Poker Stories: Mike Gorodinsky

Poker Stories

Mike Gorodinsky is a three-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner, who is coming off a summer where he took down the $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. championship for $422,747. The Russian-born pro, who was raised in St. Louis, Missouri, won his first bracelet back in 2013, taking down the $2,500 Omaha and stud eight-or-better mix event. But Gorodinsky's biggest score remains the $1,270,086 he pocketed for winning the 2015 $50,000 Poker Players Championship.

Although the 37-year-old has the resume of a tournament pro, with more than $4.2 million in cashes and the title of 2015 WSOP Player of the Year, he is also a feared cash game player. The mixed-games master spent years competing in some of the biggest cash games spread in the world, battling it out with the best players in Bobby's Room in Las Vegas for stakes as high as $4,000-$8,000

Highlights from this episode include the move from St. Petersburg to St. Louis, eloping in Greece, drunk 1 a.m. online sessions, learning bankroll management the hard way, buying a car with all of his winnings, the online tournament that kept him in poker, a love for literature, an office in Tijuana, battling for high-stakes with Phil Ivey, million-dollar swings, the 'detriment' of having his own action, an 'unpleasant' loss to Phil Hellmuth, a weird history with the Poker Players Championship, giving away his bracelets, buy-in inflation, poker personalities, New Zealand restaurant games, fake beef with Doyle Brunson and the gift of the unlucky sweater.