Maksim Pisarenko Wins 1st WSOP Bracelet in $10K H.O.R.S.E. Championship

Maksim Pisarenko secured his first WSOP gold bracelet at the 2024 World Series of Poker after winning Event #45: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship. Pisarenko defeated Mike Leah heads-up to win the $399,988 first-place prize and claim his second PGT title of the season. 

At PGT Mixed Games in February, Pisarenko won the opening $5,100 H.O.R.S.E. event for $117,400 after defeating Benny Glaser during heads-up play. His first WSOP win pushes Pisarenko's lifetime tournament earnings to more than $1.27 million, according to The Hendon Mob. This was also Pisarenko's tenth WSOP cash of the series, with cashes in a total of seven different games, including two in H.O.R.S.E.

Event #45 attracted a total of 181 entrants and created a prize pool of $1,683,300 in prize money. The final 28 players finished in the money, including Eric Wasserson, Maxx Coleman, Roland Israelashvili, Chris Tryba, Jeff Madsen, Bradley Ruben, Dario Alioto, Nacho Barbero, Brandon Shack-Harris, and Christopher Chung. Maria Ho was eliminated in sixth-place, and play for Day 3 was concluded with Glaser holding a commanding chp lead. On the opposite end of the leaderboard was Leah, who sat with two big bets compared to Glaser's 22-big bets.

The final scheduled day of play would be a slow grind as Glaser's start at the top would end with him falling in fifth place. PGT regular Steve Zolotow exited next in fourth place before two-time WSOP bracelet winner Lawrence Brandt was eliminated in third place. Both Pisarenko and Leah were close in chips, and registration was closing in the Event #53: $3,000 9-Game Mix. Both players mutually decided to bag up for Day 4 to play Event #53 as play was halted for Day 4. 

Pisarenko made his way through Day 1 of Event #53, while Leah didn't. Both players returned for an unprecedented Day 5 at 10 a.m. on Friday, June 21. Leah took the first lead once play resumed before Pisarenko wrestled it back and then began to extend it. Both players continued to trade the lead back-and-forth before Pisarenko grew his lead to a two-to-one advantage. Leah lost a big hand after folding on sixth street in Razz to be left with 1.5 big bets. Leah doubled several times before the final hand played out in Stud when he was all-in on third street with split kings against Pisarenko's split aces. Leah improved to kings-up, but Pisarenko improved to aces-up to eliminate Leah in second place, and simultaneously be awarded his first WSOP bracelet.

2024 WSOP Event #45: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Championship Results

PGT Leaderboard Top 10

These are the leaderboard standings as of Friday, June 21, 2024. The complete and current PGT leaderboard is at pgt.com/leaderboard.

Following Pisarenko's first WSOP bracelet, he climbs into 24th on the PGT leaderboard with 572 PGT points. Pisarenko has two wins and four cashes for the season. Runner-up Mike Leah rises into 74th on the PGT leaderboard with 267 PGT points. Fourth-place finisher Steve Zolotow is now in 99th on the PGT leaderboard with 189 PGT points, while Benny Glaser sits in 40th on the PGT leaderboard with 438 PGT points and five PGT cashes.

The next eligible WSOP event to earn PGT points is Event #55: $250,000 No-Limit Hold'em Super High Roller, beginning on June 21. Following that will be Event #57: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Turbo on June 22, and then the Event #58: $50,000 Poker Players Championship, beginning on June 23.

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