Brian Yoon: K♣8♠/K♠J♠6♥3♥/Xx
Mike Gorodinsky: 8♦7♦/Q♦5♦4♦8♣/Xx
Mike Gorodinsky completed on third street before Brian Yoon, with split kings, raised.
Gorodinsky called, then called another bet on fourth. Gorodinsky made his flush on fifth and bet out as Yoon called.
Gorodinsky bet again on sixth and Yoon called, leaving himself just 70,000 behind.
Gorodinsky put Yoon all in on seventh after catching the 10♦ and Yoon, who made two pair with the 8♥, called off before heading off to collect his fourth-place payout.
Brad Ruben: A♦7♦/J♣K♦2♠
Mike Gorodinsky: K♣9♦/9♠A♣4♠
Brad Ruben completed, Mike Gorodinsky raised with his split nines, and Ruben called.
Gorodinsky bet again on fourth and Ruben called before they got Ruben's last 70,000 in the middle on fifth.
Gorodinsky finished with 4♣J♠ for two pair, nines and fours. Ruben's board ran out 6♠10♣ and he failed to catch a pair as the four-time bracelet winner was sent to the rail in third place.
Gorodinsky and Alex Livingston are now taking a short break before the start of heads-up play.
Mike Gorodinsky: K♦J♠/J♦Q♥2♦6♦/Q♠
Alex Livingston: A♠6♠/9♥7♥J♥7♦/2♣
After Mike Gorodinsky brought in and Alex Livingston completed, Gorodinsky just called with his split jacks.
On fourth street, Gorodinsky check-called another bet from Livingston, and with three hearts now on board, Livingston bet again following another Gorodinsky check.
Gorodinsky called, and on sixth street despite pairing his sevens, Livingston now slowed down as Gorodinsky showed three diamonds on board and bet.
Livingston thought for a bit then made the call, leaving himself just 405,000 chips.
Gorodinsky made two pair, queens and jacks on seventh, and after another check from Livingston, he bet it. The Canadian had no choice but to fold and preserve what was left of his stack.
Mike Gorodinsky completed with the Q♠, Alex Livingston raised showing the 3♠, Gorodinsky reraised, and Livingston got his last 405,000 in the middle.
Gorodinsky flipped over J♠J♣, while Livingston had 3♣2♠ for a pair of threes.
Gorodinsky improved to two pair on his 8♥A♠8♣ board heading to seventh as Livingston had K♣A♥7♥.
"I have a low draw. I can also hit aces up. This is a good sweat, actually," Livingston said as he received his last card.
Gorodinsky quickly revealed his 6♠ while Livingston pushed back from the table and began rubbing his hands together before turning over the 9♦, sealing his elimination as the runner-up.
He lost his start-of-day chip lead briefly, but after getting it back, there was no stopping Mike Gorodinsky, as he sprinted away from the field at the final table of World Series of Poker Event #54: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship to earn his third WSOP bracelet along with the $422,747 first prize.
Gorodinsky defeated Alex Livingston in a very short heads-up match to cap his triumph over the field of 185 players that built a $1,720,500 prize pool.
$10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship Final Table Results
Place
Player
Country
Prize
1
Mike Gorodinsky
United States
$422,747
2
Alex Livingston
Canada
$261,278
3
Brad Ruben
United States
$184,406
4
Brian Yoon
United States
$136,649
5
Scott Seiver
United States
$101,319
6
Carol Fuchs
United States
$76,412
7
Christopher Claassen
United States
$58,633
Mike Gorodinsky
Winner's Reaction
Gorodinsky’s victory Monday came much more quickly than it could have, given the talent of his opponents, but aside from that early bump, everything went his way from then on.
“The cards made it kind of easy. I felt like I didn’t really need to think about it much, to be honest. The cards just kind of fell in and then the stacks got to a point where I was able to maneuver kind of easily.”
The win is especially satisfying for Gorodinsky, not just because it’s his first major tournament victory since he won the Poker Players Championship in 2015, but because as he said himself, it’s been a somewhat trying summer.
“I had kind of a rocky start to my summer, and my plan actually was if I didn’t cash or go far in this tournament, I was going to fly home for a week and a half to recharge and spend some time with my wife. So, this run was kind of like an unexpected, really cool way to wrap up an otherwise long, tough month.”
Part of that tough month was a situation at Bellagio where the contents of his private box were stolen. Gorodinsky provided an update on that situation.
“I’m still kind of waiting for quote-unquote ‘official’ word, but basically they ran a security process and according to them I’m the only person to access it, so compensation at this point is looking unlikely but I’m hoping to have further conversations with some execs at MGM.”
Getting back to his accomplishment Monday, Gorodinsky said that while wins in $10,000 and above fields are always difficult due to the quality of opponents, especially in the late stages, he started feeling that the tournament might be his late on Day 3.
“Wrapping up last night I kind of felt like I was getting momentum. I felt pretty confident going into today, and obviously today was really fast and I felt pretty comfortable and confident the whole way."
Mike Gorodinsky Alex Livingston Brian Yoon Brad Ruben Final Table Feature Main R
Action of the Day
It took just two hands to thin the field to six as Christopher Claassen fell in a big three-way Stud Hi-Lo pot that also saw Ruben take the chip lead from Gorodinsky. Carol Fuchs would be eliminated shortly after in the same round of Stud Hi-Lo with Brian Yoon the beneficiary of Fuchs’ final chips.
Gorodinsky said that while the hand with Ruben didn’t get his day off to a great start, it didn’t shake his confidence going forward.
“Yah, that hand was not ideal, but no, just because everything just kind of rolled in after that. There wasn’t any kind of other setback, so it was pretty easy from that point on.”
Gorodinsky’s roll began with a big Limit Hold‘em hand between himself and Scott Seiver, where both paired their aces, but Gorodinsky had Seiver outkicked. That renewed Gorodinsky’s control of the chip lead, while Seiver was then on a short stack that he couldn’t recover from, eventually falling in fifth place.
Gorodinsky then extended his lead with a big hand in Level 24 over Ruben and never looked back, leaving Ruben, Livingston, and Yoon to jockey for position in hopes of building enough of a stack to compete with Gorodinsky in a potential heads-up match.
Following a couple more hours without an elimination and Gorodinsky pulling further away, it was Yoon falling in fourth at the hands of the champion in a hand of Stud with two pair versus Gorodinsky’s flush. Then not 20 minutes later, Ruben was taken out by Gorodinsky as well in Stud, setting up the short heads-up match versus Livingston, entering it with a nearly 10-1 chip lead.
This wraps up Pokernews’ coverage of the $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship. Stay with us though for continued coverage from the World Series of Poker here at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.
