Imsirovic Took PGT High Roller Titles Before Allegations
The second season of the PokerGO Tour had a busy couple of months. April started in Cyprus with a plethora of high-stakes tournaments, from the Super High Roller Series and SHRB to the Triton Super High Roller Series, millions and millions of dollars changed hands. And when everyone returned from the Mediterranean, Vegas was the place to be for more high-stakes action.
The inaugural PGT (PokerGO Tour) Heads-Up Showdown was a $25K by-in affair with 32 players and a bracket-style playdown. In the end, Chino Rheem took on Darren Elias for the title. Ultimately, Rheem won it for $400K, leaving Elias with $200K. Isaac Kempton and Justin Young finished in third and fourth places, each collecting $100K.
The rest of April and into May kept the big money in Las Vegas for high rollers at Aria and Venetian.
Mixed Bag of High Rollers
The initial Aria High Roller Series came up with a clear winner in mid-April. Ali Imsirovic won two of the three events, with Chris Brewer taking the third.
| Event 4 | $10K buy-in | Aria High Roller Series |
| Total entries: | 44 | |
| Total prize pool: | $440,000 | |
| Players paid: | 7 | |
| Final table results: | 1st place: | Ali Imsirovic (Bosnia) $149,600 |
| Event 5 | $10K buy-in | Aria High Roller Series |
| Total entries: | 32 | |
| Total prize pool: | $320,000 | |
| Players paid: | 5 | |
| Final table results: | 1st place: | Ali Imsirovic (Bosnia) $101,903 |
| Event 6 | $15K buy-in | Aria High Roller Series |
| Total entries: | 23 | |
| Total prize pool: | $345,000 | |
| Players paid: | 4 | |
| Final table results: | 1st place: | Chris Brewer (USA) $126,519 |
When play shifted over to the Venetian, Imsirovic was no longer competing, which we’ll get into in a moment. Turnout was down, especially in the last of the three events in the Venetian High Roller Series, but new names took titles. Vikenty Shegal and Michael Brinkenhoff took the first two, and Victoria Livschitz stepped in to grab the third with a rare female appearance in the high rollers.
| Event 5 | $10K buy-in | NLHE Venetian High Roller |
| Total entries: | 34 | |
| Total prize pool: | $340,000 | |
| Players paid: | 5 | |
| Final table results: | 1st place: | Vikenty Shegal (USA) $136,000 |
| Event 6 | $10K buy-in | NLHE Venetian High Roller |
| Total entries: | 23 | |
| Total prize pool: | $230,000 | |
| Players paid: | 4 | |
| Final table results: | 1st place: | Michael Brinkenhoff (USA) $105,800 |
| Event 7 | $15K buy-in | NLHE Venetian High Roller |
| Total entries: | 4 | |
| Total prize pool: | $60,000 | |
| Players paid: | 1 | |
| Final table results: | 1st place: | Victoria Livschitz (USA) $60,000 |
Imsirovic Tops Leaderboard…for Now
The PokerGO Tour leaderboard for this year/season is – shall we say – interesting. Ali Imsirovic sits in the number one spot. In past years, that would have been no surprise, as he even won it last year for the inaugural PGT.
Phil Ivey is in a solid second place right now, as he has been playing more this year, doing very well in Cyprus and possibly playing more going forward. Ivey has a very good chance of taking the top spot soon, though, as Imsirovic may not be playing much in the months to come.
| 2022 PokerGO Tour Player of the Year Standings |
| 1. Ali Imsirovic = 2176 points ($3,216,198 earnings) |
| 2. Phil Ivey = 1725 points ($2,880,100 earnings) |
| 3. Jake Schindler = 1472 points ($4,894,550 earnings) |
| 4. Isaac Kemptonr = 1429 points ($1,351,864 earnings) |
| 5. Alex Foxen = 1332 points ($1,666,402 earnings) |
What had happened was…after Cyprus, Alex Foxen took to Twitter to condemn Imsirovic for cheating. On April 17, he started a Twitter thread to publicly call out Imsirovic for cheating live and online. Foxen claimed that Imsirovic had been banned from playing on GGPoker for multi-accounting and using a banned solver program. He went on to say that he had proof that Imsirovic also cheated in live games. He watched the livestream of the Super High Roller Bowl from Cyprus and pointed out how clearly Imsirovic looked at Paul Phua’s hole cards.
As chatter began amongst high rollers, Imsirovic showed up to the next day of play wearing dark sunglasses…for the first time.
Ali is known as a cheater to almost all in the high roller community, however without much ironclad proof, most stay silent. After watching this hand on the SHRB live stream, enough is enough.
— Alex Foxen (@WAFoxen) April 18, 2022
The cherry on top is the next day, for the first time I've ever seen, Ali shows up in sunglasses. The whispers of this egregious hole carding must have made it's way back to him. pic.twitter.com/5mriZKMaqf
— Alex Foxen (@WAFoxen) April 18, 2022
Many players who had previously heard rumors of Imsirovic cheating or known him to do so lined up, virtually, on Twitter to back up Foxen’s claims. Players like Ryan Leng and Justin Bonomo chimed in, with the latter even putting Jake Schindler’s name on the list of possible cheaters.
Imsirovic has yet to address the allegations in any way. He simply disappeared from the scene in recent weeks. Schindler dropped off as well.
If this continues, they will fall from the top of the PGT leaderboard. It’s anyone’s game at this point.
What’s Next?
The PokerGO Tour will soon head to Venice, Italy. The Casino di Venezia will host a series of PGT Italy high rollers – eight of them between May 26 and May 30.
That will end just before the World Series of Poker kicks off in Las Vegas. There will be a few high rollers at various Vegas casinos in June and July, though most of the PGT events will be a part of the 2022 WSOP.
| PokerGO Tour | Season 2 | Upcoming… |
| 26-May | $10K PLO | PGT Italy #1 |
| 26-May | $10K NLHE | PGT Italy #2 |
| 27-May | $25K Short Deck | PGT Italy #3 |
| 27-May | $10K NLHE | PGT Italy #4 |
| 28-May | $15K PLO | PGT Italy #5 |
| 29-May | $50K Short Deck | PGT Italy #6 |
| 29-May | $10K NLHE | PGT Italy #7 |
| 30-May | $15K NLHE | PGT Italy #8 |
