Friday, 29th March 2024 08:28
Home / Uncategorized / MicroMillions III: Team PokerStars Pro Marcin “Goral” Horecki wins Event #62 ($4.40+R PLO 6-Max)

It was the ultimate battle of David versus Goliath. After a sea of humanity had fallen by the wayside, all that stood at the end was a Team PokerStars Pro with a decorated poker resume and extensive experience, both live and online, and a guy playing just his sixth Pot Limit Omaha tournament. The script was written for either to put their name in lights in a heads-up battle for the ages, but this time around David’s slingshot misfired as Marcin “Goral” Horecki emerged victorious to claim the MicroMillions III Event #62 title.

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It was an entertaining final table, but to get there the players had to navigate through a field of 1,693 players in the $4.40 Pot Limit Omaha Six-Handed Rebuy event. The field combined for 2,794 rebuys and 1,130 add-ons to form a nice prize pool of $22,468 to nudge past the guarantee.

Six-handed Pot Limit Omaha with rebuys is designed to induce action with the gamblers enjoying the early stages as a chance to build a big stack. Only 216 players would finish in the money with marsa963 from Greece the unfortunate bubble of the $23.59 min-cash.

As the field decreased with around 30 players remaining Horecki was one of the short stacks. “A fine run to make it this far,” we mused, thinking that the end was nigh. How wrong we were.

With three tables left, Horecki was back into the top three chip stacks and ramped up the aggression. It backfired a couple of times as Horecki doubled up several opponents, but he was able to recover and when he disposed of MaHepu in 7th place, the final table was formed with Horecki out in front.

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Final Table Lineup
Seat 1: Mitorun (5,566,730)
Seat 2: Biiiig P (5,085,160)
Seat 3: 11doartu11 (519,192)
Seat 4: BadBoyBrett (1,229,274)
Seat 5: Marcin “Goral” Horecki, Team PokerStars pro (11,729,918)
Seat 6: remcovn (6,779,726)

Horecki was a commanding chip leader when the final table kicked off with a couple of short stacks under pressure with the blinds starting at 125k/250k. But it was Biiiig P who landed the first major pot of the final table.

Biiiig P and remcovn got it all in on a flop of 3♥ 9♣ Qâ™  with remcovn going with 6♣ Kâ™  K♦ 7♥ for a pair of kings, but Biiiig P’s aces had improved to two pair holding Q♣ A♦ 3â™  Aâ™  . The 3♣ turn and 6â™  gave Biiiig P a full house for a big early double up.

The short-stacked 11doartu11 and BadBoyBrett both landed double ups, but it wasn’t enough to save BadBoyBrett. Looking for a second double, BadBoyBrett was all-in pre-flop with 2â™  6♦ 10♦ Aâ™  as Horecki made the call with A♣ Kâ™  4♥ 7â™  . The board ran out 6â™  4♣ Q♥ 7♦ J♥ to leave a pair of sixes for BadBoyBrett which wasn’t enough as Horecki made two pair with sevens and fours. BadBoyBrett took home $561.70 for 6th place.

A fun hand saw remcovn land a spectacular double up, although Mitorun probably didn’t find it too much fun:

RSS readers click through to see replay

Such is the nature of the four-card game as Mitorun’s aces were cracked by the relative junk of remcovn.

However the comeback didn’t get to go any further than that. remcovn was next to go.

After a raise and call pre-flop, remcovn and Horecki got their chips into the middle on a flop of 9♣ 2♠ 3♠ . remcovn showed 6♣ 9♦ 10♦ Q♥ for top pair as Horecki had 6♥ 6♠ K♠ A♠ for a pair of sixes, nut flush draw and over cards. The 2♣ turn was a brick, but the river brought the K♦ to see Horecki make kings and deuces to eliminate remcovn in 5th place for $898.72.

Horecki was back into the chip lead, and extended that further on the very next hand.

Horecki min-raised the button, before Mitorun three-bet the small blind. When action was back on Horecki, he re-raised to put his opponent all in. Mitorun was committed to make the call with 10♥ A♣ 5♣ Qâ™  but Horecki had a powerful Aâ™  2♥ 6♦ A♦ . The board was spread 6â™  J♣ K♥ Jâ™  2â™  to miss Mitorun completely as Horecki’s aces held. Mitorun picked up $1,348.08 after a fine tournament for 4th place.

Horecki was into a healthy lead, and it didn’t take long to eliminate the very short-stacked 11doartu11.

11doartu11 had battled well to reach this far with a very short stack, but after both opponents called the pre-flop shove, we expected Horecki and Biiiig P to check it down. Both quickly clicked check on the board of J♥ 2♠ 4♥ K♠ K♣ until the river where Horecki put out a bet. His bet could only ever mean one thing, and Biiiig P was wise enough to get out of the way as Horecki showed J♣ 10♦ 9♥ K♥ for a full house. 11doartu11 flashed 8♠ A♣ A♥ A♠ but the aces had been chewed up, leaving 11doartu11 $2,022.12 for 3rd place.

Heads-up chip counts
Seat 2: Biiiig P (9,480,416)
Seat 5: Goral (21,429,584)

It was the classic battle of David versus Goliath. Here we were with Biiiig P who openly confessed to being a Pot Limit Omaha rookie with an estimated five PLO tournaments under his belt, and Team PokerStars Pro Marcin “Goral” Horecki – Poland’s all-time leading money earner and the inaugural MicroMillions Player of the Series.

Biiiig P said, “wanna deal or play?”
Biiiig P said, “:P”

Biiiig P knew the answer before he even asked, and was happy to enjoy the experience of being heads-up in a MicroMillions tournament against a Team PokerStars Pro.

Biiiig P said, “me against a poker pro :)”
Biiiig P said, “lol sorry taking a pic of this :P”

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The heads-up contest didn’t last too long, and the pots were mostly small, but the amateur was certainly holding his own against the pro.

However the momentum, and cards, fell in favour of Horecki as the final hand of the tournament went down as follows:

RSS readers click through to see replay

Biiiig P shoved the flop with top pair but Horecki held the pocket rockets which were enough to hold on to grab a memorable victory. Biiiig P pocketed $2,729.86 and has a helluva story to tell his mates after an epic run ended in second place.

For Horecki this was about more than the $3,652.00 first place prize. Sure it’s a nice coin, but for a guy with more than $1,000,000 in live tournament earnings, this was certainly not about prize money.

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Horecki is determined and focussed in his quest to win the MicroMillions Player of the Series for a second time. Today’s title is reward for those long hours he has spent grinding the micro-limit tournaments every day and night over the past week.

The victory jumps Horecki into top position on the MicroMillions leader board. And with another 38 events still to follow, you can be assured that this won’t be the last time we write his name. Congratulations, Marcin!

MicroMillions III Event #62 Results

Entrants: 1,693
Prize pool: $22,468
Places paid: 216

1st Marcin “Goral” Horecki (Poland) – $3,652.00
2nd Biiiig P (Canada) – $2,729.86
3rd 11doartu11 (Greece) – $2,022.12
4th Mitorun (Russia) – $1,348.08
5th remcovn (Netherlands) – $898.72
6th BadBoyBrett (United Kingdom) – $561.70

For more details about the MicroMillions III schedule and leader board, head to the MicroMillions home page.

Heath “TassieDevil” Chick is a Freelance Contributor for the PokerStars Blog.

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