Maksim Pisarenko Wins PGT Mixed Games Kickoff H.O.R.S.E. Title

The 2024 PokerGO Tour Mixed Games series kicked off this week with the first of 10 events. A total of 87 entries were made in the $5,100 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. kickoff tournament, creating a prize pool of $435,000 that was paid out among the top 13 finishers. Among that baker’s dozen, Russia’s Maksim Pisarenko took home the largest slice of the pie. Pisarenko defeated five-time bracelet winner Benny Glaser heads-up to secure the trophy and the top prize of $117,450.

This was the second-largest score yet for Pisarenko, trailing only the $189,840 payday he was awarded as the third-place finisher in the 2019 European Poker Tour Sochi main event. He now has nearly $740,000 in total lifetime earnings.

The 384 Card Player Player of the Year points that Pisarenko took home as the champion were enough to move him inside the top 400 in the 2024 POY standings presented by Global Poker, while 117 PGT points moved him inside the top 30 on that leaderboard.

This event played out over the course of two days inside the PokerGO Studio at ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Five-time bracelet winner John Monnette was knocked out in seventh place to bring day 1 to a close. Dennis Maschke lead the final six, with six-time bracelet winner and two-time World Poker Tour champion Daniel Negreanu in second chip position to start day 2.

Three-time bracelet winner Mike Gorodinsky was the first to fall, getting scooped by Negreanu in an Omaha eight-or-better pot to finish sixth for $21,750. Despite scoring that knockout, Negreanu was ultimately the next to hit the rail. He lost a big chunk of his stack in a razz clash with Glaser to fall to the bottom of the counts.

Those two squared off in the same game in Negreanu’s final hand, with Glaser’s jack low being enough to drag the pot and narrow the field to four. Negreanu cashed for $30,450 as the fifth-place finisher. With $51.1 million in lifetime earnings, he remains the seventh-ranked player on poker’s all-time money list.

Pisarenko sent Andrew Kelsall home in fourth place ($39,150), winning a big stud pot with a pair jacks to move into second place in the chip counts. He then scooped a three-way showdown in stud eight-or-better with a nine-high straight and an 8-7-6-5-A low, eliminating Dennis Maschke in third place ($54,375) in the process.

With that, Pisarenko entered heads-up play holding 7,725,000 to Glaser’s 5,475,000. Glaser lost a big pot early when his flopped flush draw failed to materialize in hold’em and Pisarenko showed down a straight. Glaser doubled up twice after that, but was soon all-in and at risk again. The final hand saw his last chips go in on fourth street in stud with his ace high leading Pisarenko’s king high. Both players ended up making straights, with Pisarenko’s king-high straight besting a six-high one for Glaser. The UK poker pro took home $76,125 as the runner-up. He now has nearly $7.5 million in career earnings after this latest deep run.

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

Photo credits: PokerGO / Antonio Abrego.

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