Former Player of the Year Ali Imsirovic admits to cheating in high-stakes online poker games

Ali Imsirovic burst onto the high-stakes tournament scene in 2018, winning the Poker masters. The following years were filled with numerous high roller victories and in 2021 he was named Player of the Year.

Even during the pandemic, when live poker shut down completely, it seemed Imsirovic could do no wrong, playing huge bets online and winning a record-breaking pot.

But as it turned out, not all of Imsirovic’s online victories were legitimate. In April of 2022, Imsirovic, raised in Washington and born in Bosnia, was accused of cheating by other high-risk community members.

Imsirovic has been called out for allegedly being banned from online poker site GG Poker, along with fellow pros Jake Schindler and Bryn Kenney, for multi-accounting, ghosting and using RTA (real-time support).

Despite the allegations, Imsirovic refused to make any public statements, receiving cold shoulder treatment while playing WSOP events. He was later banned from PokerGO events and another ban was said to exist for EPT even tournaments. 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 to “set the record straight”.

“I still love poker and still want to play some,” he said. “I hope this can be the beginning to go further”.

In the 30-minute recording, Imsirovic admitted to being banned for multi-accounting online, as well as seizing $320,000 from the site.

“While I’m here to let you know which claims are completely bullshit, I’m also here to admit what I’ve done. I multi-account a group, so I have no interest in denying it. It happened. I’m sorry, but it happened.

Later in the video, he also clarified that he even reverted to multi-account for a short period of time after being banned for his original ban.

“I knew it was a mistake,” he added. “I have no excuses for that.”

A list of Imsirovic’s screen names was later posted online, but unverified. There were more than a dozen of them, including the cheekily named “MultiAccount”.

However, one thing Imsirovic was adamant about was that he didn’t use live assist, nor ghost other player accounts. He also denied any involvement with Schindler, despite him calling him a “good friend”.

The video didn’t get a good response from most of the poker world. Many felt that Imsirovic spent most of his time explaining what he hadn’t done rather than atoning for what he had done. Imsirovic also hinted with no small amount of subtlety that he wasn’t the only person cheating the game.

“[There was] a lot of shady stuff happens in those games. I knew there were people who shared cards, multitasked and worked as a team… I will say, for some of the main accusers, many of you don’t even have your house in order.

Imsirovic’s last live tournament win came in 2022 WSOP main event, where he finished in 229th place for $46,800.

You can try watching the whole video below.