ShareAli Imsirovic is going from strength to strength, the young Bosnian-born poker sensation taking down US Poker Open $10k NLHE title for $217,800 and with it a commanding lead in the overall leaderboard race...
With 99 entries, the 9th tournament of the 12-event series paid out 15 spots, Stephen Chidwick and Alex Foxen among those in the money but falling short of the final table of seven.
Those who did make it had ensured themselves of a $49,500 payout and that was Jake Schindler’s take-home for the day after Cary Katz called the exact river card that ended his run.
Katz also disposed of Thomas Winters in 6th and then Erik Seidel in 5th, the Poker Hall of Famer’s ace-queen unable to catch up with his rivals’ pocket jacks.
That left four and they included Vanessa Kade who was looking to add a USPO title to her incredible $1.5million scoop of the PokerStars 15th anniversary Sunday Million back in March.
It wasn’t to be for the Canadian streamer, but she added $94,500 for an excellent 4th spot and revealed she’d be dipping her toes in tomorrow’s $25k version...
With Kade gone and the podium reached it was time for Imsirovic to go into overdrive, the 2018 Poker Masters Purple Jacket winner and current PokerGO Tour leader KO-ing Katz in third leaving him heads-up against Andrew Lichtenberger
The final hand saw him call Lichtenberger’s shortstack shove rather light, but he paired his six on the turn to take the victory and $217,800.
Final results
| 1 | Ali Imsirovic | $217,800 |
| 2 | Andrew Lichtenberger | $158,400 |
| 3 | Cary Katz | $118,800 |
| 4 | Vanessa Kade | $94,050 |
| 5 | Erik Seidel | $74,250 |
| 6 | Thomas Winters | $59,400 |
| 7 | Jake Schindler | $49,500 |
| 8 | Mazen Abdallah | $39,600 |
| 9 | Alex Foxen | $39,600 |
With just three events to go on the 2021 USPO schedule, Imsirovic has leaped to the top of the overall standings, $100k or so clear of Lichtenberger and McKeehen.
He is guaranteed to extend that lead, returning today for the finale of event 10, the $10k Short Deck NLHE, which sees David Peters with the lead, Cary Katz in the mix and Thomas Kysar rounding out the four in the money.
U.S. Poker Open Leaderboard
Rank | Player | Points | Wins | Cashes | Earnings |
| 1 | Ali Imsirovic | 406 | 1 | 4 | $406,400 |
| 2 | Andrew Lichtenberger | 308 | 0 | 3 | $308,000 |
| 3 | Joe McKeehen | 302 | 1 | 2 | $302,200 |
| 4 | Steve Zolotow | 289 | 0 | 3 | $289,000 |
| 5 | David Peters | 243 | 1 | 2 | $243,000 |
| 6 | Dan Shak | 236 | 0 | 3 | $235,500 |
| 7 | Maxx Coleman | 231 | 0 | 3 | $230,800 |
| 8 | Cary Katz | 227 | 0 | 3 | $226,900 |
| 9 | Alex Foxen | 223 | 0 | 4 | $223,300 |
| 10 | John Riordan | 222 | 1 | 3 | $221,800 |
