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Ali Imsirovic was kicked out of Bestbet Jacksonville on Thursday after being the chip leader in the later stages of an opening flight.
The $1,200 RunGood Poker Series Main Event at Bestbet Jacksonville has its first of three opening flights on Thursday. The field attracted 80 entries, and with 30 remaining entries, Imsirovic was the chip leader on dinner break. When the players returned from dinner break, Imsirovic was removed from the tournament, and his chip-leading stack was removed from play. He had been disqualified.
This move mimicked the pattern shown by the PokerGO Tour and European Poker Tour, which have banned Imsirovic from their tournaments thanks to cheating allegations surrounding him.
The Fall of Ali
The 30-year-old Bosnian-American poker player from the state of Washington was once considered one of the bright young talents in poker. He accumulated over $18 million in tournament earnings before the age of 27, as he started winning big almost as soon as he turned 21.
Imsirovic was a regular face in PokerGO high-roller tournaments, often at the final stages of big events. Before he turned 25, he had two massive $1.1 million and $799,000 scores in 2018 and 2019. The Poker Masters win in 2018 really launched him onto the poker scene.
But all of this came crashing down in 2022, when several top pros accused Imsirovic of multi-accounting and using RTA online. It all began when he was caught on a PokerGO live stream glancing at an opponent’s hole cards.
Alex Foxen, one of the most successful players in the world, who has enjoyed big results in 2025, opened the conversation back in 2022:
Everything snowballed from there and Imsirovic’s reputation was zapped very quickly. He would later admit to parts of the cheating allegations, which led to the bans at various venues.
Ban in Jacksonville
While the aforementioned high-profile tournament series had banned Imsirovic, he has still been able to play a few events here and there at other venues. The Champion Club in Houston banned Imsirovic and is one of the mid-stakes venues where he is barred. He wasn’t banned at Bestbet Jacksonville before registering for the RunGood Series tournament.
Many on social media praised his disqualification from the tournament, as the consensus was that it is good to keep the poker world safe from bad actors. Cheating allegations have been a top subject in the poker community for several years, including recent allegations at Resorts World.
However, some disagreed with the move because of how it was done. The fact that Imsirovic was allowed to register and become chip leader before being removed greatly disrupted the tournament itself. Many also pointed out that many cheaters in the game continue to play without penalty.
Of course, there were many who disagreed with this take as well, saying Imsirovic should be banned for life everywhere.
