The 27-year-old poker pro’s incredible run from 2021 has carried over to the new year, as he currently leads all poker tournament players in both titles won and final-table finishes. Imsirovic claimed sole possession of the top spot in those categories thanks to victory in the latest $10,500 buy-in high roller held during the 2022 Wynn Millions series. He overcame a field of 60 entries to earn $180,000 and his fourth title of 2022.

In addition to the money and the hardware, Imsirovic also earned a bounty of rankings points for his latest title run. The 360 Card Player Player of the Year points he secured were enough to see him squeak past Jeremy Ausmus to overtake the lead in the 2022 POY race, which is sponsored by Global Poker.

Imsirovic also scored 180 PokerGO Tour points for the win. He now sits in second place on that leaderboard. He is off to an impressive start in his quest to defend both the Card Player and PokerGO Tour Player of the Year awards.

Imsirovic set the record for the most POY-qualified titles in a calendar year with 14 in 2021. He is currently on pace to blow that record out of the water, with one title earned every 16.5 days so far this year. If he somehow maintained his current pace, he would end up with a fitting 22 titles in 2022.

Imsirovic eliminated John Krpan on the money bubble to take a sizable lead into the final table. Cary Katz knocked out short stack Sylvain Loosli (9th – $18,000) to narrow the field to eight. Imsirovic then picked up pocket tens against the pocket eights of 2021 World Series of Poker Europe main event runner-up Johan Guilbert (8th – $24,000) to take another step closer to the title.

Actress, singer, and model Arden Cho’s run in this event came to an end when her A-6 was unable to beat out the pocket queens of bracelet winner and high-stakes tournament regular Sam Soverel. The Teen Wolf star flopped an ace to take the lead, but Soveel rivered a set of queens to take down the pot. Cho earned $30,000 as the seventh-place finisher.

Sergio Aido (6th – $36,000) was the next to fall, with his pocket nines from the small blind failing to hold against the 10-7 that Imsirovic shoved out of the cutoff.

Katz’ got the last of his stack in with K-Q in a three-way pot. Severe short stack Sean Winter flopped a straight with 6-5 to win the main pot, while Matas Cimbolas’ A-9 was good for the side pot. Katz locked up $48,000 for his latest strong showing in a high roller event, increasing his lifetime earnings to just shy of $34.2 million. He currently sits in 15th place in the POY standings.

Not too long after tripling up, Winter ran A-2 suited into the pocket aces of Cimbolas to finish fourth for $60,000. This was his eighth POY-qualified final-table finish of the year. As a result, he moved into 11th on the overall leaderboard.

Sam Soverel committed the majority of his stack preflop with K-10 suited, with the rest going in after a 6Spade Suit2Spade Suit2Club Suit flop. Imsirovic held 5Spade Suit5Club Suit, which remained ahead through a blank turn and river. Soverel hit the rail with $84,000.

With that Imsirovic took roughly a 4:1 chip lead into heads-up play with Cimbolas, a Lithuanian player with a World Poker Tour title to his name. Cimbolas won an early preflop coinflip to close the gap considerably, but Imsirovic was still in the lead when the final hand of the tournament was dealt.

Cimbolas raised to 175,000 from the button with 6Spade Suit5Spade Suit and Imsirovic called with 10Heart Suit6Club Suit from the big blind. The 10Diamond Suit2Spade Suit2Diamond Suit flop drew a check-call from Imsirovic, with Cimbolas’s continuation bet being for 100,000. The 4Spade Suit on the turn saw Imsirovic check again. This time CImbolas fired 450,000. Imsirovic called and the KDiamond Suit hit the river. Imsirovic checked a third time. Cimboolas moved all-in for 1,425,000. Imsirovic thought it over before making the call with his tens and deuces. Cimbolas showed his missed draws and the pot and the title were sent to Imsirovic. Cimbolas earned $120,000 as the runner-up.

