After three days of play, Marcin Horecki has emerged victorious in Event $55: $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better at the 2023 World Series of Poker at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas. He outlasted a field of 566 entrants that generated a prize pool of $755,610 to take home $155,275 and his first-ever WSOP gold bracelet.

Horecki defeated Mike Matusow, who came just short of winning his fifth career gold bracelet, in heads-up play to secure the win.

Event #55: $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better Final Table Results

Winner’s Reaction

Editor’s note: Horecki claims to have won the first-ever WSOP bracelet for Poland. However, Dominik Panka captured an online bracelet in 2021; Horecki’s is the first live WSOP bracelet won by a Polish national.

Horecki, who has been retired from professional poker for five years, said the experience was a dream come true.

“As you know, it’s the first bracelet for Poland, long-awaited. And I’m kind of old school, a grandfather, let’s say, among Polish poker players. In actuality, I’ve been retired for five years, so I came back to play just for fun, and it seems I did not forget the game. The cards were going my way”,

Horecki had a lively rail of friends and fellow poker players throughout the final table and was deeply appreciative of their support.

“When I used to play regularly in Vegas, there were maybe three to five Polish players. Now the group is twenty-plus, and I really appreciate it. The atmosphere was perfect, and I couldn’t ask for more.”

When asked about facing Matusow heads up for his first bracelet Horecki credited much of his success to having a unique playing style, particularly in formats other than Texas Hold’em.

“I think he gave me too much credit. Of course, I think I played well, but I was expecting a hard time. The last hand, of course, was a bit lucky on my side, but he doubled up twice from 400,000. I made some really good plays where I bet and he folded the best hand or a chop. I think I did well. You would expect I would be rusty, but my biggest strength is playing in unorthodox games and unorthodox situations. Unlike in Texas Hold’em, in games like this, there are so many spots where you can use your imagination. I’m really happy I won a bracelet in such a game. Stud Hi-Lo is such an enjoyable game, and I enjoyed every second”.

Before he left, he spoke about what the support of other Polish poker players meant to him.

“I would like to thank once again the support of all Polish poker players. It meant a lot to me. I hope now we will start winning a lot of bracelets for Poland. The first is done. I wish all professional poker players success, to enjoy the game, and to enjoy life”.

Final Day Recap

The day started with 18 players, who were quickly reduced to an unofficial final table of nine. Early exits to start the day included Darryl Ronconi, Lonnie Heimowitz, Timothy Frazin, Ahmed Mohamed, Denny Axel, Kyle Hinnerichs, Jose Paz-Gutierrez, James Juvancic and Patricia Yannuzzi.

Kao Saechao was next to be eliminated when his two pair was bested by Day 2 chip leader James Cheung who had aces up. Saechao’s elimination marked the start of the official final table.

Chris George was the first official final table casualty. He was on the receiving end of a brutal cooler when his two pair was cracked by Scott Numoto, who made trips on seventh street to send him to the rail.

Brian Rast found himself short-stacked at several points during Day 3 but consistently found ways to spin his chip stack buck up. He finally bowed out in seventh place after losing a monster pot to Horecki, leaving him very short-stacked. He bust out not long after.

Michael Estes was next to go, losing several key pots where he failed to connect with his draws, ultimately losing the last of his chips to Cheung who managed to hit a pair and a low while Estes bricked out.

Sergio Braga was one of the shorter stacks for much of the final table but did an admirable job of fighting back in key spots and laddering up. His tournament life came to an end at the hands of Scott Numoto, who hit both a two pair and a low to secure a massive triple up.

Day 2 chip leader James Cheung quickly followed him out the door to set up three-handed play. Then, following the elimination of Scott Numoto in third place, heads up play began between Matusow and Horecki.

Heads up play lasted about two hours. Horecki started heads-up play with roughly a 3-1 chip advantage, but Matusow put in a valiant effort, reducing the gap between himself and Horecki on several occasions. At one point, Horecki got Matusow to fold a chop and left him very short-stacked.

Although Matusow did manage to double up twice from that point, he had to settle for second place after Horecki pulled ahead of his pair of eights with a pair of jacks on sixth street and he was unable to improve himself.

This concludes the PokerNews coverage for this event, but there is still plenty more action to come at the 2023 World Series of Poker at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, so be sure to stay tuned for all the live updates from each and every bracelet event.

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

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.”

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.

The match lasted just a few hands, with Gorodinsky taking a quick Stud Hi-Lo hand to put himself on the brink of victory, and then finishing Livingston off just a couple of hands later to claim the title.

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.

The 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) iteration of Event #48: $1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold’em saw a massive turnout of 8,140 entries which created a prize pool of $7,280,200 and a first-place prize of $765,731. Only seven players returned on Monday, with one destined to be crowned the new WSOP champion.

