Ali Imsirovic scored yet another victory inside PokerGO’s Las Vegas studio on Wednesday after taking down the penultimate event (Event #7: $25,000 NLHE) of the 2022 PokerGO Cup for his third career PokerGO Cup event victory and $365,500.
With the victory, Imsirovic soared past $16 million in live career earnings, just another testament of the young phenom being one of the toughest players in the game today.
At the start of the 20,000/40,000 (40,000 bb ante) level, four of the six players were sitting with less than 20 big blinds, including Darren Elias who, at his fourth final table of the series, had just over 10 bigs in his stack. Sam Soverel opened the action to 80,000 with his 
, next to act was Imsirovic who flatted holding the 
. Elias was in the small blind and three-bet shipped for a total of 405,000 and Soverel let go of his hand. Imsirovic, however, did not fold. He made the call and putting Elias at risk. The flop came 
, handing Imsirovic top pair and leaving Elias looking for an eight. The turn was the 
and the 
completed the board, sending Elias out in sixth place for $64,500.
On the very next hand, Cary Katz shipped his final 325,000 all-in holding the 
and, once again, it was Imsirovic happy to make the call with his 
. The 
flop brought Karz some chop outs to go along with his bottom pair. However, the 
on the turn and the 
river was no help to the PokerGO founder and in back-to-back hands Imsirovic took out two. Katz hit the cage to collect his $86,000 fifth-place prize and snap-enter Event #8.
After Ausmus found a double, Nick Schulman was the lone short stack with roughly 10 big blinds. When it folded to Ausmus in the small blind, he opened shoved on Schulman holding the 
. In the big blind, Schulman looked down at the 
and made the call with his tournament on the line. The flop came 
, keeping Schulman in the lead. The turn was the 
giving Ausmus a double-gutter to go along with his pair outs to eliminate Schulman. The hit the river, bringing Ausmus top pair and sending Schulman out in fourth place, good for $118,250.
Three-handed play saw Imsirovic build a tower of chips, holding a better than four-to-one lead over Soverel in second place with 1.1 million. When the blinds hit 25,000/50,000 (50,000 ante), Ausmus had himself roughly 13 big blinds and found a great spot to potentially double yet again. From the button, Imsirovic moved all-in with the chip lead holding 
. In the small blind, with 640,000 total, Ausmus picked up and called for the rest of his stack. In the big blind, Soverel let go of the 
and let Imsirovic know he had the same hand. That said, the flop came 
, bringing one of the last two sevens in the deck and putting Imsirovic’s hand in the lead. The turn was the 
, offering Ausmus chop-outs to a five. But the river came the and Ausmus’ day was done in third place for $161,250.
Imsirovic held a better than five-to-one chip lead over Soverel when the pair sat down heads-up to determine a winner. But Soverel hung around, closed the gap between them, and eventually took the chip lead. Although Soverel held the momentum, a pivotal hand swung the match back in Imsirovic’s favor. With the blinds at 30,000/60,000 (60,000 ante) Soverel raised the button to 175,000 with his and Imsirovic called holding the . The flop came 
, giving Imsirovic trips. Imsirovic checked to Soverel who bet 75,000. Imsirovic raised to 350,000 and Soverel opted for a quick call. The turn came the and Imsirovic led for 700,000, which Soverel quickly called. The river was the 
and Imsirovic shipped his stack for 1.9 million. Soverel, with just 2.1 million behind, took his time, asked for a count, and eventually shrug-called hoping to win it right here. But Soverel was shown the trips and was left with just 210,000 in his stack.
The very next hand, the pair got it all-in and Imsirovic’s 
outflopped Soverel’s as the board came 
. Soverel’s second-place finish was good for $236,500 while Imsirovic celebrated his third career PokerGO Cup event win with the $365,500 first-place prize.
PokerGO Cup Event #7 Final Table Results
- Ali Imsirovic – $365,500
- Sam Soverel – $236,500
- Jeremy Ausmus – $161,250
- Nick Schulman – $118,250
- Cary Katz – $86,000
- Darren Elias – $64,500