Here is a look at the payouts and rankings points awarded in this event:

Daniel Negreanu became just the third player in poker history to exceed $45 million in career earnings thanks to a win in the 2022 Wynn Millions $15,700 buy-in no-limit hold’em high roller. The 47-year-old Poker Hall of Fame member defeated a field of 40 entries to earn $216,000 and the title, increasing his lifetime total to $45,100,233 in the process. The six-time World Series of Poker gold bracelet winner remains in third place on poker’s all-time money list, behind only Justin Bonomo ($59,182,835) and Bryn Kenney ($57,450,921).

As Negreanu mentioned in the above tweet, he was also awarded plenty of rankings points for the win along with the title and the money. The 360 CardPlayer Player of the Year points he secured for his second title and fifth POY-qualified final-table finish of the year were enough to move him into 20th place in the 2022 POY standings, which are sponsored by Global Poker. He also secured 216 PokerGO Tour points, which moved him into seventh place on that leaderboard. He has already cashed for more than $760,000 since the new year began.

The top six finishers made the money in this event, with Sergio Aido being eliminated on the bubble. Reigning Card Player and PokerGO Tour Player of the Year Ali Imsirovic was the next to fall, with his KHeart SuitKDiamond Suit failing to hold up against the AClub SuitKSpade Suit of Negreanu. An ace on the flop left Imsirovic in rough shape, and he warned $30,000 as the sixth-place finisher when the turn and river brought no help. The 120 POY points he earned for his eighth final-table finish of the year were enough to see him climb into second place in this year’s standings. He now sits in third on the PGT leaderboard as well, having already cashed for more than $1.2 million this year, with three titles won along the way.

Sean Winter was the next to fall, with the last of his extreme short stack being committed with Q-5. He ran into pocket aces for Sergi Reixach, which held to narrow the field to four. Winter earned $48,000 for his seventh POY-qualified final table of the year, moving into 18th in the POY race as a result.

Brock Wilson had also navigated his way into the money on a short stack. He got all-in with 10-5 sited and was up against the pocket sevens of Ren Lin. The pocket pair held up and Wilson was sent to the rail with $66,000. He now sits inside the top ten in both the Card Player and PokerGO Tour points races.

The lead changed hands between Negreanu and Lin a few times during three-handed play. Negreanu spiked an ace on the river with A-8 against Lin’s pocket tens to double into the lead. Roughly half an hour later Lin got all-in with ADiamond Suit6Diamond Suit against Negreanu’s 9Heart Suit9Diamond Suit. The pocket nines remained best by the river and Lin was eliminated in third place ($96,000).

With that Negreanu took roughly a 5:3 chip lead into heads-up play against Reixach. he was able to extend that advantage in time for the final hand. He shoved from the button for just under 8.5 big blinds effective with 9Heart Suit8Spade Suit and Reixach called with 4Heart Suit4Club Suit. The board ran out 9Club Suit3Heart Suit2Spade Suit5Diamond SuitKHeart Suit to lock up the pot and the title for Negreanu. Reixach was awarded $144,000 as the runner-up, increasing his career earnings to more than $8.9 million.

Here is a look at the payouts and rankings points awarded at the final table:

Photo credit: Daniel Negreanu’s Twitter account.

The Supreme Court of California has determined not to put on hold a November ballot procedure that has been funded by Native American people seeking to increase their tribal gambling establishments’ gaming options by the approval of in-person betting on sports. The tribes are also seeking to add some roulette as well as dice video games to their gambling enterprise offerings.

The initiative, which has taken care of to qualify for the state ballot in November after gathering over 1.5 million signatures, was challenged in court by 2 certified cardrooms– Cal-Pac Rancho Cordova in Sacramento Area and the Los Angeles County-based Hollywood Park Gambling Enterprise.

The lawsuit of the two cardroom operators declared that the tally procedure backed by the Tribes violations the state Constitution due to the truth that several subjects such as live roulette games, dice video games and also sporting activities betting, are covered. Both cardrooms additionally protested against one of the arrangements, under which the Indigenous American tribes can start lawsuit, for the state, against other parties that breach various other betting limits under the existing The golden state laws.

For the time being, the Exclusive Attorneys General Act provides the right of private citizens to take violators of particular state laws to court and get 25% of the monetary penalties, while the state obtains the other 75%.

