Ali Imsirovic wins PokerGo Cup Event # 2 for his seventh title in 2021
Ali Imsirovic is the hottest player in the live tournament circle in 2021. The 26-year-old Bosnian-born poker pro from Vancouver, Washington, leads the field in all three of the most important categories for tournament success to date in 2021: Earned Money ($ 2,553,960), Final Tables (16 so far) and titles won (seven) . Imsirovic’s latest conquest resulted in him emerging from a field of 61 entrants in the latest PokerGO Cup 2021 $ 10,000 no-limit hold’em tournament. For the win, he secured the grand prize of $ 183,000. The score increased his tournament winnings to more than $ 12 million.
In addition to the title and the money, Imsirovic was also awarded 360 Card Player Player of the Year points as champion of this event. Thanks to his incredible performance this year, Imsirovic was already in first place in 2021 POY Race ratings sponsored by Global Poker. With that score, he took a 450-point lead over runner-up Chad Eveslage, who climbed the rankings just a day before Imsirovic’s latest win by winning the World Poker Tour Venetian Main Event for his third title of the year.
Imsirovic’s success in 2021 can be seen almost exclusively at high-stakes events. As a result, he is also the clear leader on the PokerGO Tour leaderboard. He earned 183 points for this ranking race, which gave him a 527 point lead over second-placed Sean Perry in this classification. He also beat PokerGO Cup Event No. 1 winner Alex Foxen’s lead in the Player Series Race for a handful of ranking points.
Event no. 2 at the first PokerGO Cup was a $ 10,000 buy-in no-limit hold ‘tournament. The attendance of 61 participants created a prize pool of $ 610,000, with the top nine players earning the money. Spanish poker pro Sergio Aido was eliminated in the money bubble late on the first day of the tournament, with Marius Gierse (9th – $ 18,300), Daniel Weinand (8th – $ 24,400) and Sam Soverel (7th – $ 30,500) all eliminated, before day 1 came to a conclusion.
The second and final day of this event began with Imsirovic at the helm and World Poker Tour Main Event winner Matas Cimbolas hot on his heels. Two of the smaller stacks at the table started double-ups before Cimbloas got caught up in a pre-flop showdown that led to disaster for the Lithuanian poker pro. Cimbolas shoved an A for just under 23 big blinds
5
from the small blind, only to have Imsirovic with A. to wake up
5. Cimbolas flopped a five to turn the tables, but the K did
on the river, he hit the rails in sixth ($ 36,600). The 120 POY Points accumulated for his fifth final table of the year were enough to climb to sixth place on the ladder with a title and $ 1,101,205 in qualifying revenue.
Frank Funaro was next to fall when his A
9
could the K. not defeat6th by Imsirovic, who put him all-in pre-flop. Imsirovic stabbed in a king on the turn to take the lead, and a board with three pair on the river put Funaro in fifth place ($ 48,800). Imsirovic chipped to over 5.5 million after the hand, while the other three players at the table had a total of just over 2.1 million.
Mo Rahim’s run in that event came to an end after losing the majority of his chips in a three-way all-in. Rahim had A. held
10 with a view of the A
Q the short stack colleagues Jason Koon and Q9 by Imsirovic. Koon’s hand was the best for the main pot, while Rahim won a small side pot with a worse ace to stay alive with a big blind in the tournament. He was eliminated shortly thereafter, earning $ 61,000 for finishing fourth in the event.
Koon had started the last day with less than four big blinds but managed to build up to over 33 big blinds with three hands early in the game. He lost a few pots to end up at the bottom of the rankings again, but managed to survive heads-up thanks to a preflop cooler. WPT Main event winner Dylan Linde picked up pocket queens on the button and raised to 200,000 minutes.Imsirovic looked down at pocket kings and three-bet to 600,000. Linde shoved for 2,650,000 and Imsirovic called. The superior pocket pair held and Linde was eliminated in third place ($ 85,400).
Imsirovic took over a 3-1 chip lead with Koon in the heads-up game. The last fight didn’t last long. Koon limped off the button with A button9 and Imsirovic went with K. all-in2. Koon called four by 18 big blinds and was at risk but ahead. Imsirovic jumped at 10. in leadership32 flop. The J on the left turn, Koon needs an ace or a nine on the river. The 6 in the end it was of no help and Koon was knocked out in second place for $ 122,000. Koon remains ninth on the Poker All-Time Money List after that final deep run in a high roller event, with more than $ 32.6 million in cash in his name.
Here’s a look at the payouts and leaderboard points awarded on the last day of this event:
| place | player | Merits | POY Points | PokerGO |
| 1 | Ali Imsirovic | $ 183,000 | 360 | 183 |
| 2 | Jason Koon | $ 122,000 | 300 | 122 |
| 3 | Dylan Linde | $ 85,400 | 240 | 85 |
| 4th | Muhammad Abdel Rahim | $ 61,000 | 180 | 61 |
| 5 | Frank Funaro | $ 48,800 | 150 | 49 |
| 6th | Matas Cimbolas | $ 36,600 | 120 | 37 |
Winner’s photo credit: PokerGO / Antonio Abrego.