The Kevmath Report #12

The 2021 WSOP is over in Vegas, EPT Prague postponed, Ali Imsirovic wins another High Roller, and more poker news.

It’s been a while since I’ve written one of these, as the WSOP Main Event was still going on when the last issue came out back on November 3rd. My apologies (again) for taking so long between issues but the plan is to be back on the weekly newsletter grind starting with this issue and hopefully every Wednesday for the foreseeable future, but I may drop a ‘bonus’ issue over the weekend.

Koray Aldemir Wins WSOP Main Event, Josh Arieh Wins WSOP POY

In case you’ve been in hiding the last few weeks, Koray Aldemir is the 2021 World Series of Poker Main Event winner, taking home a cool $8,000,000 as he defeated George Holmes heads-up. The final hand between the two is likely the most dramatic final hand since Scotty Nguyen defeated Kevin McBride back in 1998.

(photo credit Hayley Hochstetler/PokerNews)

The race for the 2021 WSOP Player of the Year appeared to be over after Josh Arieh finished 10th in the $1,000 NL Super Turbo on November 21st. However, the final online event included an unreported cash by Ben Yu that mathematically kept him alive for POY contention. Starting Day 2 of the $5,000 NL 8-Handed as the chip leader with 30 players remaining, Yu needed to win to surpass Arieh and claim the title himself.

Ben Yu’s elimination in 10th place officially locked up the WSOP POY title for Josh Arieh, avoiding a similar situation from 2019 when Daniel Negreanu ‘won’ WSOP Player of the Year only for a data entry error meant it was Robert Campbell winning the title that year.

The full list of results of the 2021 WSOP at the Rio can be found here.

WSOP Playing Strip Poker in 2022

One of the worst-kept secrets in poker was official when the World Series of Poker announced they were leaving the Rio after 17 years and heading to the Convention Center located between Bally’s and Paris Las Vegas from May 31 to July 19, 2022. Part of the announcement included the mention of Vince Vaughn serving as the official ‘Master of Ceremonies’ for the 2022 WSOP.

The early discussion has expressed concerns about parking issues and traffic difficulties navigating the Strip to get to the tournament area in a timely manner. Expect an announcement on the 2022 WSOP schedule in late January/early February.

EPT Prague Postponed, WSOP Europe Continues

A reminder that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc with the poker community is the news that EPT Prague, scheduled for December 8-20, was postponed due to recent restrictions announced by the Czech government.

The restrictions include limits on the number of individuals that can be in an indoor venue to 1,000 and a reduction in hours a venue can be open.

Elsewhere in the Czech Republic, WSOP Europe continues uninterrupted although there was a change in the 15-event bracelet schedule, removing the €50,000 and €100,000 High Roller events and replacing them with a pair of 1-day events, €10,000 NL 6-Max and €3,000 NL Closer on December 2nd and 6th respectively.

Streaming of several final tables of WSOP Europe is available at PokerGO.com or the revamped WSOP Youtube channel.

Ali Imsirovic Collects 14th High Roller Win of 2021

Ali Imsirovic, the current GPI Player of the Year leader, has been on a tear on the High Roller circuit in 2021 seeming to win all the high-priced events that Michael Addamo didn’t win this year. Playing at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood, Imsirovic fired four bullets in the $25,500 Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open High Roller this week and the final bullet was the charm, taking down his 14th win in an event with a buy-in of $10,000 and higher, pocketing almost $700,000 as he defeated all-time tournament earnings leader Bryn Kenney heads-up.

Imsirovic likely returns to Vegas as the December schedule is filled with 13 PokerGO Tour High Rollers at the Bellagio, plus the concluding World Poker Tour event of the year as he’ll attempt to pad his lead on the PokerGO Tour Leaderboard.