Maksim Pisarenko Triumphs In World Series of Poker $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship

It took five days of play, but finally a champion was decided in the 2024 World Series of Poker $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. championship event. Russia’s Maksim Pisarenko emerged victorious from a field of 181 entries to secure his first gold bracelet and the top prize of $399,988.

This marked a new career-best payday for Pisarenko, surpassing the $189,840 he secured as the third-place finisher in a $2,900 buy-in event at the 2019 European Poker Tour Sochi festival. He now has more than $1.2 million in recorded tournament earnings to his name.

This was the second title and sixth final-table finish of the year for Pisarenko, with his previous win coming in a $5,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. event at the PokerGO Tour Mixed Games festival in February. This latest victory saw him earn 840 Card Player Player of the Year points, enough to move him into 132nd place in the 2024 POY standings presented by Global Poker. He has also accrued 572 PGT points, enough to move him inside the top 25 in that high-stakes-centric race.

The top 28 finishers all earned a piece of the $1,683,300 prize pool in this event, with big names like four-time bracelet winner Jeff Madsen (21st), four-time bracelet winner Brad Ruben (18th), bracelet winner Dario Alioto (16th), bracelet winner Nacho Barbero (14th), two-time bracelet winner Brandon Shack-Harris (12th), and Maria Ho (6th) all running deep.

This event was expected to wrap up on day 4. Five-time bracelet winner Benny Glaser held the lead among the five contenders who bagged up after day 3, with Pisarenko sitting in second chip position.

It took five hours before the first elimination took place. It was ultimately Glaser that was the first to fall. He got the last of his stack in with top pair against the flush and gutshot straight draws of bracelet winner and World Poker Tour champion Mike Leah. The flush came in on the turn to leave Glaser drawing dead. He earned $93,094 for his third final-table showing of the series. All three have come in $10,000 buy-in championship events.

Card Player columnist and two-time bracelet win Steve Zolotow’s run ended in fourth place. He was left short after clashing with Leah in a stud eight-or-better hand. Leah then made aces up in the same game to scoop when Zolotow’s low bricked out. Zolotow earned $128,863 as the fourth-place finisher, bringing his career tournament earnings to more than $4 million.

Two-time bracelet winner Lawrence Brandt soon followed. Pisarenko won a big pot off of him in limit hold’em, but it was Leah that landed the final blow. All of the chips got in preflop in a round of Omaha eight-or-better with Leah holding A943 against the AKQ5 of Brandt. Leah made the nut low and a pair of nines to scoop on a 107295 runout. Brandt cashed for $183,049 as the third place finisher.

The final two agreed to halt play for the night at roughly 8:20 PM local time, with Pisarenko holding 5,720,000 to Leah’s 5,145,000. They ultimately decided to resume action the following morning at 10:00 AM.

The final two went on to battle for several hours. It was a back and forth affair, but eventually Pisarenko was able to take the lead and stretch it. In the final hand Leah got all-in with split kings in stud on third street, only to run into split aces for Pisarenko. Leah improved to kings up on sixth street to take the lead, but Pisarenko made aces up on the end to bring the tournament to a close.

Leah earned $266,658 as the runner-up. The Canadian now has $8,983,581 in career earnings after this latest deep run, which was his 359th recorded tournament cash.

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

Visit the Card Player 2024 World Series of Poker page for schedules, news, interviews, and the latest event results. WSOP coverage sponsored by Global Poker.

Photo credit: WSOP / Spenser Sembrat.

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