Cool half-milly
Though the calendar turned to 2025 two weeks ago, the 2024 PokerGO Tour (PGT) season still had some unfinished business this weekend in the form of the PGT $1,000,000 Championship. Most of the 40 qualifying players and ten Dream Seat winners participated in the final tournament of the season and when the dust cleared, it was Jeremy Ausmus who emerged as champion.
For his victory, Ausmus won a $500,000 prize package, which included $150,000 in cash and a $350,000 PGT Passport, good for buy-ins to PGT events held at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas.
Ausmus is now up to an astounding $23.8 million in live tournament earnings, although with the explosion in live prize pools, that “only” puts him 40th all-time.
Worst to first
With such a small field, the PGT Championship paid to just six places. Dylan Weisman had a huge chip lead going into the weekend’s six-handed final table, sitting on a stack of 3.180 million chips. The next two players – Chris Hunichen and Jim Collopy – had slightly fewer than that combined, entering final table play with 1.950 million and 1.170 million chips, respectively. Calvin Anderson was fourth with 985,000, Nick Schulman was fifth with 895,000, and the eventual champ Ausmus was the shortest stack, holding only 880,000 chips.
Though Collopy was in third place, there wasn’t much spread between him and Ausmus and as luck would have it (or not have it), Collopy was the first to hit the rail at the final table, his Sevens against Schulman’s A-K.
Hunichen could not maintain his position, either, losing a ton to Anderson before bowing out in fifth place. Weisman also lost his hold on the pole position, highlighted by a tough break when his A-Q lost to Ausmus’ K-Q. Weisman tried to do better than Collopy did with pocket Sevens, but it was to no avail, as he was eliminated when Anderson, holding A-5, hit an Ace on the flop.
It was smooth sailing for Anderson to three-handed, but that’s where it ended for him. In a gigantic hand, Anderson turned a full house, but Ausmus hit a three-outer on the river to double-up and later eliminated his foe with pocket Kings.
Ausmus had most of the chips going into heads-up play against Schulman. Needing to make a move, Schulman tried to bluff a big river, but Ausmus picked him off, draining him of all his chips and taking the PGT $1,000,000 Championship crown.
Accolades keep piling up
In addition to the championship, Jeremy Ausmus was also named 2024 PGT Player of the Year, finishing the season with 2,966 leaderboard points. The PGT $1,000,000 Championship did not factor into the standings, as it was a freeroll that awarded no points.
It was a fairly comfortable first-place finish, too – Daniel Negreanu finished a distant second with 2,054 PGT Points. Rounding out the top five were Seth Davies (1,855 points), Jesse Lonis (1,843), and Michael Rocco (1,835).
Not counting the season-ending championship tournament, Ausmus cashed 26 times in 2024 for $5,991,016. He won a $50,000 bonus for the achievement and opened the PGT Championship with the largest starting stack.
Ausmus is now second all-time in PGT Points with 7,967 (Stephen Chidwick is first with 8,737) and third all-time on the PokerGO Tour with 59 final tables, 83 cashes, and $13,289,300 in earnings. He is tied for the fifth-most PGT titles with Alex Foxen, Isaac Haxton, and David Peters.
The 2025 PokerGO Tour season gets underway on January 20 with the PGT Kickoff in Las Vegas.
Image credit: PokerGO.com
