Ali Imisrovic Leads U.S. Poker Open Event #5 Final Table

Event #5 – $25,000 No Limit Hold’em kicked off inside the PokerGO Studio and saw a field of 59 entrants generate a prize pool of 1.475 million with a first place prize of $442,500. Ali Imsirovic leads the final six players with 2,505,000 in chips.

Imsirovic is very familiar with the PokerGO Studio as he is coming off a seventh-place finish in the Super High Roller Bowl V for $540,000 and he is the reigning Poker Masters Champion cashing for over $1,200,000 while capturing the Poker Masters Purple Jacket.

“It’s kind of interesting I have 2.5 million and I think two or three players have 1.5 million, so they aren’t that far behind but it’s kind of an awkward spot for them cause there are some real short stacks,” Imsirovic said. “So I think I’m going to get to raise a bunch of hands and hopefully it works out.”

Kristen Bicknell, Nick Pertangelo, Dan Shak, Joseph Cappello, and Cary Katz round out the final table.

Katz and Cappello are making their second final tables of the series, while Shak is the only other player to cash one of the first five events. Pertangelo and Bicknell secured their first final tables and first cashes of the USPO.

Bicknell is looking to make it back-to-back women winners in No-Limit Hold’em events after Lauren Roberts captured Event #3 – $10,000 No Limit Hold Saturday afternoon. Bicknell used a couple of key calls in big moments throughout the day to finish third in chips. Shak and Pertangelo are the only other players at the final table with over one million chips.

Watch the final table of that event live and exclusively on PokerGO starting at 5 p.m. EST or follow along with the coverage on PokerCentral.com.

Earlier in the day Event #4 – $10,000 Short Deck Poker winner Sean Winter was looking to make it five-for-five in final tables but was eliminated when his pocket eights fell to the ace-nine of Justin Bonomo. Bonomo spiked an ace on the river to send the overall U.S. Poker Open points leader home.

With Winter out early, Stephen Chidwick was looking to gain some ground in the point standings as he sat 100 points behind Winter for the extra $100,000 dollar overall first place prize. Chidwick made it to the final two tables of the day but could not gain ground as he was ultimately eliminated in 13th place when he ran his ace-eight into the trip sevens of Katz.

None of the remaining six players can overtake Winter or Chidwick in points, but Cappello or Katz could move into the top five with a win.

The players reached the money when Jake Schindler ran his into the of Imsirovic as the board ran out sending Schindler out in tenth-place. The elimination secured a slight chip lead for Imsirovic as the players combined into the final table.

It wasn’t long at the final table before Bonomo moved all in over the top of Pertangelo’s under the gun open. When the action folded back to Pertangelo, he was quick to make the call as he held . Bonomo tabled . The board ran jack high and Bonomo was eliminated in ninth-place for $44,250.

Shak moved over the one million chip mark when he eliminated Chris Hunichen in eighth-place holding pocket jacks to Hunichen’s ace queen. “I can’t believe I actually won a flip,” Shak exclaimed as he raked in the pot.

With Cappello sitting at 110,000 in chips Imsirovic opened the button and Brandon Adams moved all in for his last 560,000 from the big blind. Imsirovic made the call with pocket eights and was well of ahead of the pocket sevens of Adams. The board ran out ace-high and Adams was eliminated in seventh-place for $73,750.

You can follow the final table action on PokerGO Monday beginning at 5 p.m. EST with cards in the air at 4 p.m. EST. We’ll also have live updates for Day 1 of Event #6 – $25,000 Pot Limit Omaha right here at PokerCentral.com from 5 p.m. EST.

Stay tuned right here to PokerCentral.com for the exclusive live coverage of all the U.S. Poker Open action from the PokerGO studio. New to PokerGO? Subscribe right now to not miss a minute of the action.