Jeremy Ausmus closed out 2021 in style, making six final tables and winning two of his three career World Series of Poker gold bracelets during the final three months of the year. The 42-year-old poker pro based out of Las Vegas has kept up the momentum in the early months of 2022, making five final tables in as many weeks during the new year. Ausmus’ latest deep run saw him outlast a field of 65 entries to take down the PokerGO Cup $15,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em high roller event, earning $263,250 for the win.
This was the eighth time that Ausmus has cashed for more than a quarter of a million dollars in a poker tournament, with his largest career payday being the $2.1 million he earned as the fifth-place finisher in the 2012 WSOP main event. This latest victory increased his career tournament earnings to more than $11.1 million.
Ausmus has had a particularly hot run in the past two weeks, starting with a seventh-place showing in the $3,500 buy-in World Poker Tour Lucky Hearts Poker Open main event for $160,095. Just a day prior to his win in the $15,000 buy-in event at the PokerGO Cup he finished as the runner-up in a $10,000 buy-in high roller at the same series for $144,000.
Ausmus has cashed for over $650,000 so far this year, with almost all of that coming from his five final-table finishes. He was awarded 432 Card Player Player of the Year points for his latest title run, increasing his 2022 point total to 1,445. As a result, he now sits in third place in the overall POY standings. The 263 PokerGO Tour points he secured were enough to move him into second place on that leaderboard, and into pole position in the PokerGO Cup series points race.
The final day of this event began with six players remaining, with Ausmus in fifth chip position and Cary Katz in the lead. Ausmus was nearly the first player eliminated, as he got all-in with pocket tens and found himself at risk facing the pocket jacks of Justin Saliba and the pocket aces of Jesse Lonis. Ausmus went from worst to first when he hit top set on the flop. The turn and the river changed nothing and Lonis was eliminated in sixth place ($58,500).
Saliba, who had both of his opponents covered in that three-way all-in, slid to the bottom of the leaderboard while Ausmus surged into the chip lead. Saliba got all-in with A-K leading the A-J of Brock Wilson. A jack on the turn gave Wilson the lead, which he maintained through the river. Saliba was sent home with $78,000 for his fifth-place showing.
Bill Klein got all-in with K
10 from the small blind and received a call from the AQ of Cary Katz in the big blind. Katz flopped trip queens and improved to a full house on the turn to leave Klein drawing dead. He earned $97,500 as the fourth-place finisher.
Katz held the lead heading into three-handed play, which continued for more than an hour. Wilson was able to snatch the lead and then extended his advantage as play went on. Katz was still in second place when the next big showdown saw his K-Q fail to outrun the A-2 of Ausmus. Katz was left with just four big blinds. He called all-in with Q9 from the big blind, only to be shown the AA by Ausmus from the small blind. The pocket aces held up and Katz was eliminated in third place, earning $126,750 for his latest deep run. The score increased his lifetime earnings to more than $33.9 million, good for tenth place on poker’s all-time money list.
With that heads-up play began with Wilson holding 5,425,000 to Ausmus’ 2,700,000. The two went on to battle for more than an hour. Ausmus picked off a bluff midway through the showdown to overtake the lead. He extended his advantage to more than 4:1 by the time the final hand arose. He shoved from the button with Q3 and Wilson called all-in for just shy of 12 big blinds with A4. The board ran out K84QJ to give Ausmus a winning pair of queens. Wilson was awarded $195,000 as the runner-up. This was the fifth-largest payday of his career. It increased his lifetime earnings to more than $4.3 million.
Here is a look at the payouts and rankings points awarded at the final table:
| Place | Player | Earnings (USD) | POY Points | PokerGO |
| 1 | Jeremy Ausmus | $263,250 | 432 | 263 |
| 2 | Brock Wilson | $195,000 | 360 | 195 |
| 3 | Cary Katz | $126,750 | 288 | 127 |
| 4 | Bill Klein | $97,500 | 216 | 98 |
| 5 | Justin Saliba | $78,000 | 180 | 78 |
| 6 | Jesse Lonis | $58,500 | 144 | 59 |
| 7 | Ian Bradley | $48,750 | 108 | 49 |
| 8 | Alex Foxen | $39,000 | 72 | 39 |
Photo credit: PokerGO / Antonio Abrego.
