48J of Horecki. Matusow caught the K on sixth, while Horecki improved to a pair of jacks with the J. Matusow was unable to improve to a better high, hitting the 7 on the end. The 2 for Horecki left him with a winning pair of hacks for the high, which was enough to scoop the pot and the title.

Here is a look at the payouts and rankings points awarded at the final table:

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Winner photo credit: WSOP / Rachel Kay Miller.