Ali Imsirovic separated himself from the field to win the inaugural PokerGO Tour presented by Guaranteed Rate Player of the Year. The 26-year-old won a record-setting 14 tournament titles this year, making a total of 34 qualified cashes on the high-stakes live tour for a total of $6,028,321 in earnings.
“It still feels pretty surreal, to be honest,” Imsirovic told PokerGO reporters after officially securing the honor. “I never thought I would accomplish something of this magnitude in poker. Next, the goal is to just keep trying to get better and solidify and keep proving that I belong here.”
“It was my goal from the start,” he said of achieving this honor. “I really wanted to win Player of the Year, and I made sure to try and play as many of these as I could and hopefully run as good as I possibly could.”
The Bosnian-born poker pro recorded 23 six-figure paydays this year, including three wins for more than half of a million dollars. Imsirovic saved the best for last, topping a field of 102 entries in the Seminole Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open $25,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em high roller to earn $695,355 and his 14th title of the year. This was the third-largest score of his career. Imsirovic now has more than $15.5 million in lifetime live earnings despite not securing his first six-figure score until 2018.
Imsirovic cashed for at least $100,000 in nine of the first 11 months of the year, but had his two largest monthly totals down the final stretch. In September he made four final tables and won three titles, including taking down a $50,000 high roller at the Super High Roller Bowl Europe for $598,000 and another $50,000 high roller event at ARIA for another $529,000. He cashed for more than $1.4 million in that month alone and added almost $1.2 million more in November with six cashes and two more titles.
With 4,364 total points accrued, Imsirovic ended the season with 1,281 more than his nearest competitor in four-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Michael Addamo. To point that point differential in perspective: a player with that amount of points would have finished 26th in the overall standings. Addamo accrued 3,083, taking down several of the largest buy-in events of the year and winning more than $9.4 million along the way.
Imsirovic ended the season with eight more qualified titles and seven more qualified cashes than any other player in the race. Below is a look at Imsirovic’s complete list of PokerGO Tour scores for the inaugural season.
| Month | Event | Buy-in | Place | Payout |
| January | ARIA High Roller #1 | $10,000 | 3rd | $54,400 |
| January | ARIA High Roller #3 | $10,000 | 2nd | $63,000 |
| February | ARIA High Roller #4 | $25,000 | 1st | $185,800 |
| February | ARIA High Roller #6 | $50,000 | 1st | $344,910 |
| March | ARIA High Roller #9 | $10,000 | 3rd | $74,200 |
| April | ARIA High Roller #12 | $10,000 | 2nd | $111,300 |
| April | ARIA High Roller #13 | $25,000 | 1st | $310,000 |
| April | ARIA High Roller #14 | $25,000 | 1st | $300,000 |
| May | ARIA High Roller #15 | $10,000 | 3rd | $71,400 |
| May | ARIA High Roller #17 | $25,000 | 3rd | $144,000 |
| May | Venetian High Roller #1 | $10,000 | 1st | $200,200 |
| May | Venetian High Roller #3 | $25,000 | 4th | $118,250 |
| June | U.S. Poker Open Event #3 | $10,000 | 3rd | $100,100 |
| June | U.S. Poker Open Event #5 | $10,000 | 11th | $25,500 |
| June | U.S. Poker Open Event #8 | $10,000 | 4th | $63,000 |
| June | U.S. Poker Open Event #9 | $10,000 | 1st | $217,800 |
| June | U.S. Poker Open Event #10 | $10,000 | 2nd | $75,600 |
| July | PokerGO Cup Event #2 | $10,000 | 1st | $183,000 |
| July | PokerGO Cup Event #4 | $15,000 | 1st | $240,000 |
| July | PokerGO Cup Event #7 | $50,000 | 5th | $122,500 |
| August | Venetian High Roller #5 | $10,000 | 1st | $136,000 |
| August | Venetian High Roller #6 | $25,000 | 3rd | $116,000 |
| August | SHRB Europe Event #2 | $25,000 | 6th | $121,500 |
| September | SHRB Europe Event #9 | $50,000 | 1st | $598,000 |
| September | Poker Masters Event #10 | $25,000 | 4th | $104,500 |
| September | ARIA High Roller #22 | $50,000 | 1st | $529,000 |
| September | ARIA High Roller #23 | $25,000 | 1st | $192,500 |
| October | ARIA High Roller #24 | $10,000 | 3rd | $48,000 |
| November | ARIA High Roller #30 | $10,000 | 1st | $120,000 |
| November | ARIA High Roller #31 | $10,000 | 9th | $17,100 |
| November | ARIA High Roller 32 | $10,000 | 4th | $53,000 |
| November | WSOP Event #76 Super Turbo Bounty | $10,000 | 22nd | $13,566 |
| November | WSOP Event #85 High Roller | $50,000 | 6th | $278,840 |
| November | WPT Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open High Roller | $25,500 | 1st | $695,355 |
Here is a look at the final standings for the top 10 players in the PGT points race:
| Rank | Player | Points | Wins | Cashes | Winnings |
| 1 | Ali Imsirovic | 4364 | 14 | 34 | $6,028,321 |
| 2 | Michael Addamo | 3083 | 6 | 8 | $9,418,837 |
| 3 | Sean Perry | 2525 | 6 | 23 | $3,807,850 |
| 4 | Sean Winter | 2263 | 2 | 20 | $3,954,125 |
| 5 | Sam Soverel | 2252 | 3 | 23 | $3,697,009 |
| 6 | Chris Brewer | 2079 | 4 | 27 | $3,052,255 |
| 7 | Daniel Negreanu | 1983 | 2 | 17 | $3,054,904 |
| 8 | Stephen Chidwick | 1954 | 1 | 21 | $2,909,320 |
| 9 | David Peters | 1940 | 3 | 11 | $4,461,670 |
| 10 | Koray Aldemir | 1936 | 1 | 2 | $8,060,465 |
Winner photos credit: PokerGO / Antonio Abrego.
