Imsirovic, Katz, & Zufic Winners at Weekend ARIA High Roller Series

The ARIA High Roller Series kicked off this weekend with three tournaments at ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas that saw dozens of the top high stakes players competing as part of the PokerGO Tour (PGT).

The series began on Thursday, Feb 24 with Poker Central and PokerGO founder Cary Katz winning Event #1: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em for $137,340 and high stakes crusher Ali Imsirovic winning Event #2: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em for $129,600 the next day. Finally, Croatia’s Ivan Zufic finished out the weekend series by winning Event #3: $15,000 No-Limit Hold’em for $198,000.

ARIA High Roller Series Full Results

  Tournament Entries Prize Pool Winner Country Prize
  Event #1: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em 41 $410,000 Cary Katz United States $137,340
  Event #2: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em 36 $360,000 Ali Imsirovic Bosnia and Herzegovina $129,600
  Event #3: $15,000 No-Limit Hold’em 33 $495,000 Ivan Zufic Croatia $198,000

In total, the High Roller Series generated $1.3 million in prize money and attracted many of the best and most well-known players in the game, including Daniel Negreanu, Brian Rast, Jake Schindler, Jeremy Ausmus, Erik Seidel, Seth Davies and 2021 GPI Breakout Player Johan Guilbert.

While they didn’t earn titles this weekend, Alex Foxen and Sean Perry had outstanding performances that landed both of them at all three final tables of the series.

Foxen, who has $20 million in live tournament earnings, per The Hendon Mob, earned second, third and sixth place finishes to cash for a total of $206,800. Perry, meanwhile, had third, fourth and fifth place finishes worth $151,600.

Perry now sits second the PokerGo Tour leaderboard with 859 points and $1.3 million in earnings, while Foxen earned a spot in fourth with 498 points and $536,815 in earnings. Perry will have to keep grinding to pass Nick Petrangelo, who sits atop the leaderboard with 1,066 points and $2.1 million in earnings.

Negreanu also had an impressive series that included two final table finishes to earn him $83,250 in a weekend’s work. Negreanu now sits in ninth on the leaderboard with 360 points and $545,250 in earnings.

Katz Takes Down Event #1: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em

Katz topped a 41-entrant field to win the first event of the series and earn a payday of $137,340 after agreeing to a heads-up chop with Rast, according to PokerGo updates. Rast, a five-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner with $22.4 million in tournament earnings, earned $108,660 for his runner-up finish.

Cary Katz
Cary Katz

Other players who made the money include Michael Lang (3rd – $65,600) and Schindler (4th – $45,100), while players in the field who fell short of the money include Guilbert, Negreanu, Brock Wilson, Sean Winter, Imsirovic and Chris Brewer.

With the victory, Katz moved up the 2022 PokerGO Tour leaderboard and now sits seventh with 483 points and $517,190 in earnings.

Event #1: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Full Results

  Place Player Country Prize
  1 Cary Katz United States $137,340
  2 Brian Rast United States $108,660
  3 Michael Lang United States $65,600
  4 Jake Schindler United States $45,100
  5 Sean Perry United States $32,800
  6 Alex Foxen United States $20,500

Imsirovic Moves Up PokerGO Tour Leaderboard

Imsirovic earned the second win of the series for $129,600 after getting through a field of 36 players and defeating Jake Daniels during heads-up play, who in turn earned a payday of ​​$86,400.

It’s been a good winter for Imsirovic, who earlier this month was named PokerGO Tour Player of the Year, GPI Poker Player of the Year and won the award for Players Choice for Toughest Opponent at the 2021 Global Poker Awards. The 27-year-old pro now sits third on the PokerGo Tour leaderboard with 781 points and $1.2 million in earnings.

Foxen (3rd – $57,600), Perry (4th – $39,600) and Negreanu (5th – $28,800) all had in-the-money finishes, while players who came up short of the money include Katz, Winter, Guilbert, Steve Zolotow, Schindler, Seidel, Ras,t and Sam Soverel.

Event #2: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Full Results

  Place Player Country Prize)
  1 Ali Imsirovic Bosnia and Herzegovina $129,600
  2 Jake Daniels United States $86,400
  3 Alex Foxen United States $57,600
  4 Sean Perry United States $39,600
  5 Daniel Negreanu Canada $28,800
  6 Adedapo Ajayi United States $18,000

Zufic Defeats Foxen in Event #3: $15,000 No-Limit Hold’em

Croatia’s Zufic, who has $993,152 in earnings to put him second on the country’s all-time money list, finished the series by taking down the largest buy-in of the High Roller Series to earn $198,000.

Ivan Zufic
Ivan Zufic

Zufic locked up the win by getting through the field of 33 entrants and defeating Foxen during heads-up play. Foxen earned a payday of $128,700 to pad his eight figures in earnings.

The victory gave Zufic his first cash of the 2022 PokerGO Tour worth 198 points to put him 20th on the PGT leaderboard.

Other players who made the money include Perry (3rd – $79,200), Negreanu (4th – $54,450) and Guilbert (5th – $34,650), while players who came up short of cashing include Brock Wilson, Thomas Boivin, Seidel, Davies, Daniels, Ausmus, and Imsirovic.

Event #3: $15,000 No-Limit Hold’em Full Results

  Place Player Country Prize
  1 Ivan Zufic Croatia $198,000
  2 Alex Foxen United States $128,700
  3 Sean Perry United States $79,200
  4 Daniel Negreanu Canada $54,450
  5 Johan Guilbert France $34,650

The 2022 PokerGo Tour continues this week with five high roller tournaments as part Wynn Millions, the first of which kicks off on March 1 and the last of which will start on March 8.

*Images courtesy of PokerGO.