Jeremy Ausmus had quite the weekend. On Friday, Jan. 10 he was officially crowned the 2024 PokerGO Tour Player of the Year after recording 27 PGT cashes totaling $6,491,016 throughout the year. He then topped off his incredible run with a victory in the season-ending PGT $1,000,000 Championship, capturing the trophy and the top prize of $500,000 the following day.
“I love the leaderboard, it really inspires me to play a lot,” Ausmus told PGT reporters when asked about the tour after closing out the win. “It’s kind of like a video game. You just want to get to the top.”
Ausmus accrued 2,966 total PGT leaderboard points across his 27 qualified scores, giving him a final margin of 912 points over second-ranked Daniel Negreanu. In addition to the championship event, the six-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner based out of Las Vegas also won a $15,100 buy-in event during the PGT PLO Series II festival in October.
Ausmus had two seven-figure scores this year, both which came in PGT–qualified events. The largest saw him finish second in a $100,000 buy-in at the WSOP for $1,892,260. Roughly two months after that, he placed third in the $300,000 Super High Roller Bowl IX for another $1.2 million. The 45-year-old poker pro now has more than $24.6 million in recorded tournament earnings to his name.
As the POY for the 2024 Season, Ausmus was awarded a $50,000 bonus for his performance on the tour.
As the highest points earner throughout the year, Ausmus entered the million-dollar freeroll finale with the largest chip stack. He was one of 40 players who earned a seat in the tournament via their performance in the season-long standings. There were also 10 Dream Seat winners who secured a spot via a number of PGT contests and promotions.
The tournament ran over the course of two days inside the PokerGO Studio at ARIA Resort & Casino Las Vegas. By the end of day 1, the final table of six was set. Five-time bracelet winner Kristen Foxen was the final player to hit the rail outside of the money, being eliminated in seventh place by the player that defeated Ausmus heads-up in that $100,000 buy-in event at the WSOP: Chris Hunichen.
Two-time bracelet winner Dylan Weisman held the chip lead among the final six, with Ausmus starting day 2 as the short stack. A classic preflop race resulted in the first knockout of the day. Three-time bracelet winner and reigning Poker Masters series champion Jim Collopy got all-in with pocket sevens facing the A-K of six-time bracelet winner Nick Schulman. A king-high runout saw Collopy sent to the rail in sixth place ($40,000).
Hunichen soon followed, losing a three-way all-in against Schulman and five-time bracelet winner Calvin Anderson. Hunichen’s K-10 was unable to overcome the ace-highs of both Anderson and Schulman, who chopped the pot when the board double-paired. Hunichen earned $60,000 for his fifth-place showing.
Weisman was the next to fall, with his 7
7
outrun by the A
5 of Anderson, who flopped a five and turned trips. Weisman secured $80,000 as the fourth-place finisher.
Ausmus took the lead thanks to a big cooler, getting all-in on the river with nines full of jacks and beating the nines full of tens held by Anderson. Schulman then doubled up through Anderson to leave him on fumes.
Anderson got the last of his stack in with J5
shoved from the small blind. He was quickly called by Ausmus, who had KK in the big blind. Ausmus made kings full of queens to win the pot and eliminate Anderson in third place ($120,000).
With that, Ausmus took 7,430,000 into heads-up play with Schulman, who held 1,820,000. In the final hand, Schulman limped from the button for 80,000 total with 85. Ausmus checked from the big blind with K9 and the flop came down J97. Ausmus checked and Schulman fired 95,000. Ausmus called and the 2 rolled off on the turn. Ausmus check-called again, this time to the tune of 260,000. The 7 on the river paired the board and Ausmus checked a third time. Schulman shoved for 1,145,000 with his missed gutshot and Ausmus went into the tank. He eventually found the call with his nines and sevens to lock up the pot and the title.
Schulman earned $200,000 as the runner-up. He now has more than $22.3 million in lifetime scores to his name.
Here is a look at the payouts awarded at the final table:
| Place | Player | Earnings |
| 1 | Jeremy Ausmus | $500,000 |
| 2 | Nick Schulman | $200,000 |
| 3 | Calvin Anderson | $120,000 |
| 4 | Dylan Weisman | $80,000 |
| 5 | Christopher Hunichen | $60,000 |
| 6 | Jim Collopy | $40,000 |
Check out the top ten in the final PGT standings:
| Rank | Player | Points | Wins | Cashes | Winnings |
| 1 | Jeremy Ausmus | 2,966 | 2 | $27 | $6,491,016 |
| 2 | Daniel Negreanu | 2,054 | 3 | $21 | $2,399,106 |
| 3 | Seth Davies | 1,855 | 3 | $9 | $5,794,660 |
| 4 | Jesse Lonis | 1,843 | 1 | $17 | $2,714,504 |
| 5 | Michael Rocco | 1,835 | 1 | $7 | $2,156,811 |
| 6 | Jonathan Tamayo | 1,776 | 1 | 3 | $10,226,400 |
| 7 | Jim Collopy | 1,757 | 0 | 21 | $2,256,009 |
| 8 | Nick Schulman | 1,710 | 2 | 20 | $2,806,433 |
| 9 | Aram Zobian | 1,707 | 2 | 17 | $1,627,192 |
| 10 | David Coleman | 1,637 | 4 | 21 | $1,352,503 |
Photo credits: PokerGO Tour / Antonio Abrego.