Poker pro Mike Gorodinsky has just made history by joining the elite club of the $50,000 POKER PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP winners. He topped the field of 84 of the world’s best players to capture his second career gold bracelet as well as the amount of $1,270,086.
The tournament’s entries created a prize pool of $4,032,000 and the top 12 finishers received their share of it. The payouts started from $87,010.
Before capturing the title, Gorodinsky had to face Jean-Robert Bellande in quite a tough heads-up duel, which lasted about three and a half hours. At the beginning, Gorodinsky held about 7,500,000 in chips against his opponent’s stack of 5,000,000. The chips swung back and forth for some time, until one of the players eventually emerged victorious.
The last hand in play was of the Pot-Limit Omaha variation. Bellande bet 300,000 from the button and his opponent called from the big blind. The flop ran out [Qd][9d][8s]. Gorodinsky checked and Bellande bet 600,000. After several moments of contemplation, the eventual champion raised to 2,400,000 or as much as his opponent had left. Bellande moved all his chips in.
The player tabled [Ac][Qs][10s][9c] against Gorodinsky’s [10c][8c][8h][3h]. The turn showed [Kc] and [Kd] came on the river to secure Gorodinsky with his second WSOP title. Bellande, on the other hand, was paid $784,828 for his runner-up finish.
This was the tenth time that the POKER PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP took place. This year, two poker variations were added – Badugi and No-Limit 2-7 Single Draw. Thus, the tournament turned into a ten-game mix one.
Asked about the changes in the format, Gorodinsky commented that he was happy with those and that Badugi was one of his favorite games. Apart from being awarded his second bracelet and his share of the prize pool, the player will also have his name carved on the Chip Reese Memorial Trophy.
And here is a list of the other player who made it to the money:
David “ODB” Baker from Katy, Texas finished 3rd for $514,926 of the prize pool. Baker is a holder of one WSOP bracelet.
Ben Sulsky from Brewster, Massachusetts scooped his 3rd WSOP cash of $353,928 for finishing 4th in the event. Chris Klodnicki from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania took 5th place for $251,314.
Two-time bracelet winner Dan Kelly from Potomac, Maryland scooped $184,222 for his 6th place. Florida-based poker pro Jason Mercier, who has won three of the prestigious pieces of jewelry, finished 7th in the event to add $139,265 to his poker bankroll.
Canadian Shawn Buchanan captured his 40th WSOP cash of $139,265 for taking 8th place. Abe Mosseri from Longboat Key, Florida finished 9th to be paid $110,073. The player won his first and only WSOP bracelet in 2009.
Justin Smith from Los Angeles, California took 10th place for $110,073. John Racener from Port Richey, Florida and Englishman Matthew Ashton were both paid $87,010 for their 11th and 12th places, respectively.
