The Borgata Spring Poker Open Championship event came to a conclusion this week with student-turned-poker pro Almedin “Ali” Imsirovic walking away with the BSPO Main Event trophy and the largest cash of his young professional career – $246,066.
According to the Borgata Poker blog, it was less than two years ago that Imsirovic was studying criminal justice at the University of Washington. Thursday, after agreeing to a final two deal with runner-up Farid Jattin, the young pro scored his second six-figure cash of the year, pushing his lifetime totals to nearly $700,000 since making the career change.
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Imsirovic looked poised to take win the tournament outright. But Jattin, who was at a roughly 3-1 chip deficit, got it all in on a two-way draw against Imsirovic’s top pair. The flush came in on the river for Jattin, putting the duos stacks at just about even. It was then that the final two took an unscheduled break to hash out a deal. When they came back to the table it took a single hand to wrap up play. Imsirovic and Jattin pushed the chips in the middle and when Imsirovic rivered trips, having Jattin barely covered, he was declared the winner, with the final adjusted payouts only separating the two by less than $3,000.
While Imsirovic may still be getting adjusted to the life of a poker pro, second place finisher Jattin has been at it for years. Jattin, originally from Columbia, also took home the largest payday of his career, earning $243,521…but just barely. Last December he took down the Main Event of the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Winter Poker Open for $241,651. Additionally, this wasn’t his first time making a major final table at the Borgata. He took sixth place at the World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open in both 2014 and 2016. He also finished as the runner up in the 2011 Borgata Summer Poker Open Main Event. In total, with this most recent haul, Jattin is less than $10,000 away from $2.8 million in live tournament earnings.
The Main Event of the Borgata Spring Open was, once again, a massive success. Guaranteeing a cool $1,000,000, the 519 entries helped smash the promised prize pool pushing the number to just under $1.3 million.
In addition to the pair that made it to the end, plenty of big names made their way to Atlantic City to take place. Top pros like Ari Engel (45th), Matt Glantz (26th) and Ted Forrest (20th) made their way into the money. 2005 World Series of Poker runner-up Steve Dannenmann (17th) made an appearance and earned just his second cash in the past two years, while the recently un-retired Harrison Gimbel (16th) and Ralph Massey (15th) joined him in nearly making the final table.
Final table payouts:
1. Almedin “Ali” Imsirovic – $246,066*
2. Farid Jattin – $243,521*
3. Nick Salimbene – $113,272
4. Richard Pachoca – $89,988
5. David Mock – $70,480
6. Nick Palma – $57,894
Though the Borgata Spring Poker Open may be in the rearview mirror, the action on BorgataPoker.com is still going strong. The tournament action includes the Sunday $40K guarantee and daily $10K guarantees as well a bankroll building freerolls which take place every day.
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