According to the legal agents of the Hollywood Park Casino and the Cal-Pac Rancho Cordova, the consent of exclusive enforcement suits and the gaming growth through the legalisation of live roulette and dice video games are serving special interests that are not related to the permission, tax as well as regulation of sporting activities betting in the state.

Two Cardrooms to Refile Their Lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court

Up until now, the High court of California has actually rarely disqualified ballot steps due to accusations of covering a variety of subjects. Typically, it has actually upheld previous campaigns whose arrangements were in some way associated with a much more general subject. Previously this week, the court rejected a hearing on the legal action filed by the abovementioned cardroom drivers, in a one-line order that gave no indicator of any difference in between the six justices.

The Native American tribe commented that it was pleased with the judgment yet was not shocked that the Supreme Court had actually made a decision to deny the cardrooms’ demand to remove the tally measure. They have explained the cardroom gambling establishments as the main opponents of the suggested initiative and shared hopes that The golden state citizens would handle to translucent their “wasteful” and “misleading” tactics and remain to sustain regional Native American tribes.

The plaintiffs, which in December 2021 filed their situation directly with the High court now intend to refile it in Los Angeles Area Superior Court intending to get a more favorable ruling as the situation proceeds.

On the other hand, the tribal action is still on the November ballot. A variety of competing procedures have been suggested, but they have still not gotten entering into the ballot.

Andrew Moreno has been in the poker world for roughly two decades, with the vast majority of that time spent focusing on cash games. The 38-year-old had accumulated around $850,000 in tournament scores along the way, but MTTs were always a secondary focus. Just shy of a year ago he publicly committed to playing more tournaments and has quickly found impressive success on the circuit.

Since making a Twitter post about ‘getting back on the tourney grind’ in March of 2021, Moreno has cashed for more than $1.9 million dollars. The highlight of his incredible run was when he took down the massive 2021 Wynn Millions $10,000 buy-in main event, defeating a field of 1,328 entries to earn $1,460,106.

Moreno secured the second-largest score of his career on Monday, Feb. 21 when he outlasted a 542-entry field to emerge victorious in the 2022 Venetian DeepStack Extravaganza I $2,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em ‘UltimateStack’ $1 million guaranteed event. He took home $242,293 for the win, increasing his lifetime tournament earnings to just shy of $2.8 million.

In addition to the title and the money, Moreno also scored 1,260 Card Player Player of the Year points as the champion. This was his second POY-qualified score of the year, having finished eighth in a $575 Run Good Poker Series event at Jamul Casino just a few weeks earlier for $6,520 and 70 points. With these two deep runs, Moreno now sits in sixth place in the overall POY race standings, which are presented by Global Poker. He made his first top 20-finish in the year-end POy standings last year and is now well-positioned to try to top that showing in 2022.

Moreno is not the only member of his family to find a big score at Venetian Hotel and Casino in recent weeks. Ten days earlier his brother, poker vlogger ‘Johnnie Vibes’ Moreno, finished as the runner-up in the Mid-States Poker Tour Venetian Poker Bowl VI $1,100 buy-in event for a career-best $124,675 payday. Andrew’s wife, Kristy Arnett Moreno, is no stranger to live tournament success either, having made the final table of the 2018 World Series of Poker Circuit Bicycle Casino main event. The former Card Player writer and video host finished fifth in that event for $55,150.

Plenty of accomplished players made deep runs in this tournament, including WSOP bracelet winner Barry Hutter (7th – $35,142), 2021 MSPT Riverside main event winner Daniel Sepiol (12th – $16,646), World Poker Tour Rolling Thunder main event winner David Larson (14th – $14,180), Peter Neff (16th – $12,331), Timothy Reilly (17th – $12,331), 2019 WPT Venetian main event winner Ben Palmer (19th – $10,481), 2021 POY-race runner-up and WPT Venetian champion Qing Liu (22nd – $9,248), bracelet winner Ryan Laplante (27th – $8,015), two-time bracelet winner Eric Baldwin (31st – $6,782), 2013 WSOP main event champ Ryan Riess (33rd – $6,782), Alex Foxen (35th – $6,782), and FiveThirtyEight founder Nate Silver (37th – $6,165).

