Moldova, Poland Take Home First Live WSOP Bracelets from Las Vegas - Newstbt.com

This week, Moldova and Poland’ve joined the list of countries with live-poker tournament wins, with each having their first two WSOP bracelets. Despite the US having the most WSOP bracelets, they are not the only country with successes in the realm of poker.

Players from Moldova and Poland recently made history; they have each secured their first live World Series of Poker (WSOP) tournament bracelet. As of yet, The Hendon Mob records show that the US is still in the lead with 1,453 bracelets, Canada has 78, and England has 60. Even countries like Morocco and Kosovo are on this impressive list of WSOP bracelet holders. Thanks to strong performances throughout the recent tournament, Moldova and Poland now appear on the list of live tournament winners. The ongoing series may very well present further opportunity for these countries to increase the number of bracelets in their collections. Computer professional and poker player, Marcin Horecki, is credited with Poland’s success in acquiring a WSOP bracelet.

Poland Earns WSOP Bracelet Through Horecki

The WSOP $1,500 Seven-Card Stud Eight-or-Better event drew 566 participants, including pro players Brian Rast and Sergio Braga. Another renowned player was there, having not claimed a WSOP title even after 17 years of live cashing. This all changed with a remarkable performance by Poland’s Marcin Horecki, who succeeded in beating four-time WSOP bracelet champion Mike “The Mouth” Matusow to press his name onto the trophy. Horecki found himself near the bottom of the leaderboard as the day of the final table started, but played his way up by outmaneuvering Rast, who departed in seventh place and was awarded a six-time WSOP bracelet as well as three-time Poker Players Championship honors. After several players had been dismissed, the field narrowed down to a duel between Horecki and Matusow. After an intense confrontation, it was Horecki who emerged with the win.

Dominik Horecki broke a six-year streak of not winning a poker tournament with his victory in the 2020 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) Colossus tournament. His victory earned him a €200,350 first-place prize. He started off with a substantial chip lead, but Mike Matusow, a 2023 Poker Hall of Fame finalist, continued to defy the odds and made a valiant effort to come back in the game. Unfortunately, he was unable to make it to the top and settled for second place and $95,957. Meanwhile, Horecki was catapulted to nearly $1.6 million in lifetime live poker winnings. Dominik Panka was the first Pole to win a WSOP bracelet in an online tournament in the $2,100 No-Limit Hold’em – Bounty Championship event in 2021, thereby making a Polish-Moldovan one-two punch in the books of poker history.

Moldova in the Books

Plesuv responded with the silent treatment, but the poker faces wore off as his achievement hit home – he had succeeded in becoming Moldova’s first-ever WSOP bracelet winner.

At the WSOP $1,500 Millionaire Maker No-Limit Hold’em event, Pavel Plesuv became Moldova’s first-ever bracelet winner after five days of play. Though Dragos Trofimov is the most recognizable poker player from the country, having racked up considerable winnings, until now none of its players had ever won a WSOP title. To add to the surprise win, the final table pitted Plesuv against Andreas Kniep, who baited him into going all-in, only to be afterwards silenced by the A-2 straight Plesuv hit on the board. The accomplishment finally dawning on him, Plesuv celebrated a historic moment for the country, having already earned approximately $5 million in poker winnings.

As the cards were revealed, the German poker pro’s demeanor shifted to a more somber expression; he saw that his Pocket Aces were no longer a playable hand and resigned to finishing fourth place. This gave Romania’s Razvan Plesuv a major advantage, allowing him to dominate the board with newfound confidence, eventually clashing with Florian Ribouchon of France in a decisive showdown for the championship. After only a handful of hands, Plesuv emerged the victor with a bracelet and $1.2 million richer. Runner-up Ribouchon received $1 million, much to his delight.