Daniel Negreanu finishes on the money bubble as latest PokerGO Tour stop kicks off
The PokerGO Tour is stopping by the Venetian Las Vegas for the first time, with the Venetian High Rollers series playing out May 27-29. The first of three high-stakes events in the series finished up Thursday, with a few familiar names in and around the payout structure.
Ali Imsirovic continues to dominate the PokerGO Tour, adding his sixth win on the 2021 schedule. Imsirovic took down Venetian High Roller Event #1, coming away with a $200,200 first-place prize.
Imisirovic entered the Venetian High Rollers at No. 1 on the PokerGO Tour leaderboard, with five wins and 11 cashes coming into this weekend’s series. He’ll likely extend his lead on the rest of the leaderboard when the current series wraps up.
The PokerGO Tour updates the leaderboard after each series. Barring back-to-back wins in the final two events from another player, Imsirovic’s lock on the top of the rankings will become even stronger when the new rankings come out next week.
Imsirovic outlasted Shawn Daniels (2nd - $146,300) in the heads-up battle for the Event #1 title.
Venetian High Roller Event #1 final table results
| Place | Player Name | Prize |
| 1 | Ali Imsirovic | $200,200 |
| 2 | Shawn Daniels | $146,300 |
| 3 | Kyung Min Lee | $100,100 |
| 4 | Shannon Shorr | $77,000 |
| 5 | Dan Shak | $61,600 |
| 6 | Sergi Reixach | $46,200 |
| 7 | Randy Kaas | $38,500 |
Another high stakes win for Imsirovic
Imsirovic’s rapid rise to the top of the high-stakes food chain began with his outstanding performance at the 2018 Poker Masters. The 25-year-old phenom won the Poker Masters purple jacket as the outstanding player in that series, and his success on the high roller tournament circuit hasn’t slowed down since.
The predictably tough final table lineup also included Kyung Min Lee (3rd - $100,100), Shannon Shorr (4th - $77,000), Dan Shak (5th - $61,600), Sergi Reixach (6th - $46,200) and Randy Kaas (7th - $38,500).
Sam Soverel, John Morgan, Chris Brewer, and Dylan Linde also made the cash in the $10,000 buy-in tournament. Finishing just short of the money was Daniel Negreanu, who just returned to playing live events earlier this month.
The GGPoker Ambassador announced that he’s chasing the PokerGO Tour leaderboard championship in a tweet earlier this month:
“I'm a nerd when it comes to leaderboards, so I'm going to try and climb the rankings in the @PokerGoTour (link below.) With a 3rd the other day, I sit at 39th place with 65 points All $10k+ buy ins will count, WSOP mixed games too!” Negreanu posted on May 10.
The poker icon has a ways to go to crack the top ranks of the PokerGO Tour leaderboard. Coming into the Venetian High Rollers, Imsirovic held the top spot, followed by Sean Perry, Chris Brewer, Sean Winter, and Brock Wilson.
The Venetian High Rollers continues today with Event #2 ($10,000 buy-in), and finishes up with Event #3 ($25,000 buy-in) on Saturday.
Featured image source: Twitter
