In a Wednesday tweet, Daniel Negreanu said that accused poker cheater Ali Imsirovic is still up to his dirty tricks and called for all poker sites and card rooms to ban the high roller.
Last year, along with Jake Schindler, the 2021 GPI Player of the Year, was temporarily banned from PokerGO Tour events. He was accused of collusion during live poker tournaments and using real-time assistance (RTA) tools online.
Imsirovic, the high-stakes crusher who has fallen from grace over the past year due to the allegations, is rumored to be permanently banned from GGPoker as part of an RTA crackdown. The Poker Integrity Council (PIC) at GGPoker, led by poker site ambassador Jason Koon, was formed last summer to investigate potential online cheating allegations.
Is Imsirovic Still Cheating?
Some players who were initially banned were given a second opportunity to return to the poker site on a case-by-case basis. The PIC, however, did not feel that Imsirovic was deserving of reinstatement. If the claims Negreanu made in his recent tweet are accurate, it appears the council made a wise decision.
Before knowing about Ali Imsirovic’s transgressions I thought he was a lifer who loved the game and would be a tour… https://t.co/J4xY3y91zk
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker)
According to our sources, Imsirovic has been playing on unregulated poker sites now that he’s unable to compete on major regulated sites such as GGPoker. He has been apparently still up to his old habits, using RTAs and multi-accounting.
Negreanu wrote in the tweet that the accused poker cheater is the “opposite of remorseful and is actual boastful, bragging about robbing former friends.” He also referred to his former high-stakes opponent as “likely irredeemable at this point.”
Imsirovic has over $18 million in live tournament cashes, according to Hendon Mob, and he’s still just 28 years old. Without question, he was headed for the Poker Hall of Fame before all the cheating allegations came to light.
Alex Foxen was the first high-profile poker player in 2022 to publicly out Imsirovic and Schindler. Chance Kornuth and others then followed suit shortly after Foxen called for a “poker blacklist.”
Nearly one year later and Negreanu’s doing the same, but he isn’t the only one who wants changes around the poker community. You can add Matt Berkey and Mike Matusow to the list of players who chimed in on “Kid Poker’s” tweet.
“We’ve all been somewhat quiet regarding more swirling rumors. I think online operators are facing a long, cold hard look in the mirror. We need to get MA under control, KYC protocols need massive overhaul in the gray/black markets & finally AI based RTA detection is a mandatory,” Berkey wrote.
“I think we should all bow to him and give him an award!” Matusow sarcastically tweeted.
What Did He Allegedly Do?
Imsirovic and Schindler were allegedly part of a poker cheating scandal that included the use of RTAs online, multi-accounting, and collusion in live high rollers. The most damaging hard evidence publicly known against the accused is the GGPoker ban.
GGPoker, and rival poker site PokerStars, have cracked down heavily on multi-accounting and RTA use. Those sites are heavily regulated whereas Americas Cardroom (ACR), one site where Imsirovic has reportedly been playing recently, is unregulated and as such theoretically more susceptible to cheating.
Imsirovic was caught by GGPoker using RTAs, a tool that gives an online poker player an unfair advantage. Real-time assistance tools are not only frowned upon by many poker pros and recreational players but are also illegal on most poker sites.
What is Real Time Assistance in Poker?
If a player is using an RTA, which helps to make correct decisions in any spot, they could be virtually unbeatable. Even a beginner poker player could dominate a crusher using RTAs.
Imsirovic and Schindler haven’t been spotted in live poker tournaments this year and it’s unclear just how long the PokerGO Tour ban will last. But they both competed in numerous major events in 2022 despite the harsh allegations. Schindler even won his first World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet last summer, and the poker community wasn’t exactly thrilled with the outcome. He unsurprisingly refused an interview with the media afterwards.