Mike Gorodinsky Completes Comeback to Win The $10k Eight Game Championship in Overtime

Before The Day Started

Event #82: $10,000 Eight-Game Mixed Championship required an extra day to complete. Only two were left after Day 3, which saw 13 players return to the felt at the Horseshoe and Paris Cardroom on the Las Vegas Strip. 

The play lasted 13 hours that day, and the field was whittled down to the final two players, who then returned last night to finish the job. 

$3,000 Nine Game Mix runner-up Thomas Taylor was the first to depart after the final table had been reached, before Bradley Jansen, who secured his fourth cash this series in the process. Mike Gorodinsky claimed the scalps of these two opponents.  

Aussie Kahle Burns added to his $14,000,000 in Hendon Mob cashes, finishing fifth for $92,829. He was dispatched by Eric Wasserson in a PLO hand. 

Mixed Game specialist Brian Tate was next to fall in a 2-7 Triple Draw hand, courtesy of Jon Turner, who remained a short stack. He was then next to depart, again to Gorodinsky. PLO was the game, and Turner ran queens into kings and couldn’t find any improvement across three streets. Turner bowed out in the first of the podium places. 

Wasserson was running away with it and added to his stack throughout the day’s play. He battled with Gorodinsky throughout the day, which set up for what came the day after. 

As the play ended, Wasserson had banked a stack worth 10,115,000. Gorodinsky, just 1,585,000.

A David V Goliath Situation in the Chip Counts

It was clear that Gorodinsky wasn’t feeling 100%. He played wearing a face mask and was quoted after the heads-up, saying, “I was feeling probably the worst I felt.”

He returned to the felt for the impromptu Day 4 with just six of the 49 big bets left in play, and needed to run well and play well to topple a very talented adversary in Wasserson, who was looking for his second bracelet.

Gorodinsky was in pursuit of bracelet number five. 

He made inroads into reducing the deficit from the get-go. He won two decent pots in PLO before Wasserson took some back in an interesting hand of Razz.

Gorodinsky had his big in completed, and he called. Wasserson had queens in the hole and a three up. Gorodinsky had an ace and a nine showing. Both checked on fourth as Gorodinsky paired his nine and Wasserson hit a four. Wasseron checked fifth with a jack, and Gorodinsky bet an ace. Wasserson called. 

Wasserson checked sixth, and Gorodinsky hit another nine to make trips. He admitted he didn’t know what to do in this spot. He ended up checking, and both checked again on seventh. Wasseron was good with queen jack, Gorodinsky showed his paired ace.

Gorodinsky On the Up

Gorodinsky kept chipping away through Limit Hold’em, Stud Hi-Lo, and 2-7 Triple Draw after a back-and-forth round of PLO.

He kept up that momentum through No Limit Holdem as well, as he neared the 5,000,000 chip mark for the first time. Wasserson had 6,650,000, so the lead was nowhere near as substantial as it was coming into the final day. 

Razz provided the most interesting hands of the session (at least they are to me). Wasserson completed over a Gorodinsky bring in with a king up, Gorodinsky had an ace.

Gorodinsky led on fourth, having hit a three, and Wasserson called with an eight. Gorodinsky then check-called on fifth as he received a ten, Wasserson hit a seven. Sixth was checked through, Wasserson got an ace, and Gorodinsky a four. He then led seventh, which put Wasserson in the blender.

He spent a few minutes in the tank and even asked Gorodinsky, “Why would you bet?” as he thought over the call. He relinquished his hand and the pot to Gorodinsky.

Parity Restored, Gorodinsky Completes The Comeback

Gorodinsky continued the surge into PLO. Gorodinsky got two streets of value and made two pair on the river to draw even closer to Wasserson, before drawing virtually even in Limit Holdem, winning with a better queen-high at showdown in a single raise pot, which was checked to the river. 

No Limit Hold’em was next on the menu, and Gorodinsky headed the chip counts for the first time after jamming the turn over a bet from Wasserson. Wasserson snap-folded, forfeiting the pot and the chip lead in the process.

It wasn’t much longer after that when all the chips were in the middle. Wasserson opened to 240,000 from the button with jack-seven of clubs. Gorodinsky three-bet ace-queen off to 825,000. and Wasserson called. Gorodinsky bet 650,000 on an ace high two club flop and Wasserson called. Gorodinsky checked the ten turn, and Wasserson moved all in after a minute in the tank. 

It took Gorodinsky around a minute to make the call, and he had a decent chunk of outs to fade. And fade he did, the deuce river was a brick, and Gorodinsky won his fifth career bracelet and a score of $422,421. He bested a field of 195 players and took the lion’s share of the $1,813,500 prize pool and a coveted gold bracelet. 

About the Winner – Mike Gorodinsky

Mike “Gordo16” Gorodinsky is an American Poker Player and five-time WSOP Bracelet winner. He has also won the POTY at the WSOP in 2015, having scored one bracelet and $1,766,487 at that year’s series. His largest cash came that year in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship, which he won for $1,270,086. 

Gorodinsky is incredibly versatile and plays at a high level across all known poker variants. His Hendon Mob currently stands at $5,577,592.