After just over two hours of play at the PokerGO live-streamed final table, 54-year-old Canadian Lonnie Hallett ended up beating seven-time WSOP winner and Poker Hall of Famer Billy Baxter for a career-best score and his first WSOP bracelet.

“I just can’t believe it, such a huge field it’s almost impossible to do and somehow it happened. I’m grateful, can’t believe it, I’m so happy,” Hallett said.

2023 WSOP Seniors Event Final Table Results

Hallett bested a decorated final table of seven that held nine WSOP titles total. “I’ve played with Dan a few times before and he’s always so tough,” the newly crowned champion said in regards to his competition. “It was just incredible to play with Billy Baxter and to end up heads up with him, what more could you want.”

The Canadian was surrounded by a supportive rail of friends and family. “It’s good to have the rail here, keeps the energy up, keeps the focus up. They were fantastic and we also had a big group watching back home and cheering on, so it was absolutely incredible.”

Hallett had $177,693 before this win, bringing his total lifetime earnings to over $900k.

“You can make money, but you can’t buy a bracelet,” he said, leaving with his family to go celebrate.

Final Table Action

The first elimination of the day came early when Rudolf Fourie moved in his final three and a half big blinds from button with pocket fives, only for Gordon Eng to look him up in the big blind with a pair of nines. The flop brought some hope for the South African in the form of an open-ended straight draw, but no further improvement was brought to the fives, sending the pot to Eng and sending Fourie out of the tournament in seventh place for $122,130.

Hallett ended up getting in an all-in pot when he raised eight-four offsuit in the small blind and in the big blind Loren Cloninger moved all in for slightly more with ace-two and Hallett called. The flop came out with no connection to either hand, but the turn eight put Hallett in the lead and the river did not change anything. With that, Cloninger said goodbye to the field in sixth place for $158,006.

Baxter ended up all in with ace-ten against Hallett, who held ace-queen, but a ten on the flop gave Baxter the needed double up and he survived. Eng ended his run shortly after that in fifth place, the result of a brutal cooler. He and Shannon Fahey both got in their chips with pocket kings. Eng held black kings and Fahey held red kings, and the red kings proved favorable on the three-heart flop. A fourth heart rolled off on the turn to give Fahey a flush to knock out Eng who collected $205,799 for his deep run.

https://twitter.com/PokerGO/status/1673447031350886400

Fahey would be the next to go when she four-bet jammed her queen-nine suited against Dan Heimiller’s pocket sevens, which Heimiller called. The flop contained a seven and Fahey was given no backdoor help on the turn and the last woman standing in the event finished with a career-best score of $269,841 for fourth place.

Three-handed saw Heimiller and Hallett both wielding massive stacks and Baxter on the short stack, but a massive confrontation between the two larger stacks saw a game-changing shift in the tournament dynamics. Hallett raised and called a three-bet with queen-four suited and flopped top and bottom on a queen, jack, four three hearts board, while Heimiller held ace-jack flopped a pair of jacks and the nut flush draw. Both players got their stacks in the middle with Hallett holding the larger stack. The board ran out with the two pair holding strong for Hallett and the two-time WSOP champion and former seniors champ ended his deep run in third place for $356,166.

The heads-up match was set between Hallett and seven-time WSOP champion Baxter, with Hallett holding a near 10:1 lead over Baxter. It was over relatively quickly as Baxter moved in his final chips with queen-two offsuit, only for Hallett to call him with ace-eight suited. Hallett paired his kicker on the runout and Hallett and Baxter shook hands as the poker legend found his career-best score of $473,731.

Thank you for reading along with us on PokerNews. Stay tuned for continued coverage of the 2023 WSOP by following our live updates from all tournaments here.

Many were shocked this week when Ali Imsirovic broke his silence this week more than a year after being accused of cheating by other high-stakes poker pros.

But few were satisfied with the answers provided by the 2021 GPI Player of the Year, who admitted to multi-accounting for several months in 2020, and again in 2022, while dismissing other allegations as “ridiculous,” including that he’s used real-time assistance (RTA) and recently been running an online cheating ring.

The poker community’s reactions to Imsirovic’s video make up the latest edition of The Muck.

“You Don’t Just Get a Reset”

The nearly 30-minute video uploaded by Imsirovic, seated in front of his many poker trophies in a bright hoodie and behind a pair of translucent glasses, did not evoke much sympathy from the poker community. Many thought the former poker darling came across as unapologetic and flippant about his admitted multi-accounting, something universally regarded as unethical in poker.

“What a f***ing joke this guy is,” bracelet winner Jason Wheeler wrote on Twitter. “Sounds irritated he has to defend himself.”

