Ali Imsirovic, the former GPI Player of the Year who admitted to cheating in 2023, has been disqualified from a $1M GTD tournament and permanently banned from the Champions Club.
Imsirovic had successfully bought into the $1,500 buy-in Champions Club Winter Poker Open Main Event but was soon shown the door. The Champions Club, which is co-owned by Phil Hellmuth, is recognized as one of the best places to play poker in Texas, thanks to their emphasis on player safety.
To his credit, it’s reported that Imsirovic left without a fuss.
Imsirovic Cheating Scandal
The scandal dates back to early 2022, when Imsirovic was playing at the Super High Roller Bowl Europe. One hand in particular stood out, as it appeared that Imsorivic may have looked at his opponent’s cards, then used that information to pull off a sick bluff.
Starting the hand with 1.2 million in chips, Imsirovic raised to 35,000 from the cutoff with A♥9♣, then calmly looked down at Paul Phua’s cards. Phua, sitting one place to his left, didn’t protect his cards well, and folded the A♦5♣ with a 2.1 million stack. From the footage, it does look like Imsirovic could’ve seen his cards.
Michael Addamo defended the big blind with 7♠5♥. The monotone flop came 6♦4♦2♦ and Addamo checked to Imsirovic, who put in a c-bet. At this point, Addamo raised. Imsorivic, with nothing but ace-high on a scary-looking board, found a three-bet and took the pot down.
If Imsirovic had seen Phua’s hand, and knew that the ace of diamonds had already been folded, it would make that bluff a lot easier, as he’d know his opponent couldn’t have had the nuts.
Foxen Piles On
Alex Foxen, a high-stakes pro who currently sits 15th on the all-time money list, weighed in with his opinion on X.
Not only did he claim that Imsirovic is “known as a cheater”, but also that he’d been banned from GGPoker for multiaccounting and using RTA (real-time assistance). This could include the use of banned software which helps make GTO decisions – similar to the WSOP Main Event controversy which resulted in the introduction of the ‘Tamayo rule’.
Interestingly, Imsirovic’s activity at GGPoker stopped on September 29, 2020 – the same day that GGPoker handed out 40 bans for the use of RTA.
Fellow pros such as Mike Matusow and Matt Berkey leapt in to confirm they felt the same way as Foxen. Even Justin Bonomo came in to bat for him.
But the scandal didn’t end there.
Imsirovic, Schindler & Kenney Collusion
When a player is banned from an online poker site, whether it’s because they simply let a friend use their account or set up an entire poker bot farm, the poker room is typically vague. They’ll use a blanket term like RTA, but won’t usually go into specifics.
In the case of Imsirovic being banned from GGPoker, suspicions were raised about collusion with other players. In particular, Jake Schindler and Bryn Kenney.
Kenney, who is the current world number one in poker’s all-time money list, has been accused of running a stable where players share information in an unfair way. Martin Zamani not only stated that Kenney’s horses illegally colluded, but also made some bizarre and disturbing claims.
According to Zamani, members of Kenney’s inner circle would be kicked out if they didn’t adhere to a strict vegan diet. He also claimed he was put under pressure to allow a shaman to “inject frog poison in me”, and that players who didn’t take illegal drugs with Kenney would be punished by having their stakes reduced.
Since we are in the midst of calling out cheaters @BrynKenney and all his horses are basically forced to collude on GG esp in satties. “ do what’s best for the team” he wouldn’t let me play GG 5k plo events on my account but on party I could play 10Ks if said horse ghost was.
— Martin Zamani (@martin_zamani) April 21, 2022
If there was any doubt over Imsirovic’s innocence, his video confession in 2023 put that to bed. While he denied some accusations, he did admit to making a “really bad mistake” by “multi-accounting MTTs for about four to five months”. The video has since been taken down.
While both Imsirovic and Schindler have admitted some wrongdoing in the cheating scandal, Kenney has always maintained his innocence, and continues to play in ultra-high-stakes events.
What Next for Imsirovic?
The Bosnian has already been banned from the PokerGO Tour and The Lodge, among other venues, but there are still plenty of places he can play. He’s even joined WSOP live events since the cheating scandal broke.
But his confession to cheating means he can never be sure when he’ll next get disqualified from a poker tournament, be it live or online.
The Champions Club stated that they refunded Imsirovic’s $1,500 buy-in after ejecting him.