Mike Gorodinsky Wins World Series of Poker $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship

Mike Gorodinsky has won the 2023 World Series of Poker $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. championship event, outlasting a 185-entry field to earn his third gold bracelet and the second-highest tournament payout of his career: $422,747.

Gorodinsky’s first bracelet was won just over a decade earlier when he took down the $2,500 Omaha eight-or-better and stud eight-or-better event at the 2013 series. Two years after that, he won the 2015 WSOP $50,000 Poker Players Championship for his second bracelet and a career-best payday of $1.3 million.

With this most recent victory, Gorodinsky now has nearly $4.3 million in lifetime tournament earnings. More than $3.4 million of that has been earned in WSOP bracelet events.

In addition to the title and money, Gorodinsky also earned 840 Card Player Player of the Year points as the champion of this prestigious mixed-games event. This was his third POY-qualified score of the year. The 423 PokerGO Tour points the win conveyed upon him were enough to move him inside the top 35 on that high-stakes-centric leaderboard.

This event played out over the course of four days. The strong turnout resulted in a $1,720,500 prize pool, with the top 28 finishers making the money. Notables that cashed but failed to make the final day included recent bracelet winner Jerry Wong (28th), two-time bracelet winner Brandon Shack-Harris (22nd), three-time bracelet winner Phil Hui (18th), bracelet winner and 2010 WSOP main event runner-up John Racener (17th), 16-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth (11th), three-time bracelet winner David ‘Bakes”’ Baker (10th), bracelet winner Roman Verenko (9th), and Esther Taylor (8th).

The final day of this event began with Gorodinsky in the lead among the remaining seven contenders. Christopher Claassen came into the day with just a couple of big bets to his name. He got the last of his chips in during a round of stud eight-or-better. The hand was scooped by four-time bracelet winner Bradley Ruben, who had made quad sixes on sixth street. Claassen earned $58,633 as the seventh-place finisher.

In the same game, bracelet winner Carol Fuchs committed the last of her stack in on sixth street with eights and four to a low. She was up against two pair for five-time bracelet winner Brian Yoon, which improved to kings full of queens on seventh street. Fuchs missed her low and was sent to the rail in sixth place ($76,412). She now has $836,898 in career tournament earnings to her name after this latest deep run.

Four-time bracelet winner Scott Seiver was left on fumes after losing an Omaha eight-or-better pot against Gorodinsky. He was soon all-in with (5-2)7 on third street facing the (J-2)A of Gorodinsky. Seiver ended up with a J-10-7-5-2, which was bested by Gorodinsky’s J-10-4-2-A. He cashed out for $101,319 as the fifth-place finisher, growing his career earnings to $25.6 million in the process.

The next big clash took place in a round of stud. Yoon picked up split kings on the short stack and found himself heads-up against Gorodisnky, who had three diamonds to start. Gorodisnky made a queen-high flush on fifth street, and Yoon was left with less than a big bet in his stack when he improved to kings and eights on seventh. He called off his last few chips only to be shown his opponent’s flush. Yoon, who won his fifth bracelet just a few weeks earlier in the $10,000 stud championship, earned $136,649 for his fourth-place showing.

Gorodinsky soon won another big pot, making a king-high straight against the two pair of Ruben to pull even further away from the rest of the field. Ruben soon found himself all-in on fifth street with (A7)JK2[[suit:spade]. He was up against the (K9)9A4 of Gorodinsky. Ruben caught the 4 on sixth, while Gorodinsky was dealt the 6. Ruben bricked on seventh street, hitting the 10 to end with ace high. Gorodisnky also failed to improve (hitting J), but his pair of nines third street were enough to secure the pot. Ruben was awarded $187,406 for his podium finish.

With that, Gorodinsky entered heads-up play with 10,005,000 to bracelet winner Alexander Livingston’s 1,095,000. Livingston fell even further behind when he was forced to fold on seventh street in a sizable stud eight-or-better pot. He was left with fewer than two big bets in his stack, which soon went in a few deals later when he was dealt (32)3. Gorodisnky came along with (JJ)Q.

The final board looked as follows:

Gorodinsky: (JJ)Q8A8(6)
Livingston: (32)3KA7(9)

Gorodinsky made jacks up to take down the pot and the title. Livingston earned $261,278 as the runner-up, the fourth-largest score of his career. The 2019 WSOP main event third-place finisher from Halifax, Nova Scotia now has more than $7.3 million in lifetime earnings.

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

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Winner photo credit: PokerGO / Enrique Malfavon.