“Imagine Ali just making a 2 min video. Admitting to what was true, saying sorry, and asking for forgiveness or some way back into the poker world. But no. We get 30 minutes of nonsense. They never learn…” agreed Alex Duvall.

Will Jaffe addressed the situation in one of his patented Tough Conversations. Jaffe pushed back on Imsirovic’s assertion that multi-accounting is common in high-stakes circles.

“If everybody was doing it, why are you the only one who got caught?” he asked. “And why did you wait three years to make this video?”

Jaffe also criticized Imsirovic for presenting himself as a victim and complaining about being ostracised by the poker community. “Has it been hard on your family, bro? F***ing winning hundreds of thousands of dollars cheating? Yeah, like they haven’t benefited from that at all … Like it’s not been hard on the f***ing people you scammed and cheated.”

https://twitter.com/dankness3/status/1673130526436397056

“There’s one thing that you can never get back, and that’s your image,” Jaffe said. “That’s your rep. It’s gone, bro.”

Many agreed with Jaffe’s take, including bracelet winner Grant Hinkle.

“Perfectly captured the absurdity,” Hinkle tweeted.

Streamer Jaime Staples gave Imsirovic credit for admitting to multi-accounting but rejected Imsirovic’s claim that he has “paid all of my dues.”

“Good of him to come clean but you don’t just get a reset,” Staples tweeted. “You stole 100s of Ks if not millions in equity from the community. I get you want to move past it. We want our money back. Give it a decade and try again.”

“There’s No Remorse In This Video”

Imsirovic spent a portion of his video denying accusations that he had ghosted players backed by him or cheated in high-stakes online MTTs using RTA.

“It’s literally impossible for me to build an RTA where I just have all these post-flop spots ran for the hundreds of thousands of unique situations that could even come up,” he said. “So it ends up just being impossible to create a real RTA for MTTs. I mean, you can make one but it’s not going to be good. And it’s going to take you a lot of time.”

On the Only Friends podcast, Matt Berkey called Imsirovic’s claim that there aren’t RTA tools for MTTs “total bullshit,” while Landon Tice said the claim was “actually very insulting.”

“Him claiming that he didn’t RTA because ‘Lol, a chip EV model isn’t going to work’ is so crazy to me,” Berkey said.

The Only Friends crew also questioned Imsirovic’s claim that he only multi-accounted for a five-month period in 2020 and again for a brief period in 2022. Berkey tweeted earlier this year that he knew players with knowledge of Imsirovic’s allegedly ongoing cheating stable.

“We’re supposed to believe that that only lasted for a short period of time and that everything got cleaned up again,” said Berkey, who noted that “there’s no remorse in this video.”

“He’s basically saying, ‘Yeah I did bad things, but was it really that bad?’ Yes. And then he did it again,” added Tice.

Both agreed that Imsirovic being ostracised at live events is “completely reasonable” and called on live venues to ban him.

“These actions have consequences,” said Tice.

Joey Ingram called Imsirovic’s statement an “interesting video,” while Doug Polk said a video breakdown was in the works.

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is the crown jewel of the poker calendar, where players from all walks of life gather to test their mettle and chase glory.

And with poker being a game of skill, strategy, and reading your opponents, one crucial aspect of the game is spotting tells.

These could be subtle physical or behavioral cues that can provide useful information about an opponent’s hand strength. In this article, we explore five common tells you can spot at the WSOP, giving you an edge in the quest for a gold bracelet.

Timing Tells

Timing tells can reveal valuable information about an opponent’s thought process. Certain players may act quickly when they have a strong hand to portray confidence, while a lengthy deliberation could suggest weakness or uncertainty. Observing a player’s consistent patterns of quick or slow decision-making can help you decipher their hand strength and potentially exploit their tendencies.

Body Language and Gestures

Physical tells, such as body language and gestures, can be crucial for figuring out how strong or weak someone’s holdings are.

Be sure to focus on an opponent’s facial expressions, posture, and hand movements during key moments in the hand.

For instance, a player who suddenly becomes still and tense may have a strong hand, while fidgeting or nervous tics might indicate weakness or anxiety. It’s important to note that experienced players may deliberately display false tells to mislead their opponents, so that’s always something to keep in mind as well.

Bet Sizing

One of the most telling cues at the WSOP is a player’s bet sizing. Generally, when players exhibit consistent patterns in their bets, it can provide hints about their hand strength.

For example, a small bet might indicate weakness or a marginal hand, while a large, confident bet could signify a strong hand. However, it’s important to consider each player’s individual style and adjust your analysis accordingly.

This is one of the main tells you should be looking out for when playing against weaker opponents at the WSOP.

The eyes are often considered the windows to the soul, and they can reveal a lot at the poker table.