Brent Hart earned $166,462 as the runner-up finisher, increasing his career earnings to $710,415. The L.A. resident now sits in a tie for 15th place in the 2022 POY race.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table of this event:

High-stakes poker player Garrett Adelstein was a super nice guy in a recent live stream from the Hustler Casino in Gardena, California.

In a clip posted to Twitter by another poker player, Adelstein is seen on the losing end of an all-in hand with KSpade Suit 10Spade Suit on a board reading QHeart Suit 3Heart Suit 3Club Suit 4Diamond Suit KDiamond Suit against his opponent’s pocket fours for a full house.

The pot was worth about $180,000.

Only the end of the action was shown in the video, and it looked like Adelstein called all in. His opponent inexplicably told Adelstein “good call,” only moments later to say “just kidding.”

Adelstein barely reacted to the situation, a classy move despite the slow roll.

He later posted a Tweet about the hand, continuing to shrug off the poor etiquette.

The lack of response by @GmanPoker here is straight class. This is the model for all professionals. pic.twitter.com/2ST2dKdWUu

— Johnnie VIBΞS (@JohnnieVibes) February 19, 2022

The Golden State Warriors roster is full of poker-playing card sharks, but they took a break from their private games to host a charity poker event earlier this month.

The Warriors hosted the 8th annual Warriors Community Foundation Poker Tournament, presented by MGM Resorts, on February 5 at the St. Regis Hotel in San Francisco. The event raised $2.5 million for the Warriors Community Foundation, according to an announcement Monday.

Net proceeds will be awarded to Bay Area non-profits ahead of the 2022-23 NBA season as part of the Warriors Community Foundation’s annual grant cycle.

The buy-in and re-buys at the tournament totaled over $1.8 million, with the money raised through a live auction totaling over $600,000. Top prizes at the auction included cookies baked by Ayesha Curry and a Kelley James guitar, signed by Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson.

The team’s poker interest also extends to team ownership. Minority team owner Chamath Palihapitiya has a few cashes at the World Series of Poker and has gone on record talking about experiences playing in some of the biggest cash games in Las Vegas.

Green in 2019 appeared on a Poker After Dark high-stakes cash game.

Apparently poker pro Igor Kurganov is helping Elon Musk manage some of his fortune.

According to a report from Bloomberg, Musk gifted $5.7 billion worth of Tesla stock to charity in the span of 10 days in November, but “[w]here that donation is going is a mystery.” Musk reportedly disclosed the donation in a regulatory filing this week.

Kurganov, a fixture in many super high-stakes poker tournaments over the past handful of years, has been “recently enlisted” by the billionaire Musk to help run The Musk Foundation.

Per the report: “The Musk Foundation in the past couple of years has made eight-figure grants to the city and local school system near his South Texas spaceport, a $100 million ready-made competition to fight climate change and millions of dollars to a pair of Covid-19 researchers […] Almost all of those recipients have been primarily working with Igor Kurganov, a professional poker player-turned-philanthropist, who Musk has recently enlisted to keep in contact with grantees and consider their proposals.”

Kurganov is the co-founder of Raising for Effective Giving (REG), an organization created by a group of poker players that recommends “highly cost-effective charities.” The nonprofit was formed in 2014 during the summer World Series of Poker.

Other REG founders include poker players Liv Boeree and Philipp Gruissem.

Wynn Resorts announced Tuesday that it has entered into a deal to sell all of the land and real estate assets of Encore Boston Harbor.

The Las Vegas-based casino developer will sell the assets to a group known as Realty Income for $1.7 billion in cash. Wynn Resorts will continue to operate the property.

The news follows plans by Wynn Resorts to sell its online gambling unit at a steep discount from a prior valuation, according to reports.

“Simultaneous with the closing of the transaction, we will enter into a triple-net lease agreement for Encore Boston Harbor with Realty Income,” Wynn Resorts said.

“The lease will have an initial total annual rent of $100.0 million and an initial term of 30 years, with one thirty-year tenant renewal option. Rent under the lease will escalate at 1.75% for the first ten years of the lease and the greater of 1.75% and the CPI increase during the prior year (capped at 2.50%) over the remainder of the lease term.”

