Almedin Imsirovic Binks $10K Single-Day High Roller at PCA for $160,050

Almedin Imsirovic overcame heads-up action versus a WSOP Main Event champion to score the largest cash of his young poker career in winning the $10,000 Single-Day High Roller at the 2018 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas.

The first place prize of $160,050 was Imsirovic's take after defeating a field of 55 that included Ryan Riess, who settled for second place prize money after putting his tournament life on the line with K-2. That starting hand had only a 35% chance of winning against the A-J of Imsirovic, and the favored hand won after all five streets hit the board.

Imsirovic ran his career earnings to $413,592 with the victory, those winnings fortified by impressive scores in November and December in Las Vegas. Three fourth place finishes in a row in Sin City resulted in the young American winning $83,959 in a WSOP Circuit event, $61,441 at the December Extravaganza at the Venetian, sandwiched in the middle by a payday of $28K at the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic.

Tough Opponents

It's fair to say that Imsirovic can now be included among the young guns of poker, a rising star on the felt and still in his early 20s. He played like a veteran at the PCA, outdueling a talented final table that included Sam Greenwood and Mustapha Kanit.

Kanit insured himself a payday when he KO'd bubble boy Sylvain Loosli in 9th place, with Kanit's ace-rag slightly better than the ace-rag of Loosli. Kanit was able to maneuver up to a 4th place finish, hitting the end of the line with another ace-rag hand that was second-best to a pair of eights.

Austria's Matthias Eibinger found himself short-stacked versus Riess and Imsirovic, hitting the rail when the community cards connected for two pair for the 2013 WSOP Main Event champ. Eibinger's $74,690 prize money fell about five grand short of his best cash ever.

Just about even in chips when heads-up play began, Imsirovic and Riess wasted no time in declaring a winner. Just a few hands after facing off mano a mano, Imsirovic nailed the second title of his career, his first coming last March at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown in Hollywood, Florida.

The hyper $10K High Roller featured 15-minute blinds and concluded in less than seven hours. The tournament may have ended quickly, but Imsirovic's promising poker career has all the makings of doing the complete opposite.

PCA $10,150 Single-Day High Roller - Final Table Results