Maintaining eye contact or deliberately avoiding it can be a significant tell. A player who confidently maintains eye contact will likely possess a strong hand, whereas avoiding eye contact might indicate that someone is bluffing.

However, it’s essential to exercise caution, as some players are adept at disguising their true intentions through deliberate eye contact manipulation.

Verbal Cues and Speech Patterns

Verbal cues and speech patterns can provide valuable insights into an opponent’s mindset. Pay attention to any verbal statements, such as sighs, hesitations, or changes in tone. These cues might indicate confidence, frustration, or deception.

Moreover, listen for inconsistencies in players’ statements, as they may inadvertently reveal their true hand strength or intentions. Skilled players can use their words to mislead, so it’s crucial to analyze speech patterns in addition to other tells.

Conclusion

You need to be an observant person to pick up on poker tells. Furthermore, you need to use poker tells as part of your information gathering and not as the only component of it. Pay particular attention to the hands your opponents showdown after acting a certain way. What did they do before and during a hand where they showed a strong holding? What about when they were caught bluffing? Build a mental database of your opponent’s tendencies.

Also, be aware some players are incredibly clever and will act weak when strong and vice-versa.

Finally, do not only observe these tells in your opponents but be aware you may be giving off similar tells. Keep your actions uniform regardless of what you plan to do in the hand, and prevent opponents from picking up information about you and your holdings.

Editor & Live Reporter

Calum has been a part of the PokerNews team since September 2021 after working in the UK energy sector. He played his first hand of poker in 2017 and immediately fell in love with the game. Calum’s proudest poker achievement is winning the only tournament he has ever played in Las Vegas, the prestigious $60 Flamingo evening event.

Poker Hall of Famer and seven-time bracelet winner Billy Baxter is on the verge of closing in on his first WSOP bracelet in 21 years after making it to the final table of the $1,000 Seniors Event at the 2023 World Series of Poker.

Baxter, who sits in third place going into the final day, has had a career that has spanned six decades and has seen him earn $2,739,628 in live tournaments alone. And he’s already locked up another $122,130 for making it to the final seven. If he manages to make it to at least fourth place, he will secure his biggest-ever tournament cash. Just another remarkable achievement for one of the legends of the game.

However, standing in his way are Dan Heimiller and Lonnie Hallett, who are the overwhelming chip leaders. This is familiar territory for Heimiller, who won this event back in 2014 for $627,462.

$1,000 Seniors Event Final Table Chip Counts

Baxter’s Legacy

Only six more players have accrued more bracelets than Baxter, with Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Johnny Chan, Doyle Brunson, Erik Seidel and Johnny Moss being in that elite group.

Furthermore, many poker players have the 82 year-old to thank for helping them keep Uncle Sam away from their winnings as Baxter famously won a 1986 court case that argued that poker was a game of skill.

In 2008, Baxter finished seventh in that summer’s $2,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball, which was his last deep run at the WSOP. And surprisingly, the Seniors Event marks the furthest he has gone in a WSOP No-Limit Hold’em tournament.

Billy Baxter’s WSOP Bracelets

Route to the Final Table

PokerNews spoke with Baxter to get a brief taste of his journey to the final seven in what’s been an up-and-down few days for the poker veteran.

“The first day, I wound up with 155,000, so I didn’t really have chips, and then it got to the second day, and I got 655,000, but I only got that after all day just catching nothin’ hardly. And then, finally, last night, I caught a little run there. I got a few chips. And then today, the blinds are so big that you can hardly lose a pot.”

Baxter’s run was then looking like it was coming to an end early on in Day 4.

“I just had a race for quite a bit of money just now,” Baxter said during the first break. “Ace-king against two sevens. And the door was the ace for me, and then (on the flop was) a seven.”

However, Baxter was able to rally back by winning a flip with ace-queen and then being on the right side of a preflop cooler to secure his spot for Day 5.

Editor & Live Reporter

Calum has been a part of the PokerNews team since September 2021 after working in the UK energy sector. He played his first hand of poker in 2017 and immediately fell in love with the game. Calum’s proudest poker achievement is winning the only tournament he has ever played in Las Vegas, the prestigious $60 Flamingo evening event.

Every Texas Hold’em players loves looking down at their hole cards and seeing a pair of aces staring back. Why wouldn’t you? Aces are, after all, the strongest starting hand in Hold’em. However, some players have a favorite starting hand that is much weaker that “pocket rockets,” and WPT Global wants to know what those hands and is prepared to give two lucky PokerNews readers a free ticket to the Grand Slam worth $330.

Together with PokerNews, WPT Global is giving away two $330 tickets to the Grand Slam. All that you need to do is reply to the competition’s tweet, which is embedded below, with your WPT Global username and an answer to the question, “what is your favorite starting hand in poker?”

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What is the Grand Slam at WPT Global?

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