Wynn Resorts will retain its 13 acres of land on the east side of Broadway in Everett, MA, on a portion of which, the casino company plans to construct an expansion that is expected to include additional covered parking along with other non-gaming amenities.

Eventually, Wynn might end up also selling the land and real estate assets of the expansion to Realty Income, the announcement said.

The transaction is subject gaming regulatory approvals, among other government sign-offs.

“Encore Boston Harbor is the premier gaming resort on the East Coast and the valuation we achieved in this sale reflects the property’s quality,” said Craig Billings, Wynn CEO. “Equally important, the bespoke structure and terms of the lease allow us to maintain a great deal of operating flexibility across economic cycles. The proceeds of the transaction also provide us with liquidity for several of our upcoming development projects and the potential to retire other debt.”

The casino, located about five miles outside Boston, opened in 2019 at a total cost of $2.6 billion. It was the first Las Vegas-style resort-casino near Boston.

Wynn Resorts stock ($WYNN) was up 4.5% Tuesday following the announcement.

The NFL’s Rams were not the only winners from the Los Angeles area crowned this weekend.

In the early morning hours of Sunday, Feb. 13, Ron West emerged victorious from a field of 1,027 entries in the 2022 Mid-States Poker Tour Venetian Poker Bowl VI $1,100 buy-in main event. The L.A. resident defeated popular poker vlogger Johnnie ‘Vibes’ Moreno heads-up to secure the title and the first-place prize of $168,488.

West had over 100 prior recorded tournament scores to his name, but this was the first time he ever cashed for six figures. The victory increased his lifetime earnings to more than $913,000.

In addition to the title and the money, West also earned 960 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his first POY-qualified score of the year, but it alone was enough to move him into a three-way tie for 14th place in the 2022 POY race, which is sponsored by Global Poker.

The final day of this event began with 118 players remaining. Plenty of big names made deep runs, including bracelet winners Joseph Cheong (105th – $2,081) and Michael Wang (99th – $2,180), rising tournament star Jesse Lonis (50th – $3,568), last season’s MSPT Player of the Year Kyna England (48th – $3,568), Mitch Halverson (32nd – $4,757), 1997 World Series of Poker main event runner-up John Strzemp (27th – $5,550), poker pro and WSOP commentator Jamie Kerstetter (25th – $5,550), and World Poker Tour Venetian main event winner Ben Palmer (16th – $9,217).

West was the second shortest stack in the field when the final table of nine was set, with Haoyu Tang in the lead and Moreno in second chip position. West scored the first knockout, sending Anthony Danna home in ninth place ($16,154). He moved into second place by the time the field had been narrowed to six, following the eliminations of Brendan Shiller (8th – $20,218) and Brian Sivertsen (7th – $26,065).

Moreno earned his first elimination at the final table when his A-Q held up against the trailing K-Q of Tang (6th – $34,687). Moreno made aces and tens by the river to take down the pot.

Go Mori was the next to fall. The Japanese player ran K-9 into the K-10 of Cedrric Trevino, who is known to many on social media as ‘Poker Traveler’. Mori failed to come from behind and was eliminated in fifth place ($46,580). Despite scoring that knockout, Trevino soon followed Mori to the rail. He got all-in with A-J and was racing against the pocket nines of West. Trevino improved to a pair of jacks on the turn to take a commanding lead, but a nine on the river gave West a set and the pot. Trevino cashed for $62,436.

Aaron Massey was the most accomplished live tournament player at this final table, having nearly $4.7 million in prior cashes to his name. He ultimately added another $87,213 to that total as the third-place finisher in this event, with his run coming to an end thanks when his pocket sevens clashed with the pocket nines of Moreno.

Heads-up play began with Moreno holding 14,200,000 to the 11,400,000 of West. West was able to overtake the lead and then extend it before the final hand arose. Moreno moved all-in for around 14 big blinds with 2Spade Suit2Club Suit from the button. West called with KClub SuitQHeart Suit and the board ran out QSpade SuitJHeart Suit10Spade SuitJDiamond SuitAClub Suit to give West a winning straight. Moreno earned $124,675 for the first six-figure score of his career.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Photo credit: Venetian Poker Room Twitter account.