[ad_1]
Ali Imsirovic broke out on the high-stakes tournament scene in 2018, winning the Poker Masters. The next few years were full of numerous high roller wins, and in 2021 he was named the Player of the Year.
Even during the pandemic when live poker was completely shut down, it seemed like Imsirovic could do no wrong, playing huge stakes online and winning a then-record pot.
But as it turned out, not all of Imsirovic’s online wins were legitimate. In April of 2022, the Washington-raised, Bosnia-born Imsirovic was accused of cheating by other members of the high-stakes community.
Imsirovic was called out for allegedly being banned by online poker site GG Poker, along with fellow pros Jake Schindler and Bryn Kenney, for multi-accounting, ghosting, and the use of RTAs (real-time assistance).
Despite the accusations, Imsirovic declined to make any public statement, getting the cold shoulder treatment while playing in WSOP events. He was subsequently banned from PokerGO events, and it was rumored that another ban existed for EPT tournaments as well. As a result, the 28-year-old has mostly stayed away from the poker world.
This weekend, however, after more than a year of silence, Imsirovic released a video in order to “set the record straight.”
“I still love poker, and I still want to play some,” he said. “Hopefully this can be the start of moving on past this.”
In the 30-minute recording, Imsirovic admitted to getting banned for multi-accounting online, as well as having $320,000 seized by the site.
“While I’m here letting you guys know what claims are complete bullshit, I’m also here to admit to what I’ve done. I have multi-accounted a bunch, so I have no interest in denying that. It happened. I regret it, but it happened.”
Later in the video, he also clarified that he even went back to multi-accounting for a short period of time after he had been outed for his original ban.
“I knew it was a mistake,” he added. “I don’t have any excuses for it.”
A list of Imsirovic’s screen names were subsequently posted online, but not verified. There were more than a dozen, including the brazenly-named ‘MultiAccount.’
However, one thing that Imsirovic was adamant about was that he did not use real-time assistance, nor did he ghost any other player accounts. He also denied any involvement with Schindler, despite calling him a “good friend.”
The video did not receive a good response from most of the poker world. Many felt that Imsirovic spent most of his time explaining what he did not do rather than atoning for what he did. Imsirovic also not-so-subtlety hinted that he was not the only person who was cheating the game.
“[There was] a lot of shady shit happening in those games. I knew there were people card-sharing, multi-ing, and working as teams… I will say, for some of the main accusers, a lot of you don’t even have your own house in order.”
Imsirovic’s last live tournament cash came in the 2022 WSOP main event, where he finished in 229th place for $46,800.
You can try and sit through the entire video below.
[ad_2]
Source link