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It was a fitting ending to the 2024 PokerGO Tour season for Jeremy Ausmus, who won the PGT Championship $1 million freeroll on Saturday, one day after officially securing the PGT Player of the Year award.
The two-day tournament at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas paid its champion $500,000. Nick Schulman, a potential Poker Hall of Fame inductee this summer, as is Ausmus, finished in second place out of 50 players and received $200,000.
Ausmus Runs Over Final Table
Only six players were paid in the freeroll, while the rest went home empty-handed. Day 1 ended on Friday after Kristen Foxen was eliminated in seventh place on the bubble.
The final table began Saturday afternoon with Dylan Weisman holding a sizable chip lead. Schulman and Ausmus, oddly enough, were the two shortest stacks when play started, but that would all change quickly on Day 2.
PGT Championship Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jeremy Ausmus | $500,000 |
| 2 | Nick Schulman | $200,000 |
| 3 | Calvin Anderson | $120,000 |
| 4 | Dylan Weisman | $80,000 |
| 5 | Chris Hunichen | $60,000 |
| 6 | Jim Collopy | $40,000 |
Jim Collopy was the first to go at the final table (sixth place for $40,000), followed by Chris Hunichen (fifth place for $60,000), and then Weisman lost his stack in fourth place for $80,000.
Calvin Anderson would then move his small stack all in with J♠5♣, but he’d run into the K♠K♦ Ausmus had in the big blind. The favorite held up, sending Anderson home in third place for $120,000.
That left a heads-up match between Ausmus, who had a massive chip lead, and Schulman. The match didn’t last long thanks to a bluff attempt that went bad. On a board of J♠9♦7♦2♣7♣, Schulman went all in with a missed gutshot straight draw — 8♣5♠. Ausmus looked him up with K♦9♣ to finish off the tournament and win $500,000. He now has over $23.8 million in live tournament cashes, according to The Hendon Mob.
The win was big for Ausmus in more than just one way, and it happened a day after it was announced that he’d earned the 2024 PGT Player of the Year award. Ausmus, a six-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner will be in direct competition with Schulman, and Scott Seiver, this coming summer for the Poker Hall of Fame.
Schulman and Seiver turn 40 this year to become eligible for the first time, while Ausmus, who is 45, was nominated last year. Patrik Antonius, however, was voted in by the living members of the Poker Hall of Fame.
The 2024 PokerGO Tour season has officially ended, but the new season will kickoff Jan. 20 in Las Vegas with the five-event PGT Kickoff Series.
Jeremy Ausmus Wins the 2024 PGT Player of the Year Award
*Feature image courtesy of PokerGO.