Jeremy Ausmus Stays Hot, Wins PokerGO Cup Player Of The Series Honors

The PokerGO Tour unveiled several new high-stakes tournament series in 2021 during its inaugural run, including the PokerGO Cup that was won by Daniel Negreanu in a photo finish last July. This year the high roller festival moved to February, but once again featured eight tournaments held over the course of nine days.

Much like the first time around, the player of the series race was hotly contested right up until the end, with the final heads-up battle determining who ultimately came away as the second-annual PokerGo Cup Champion.

In the end, Jeremy Ausmus was able to come away with the title. The 42-year-old finished third in the final event for $256,000 and enough ranking points to lock up the PokerGO Cup and the $50,000 in added prize money that comes with it.

Ausmus made a ridiculous four final tables during the eight-event series, recording two third-place showings, a runner-up finish, and one outright victory along the way. All told, he cashed for $824,500 during the high-stakes tournament festival.

“It’s awesome,” added Ausmus when asked how he felt. “I was telling someone earlier that I’ve gotten crushed in here. In the U.S. Poker Open and Poker Masters, I was home for dinner every night and I didn’t realize what it was like to have any points or anything. Then I was part of the big race and saw how involved everyone was and how people are into it, and I didn’t get that before. It’s cool. It’s a lot of fun. The extra $50,000 that’s given is awesome.”

The past few months have been some of Ausmus’ best on the live tournament circuit, outside of when he made the World Series of Poker main event back in 2012, finishing fifth for more than $2.1 million. He closed out his 2021 campaign in style, making six final tables and winning two of his three career WSOP gold bracelets during the final three months of the year.

Ausmus carried that momentum over into the new year, making three final tables in January before his run at the PokerGO Cup series. As a result of his continued success, Ausmus has overtaken the top spot on the 2022 Card Player Player of the Year leaderboard, with seven POY-qualified final-table finishes, a title, and $1,042,295 in year-to-date POY earnings. He now has more than $11.5 million in total career live tournament earnings to his name.

“I ran so ridiculously the last six tournaments,” Ausmus said. “I finished in the top eight six tournaments in a row here. I was just deep in Florida, and even in December I was final tabling stuff, so I’m definitely running really, really good. It’s maybe the best I’ve ever run in the past couple of months, just deep in everything I play. It’s pretty cool.”

Below is a look at how the entire PokerGO Cup series played out.

Ausmus Closes First Half Strong

The kickoff event of the series was the first of three $10,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em high rollers. Daniel Colpoys emerged victorious from a field of 77 total entries in the event, earning $200,200 for the win. This was the second-largest score of his career, and it came less than a fortnight after he had locked up his all-time biggest payday.

Colpoys finished fourth in the Lucky Hearts Poker Open $25,500 buy-in high roller during the final week of January for $202,145. The cash increased his career live earnings to more than $1.5 million. In addition to the title and the money, he also earned 420 POY points as the champion.

Next up on the agenda was another $10,000 buy-in. This time around, 80 entries built a prize pool of $800,000, with a quarter of that allotted for the eventual champion. Despite falling to an extreme short stack at multiple points in the tournament, 2021 high roller breakout Sean Perry ultimately came away with the title and the first-place prize of $200,000.

The win was the second final-table finish of the year for Perry, who had placed third in the $100,000 buy-in finale of the inaugural Stairway To Millions festival in January for $304,000. Perry was far from done at this series, though, with two more cashes yet to come.

The first of those came the following day, when Perry finished ninth in the third and final $10,000 buy-in on the schedule. Like event no. 2, this tournament also drew exactly 80 entries. This time around, Jake Daniels was the last player standing after a dominant final-table performance.

He came into the final day in the middle of the pack with six players remaining but managed to knock out each of his five opponents on his way to the title and the top prize of $200,000.

Ausmus recorded the first of his four top-four finishes of the PokerGO Cup in this event, earning $144,000 as the runner-up. He only had to wait a single day before he found himself heads-up for a second time.

Ausmus and Brock Wilson navigated their way through a field of 65 entries in event no. 4, the lone $15,000 buy-in on the schedule. Wilson entered heads-up play with a roughly 2:1 chip advantage.

Ausmus picked off a big bluff midway through the heads-up clash to retake the lead, and was able to close it out to earn $263,250 as the champion.

Wilson secured $195,000 as the runner-up. This was his third cash in as many days, having finished seventh in event no. 2 and sixth in event no. 3 for a combined $88,000. The high-stakes pro still had a few more deep runs in him before the series wrapped up, though.

Upping The Ante

The first of three $25,000 buy-ins drew 41 entries to build the first seven-figure prize pool of the series. When the dust settled, 2022’s standout high roller Nick Petrangelo was the only player left.

The 35-year-old poker pro had made five final tables and won three titles through the first six weeks of the year, with his three victories all coming in high-stakes events with buy-ins of $25,000 or higher. This time around the two-time WSOP bracelet winner earned $369,000 and 420 POY points. He now sits in seventh place in the overall standings on that leaderboard, and is currently first in the high-stakes focused PokerGO Tour, with more than $2.1 million in qualified scores for that points race.

In the last six months, he has cashed for more than $5.7 million, with two seven-figure scores in that time. He won five titles along the way, with four more runner-up finishes and one third-place showing. In fact, Petrangelo has recorded at least one six-figure cash per month since August of 2021. He now has more than $23.8 million in lifetime live earnings to his name.

Poker Hall of Fame member Daniel Negreanu broke a nearly eight-year tournament title drought in the inaugural running of the PokerGO Cup, and then went on to secure the Player of the Series title.

Despite the slow start, the 47-year-old poker pro gave himself a shot at going back-to-back thanks to a win in event no. 6, the second $25,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em high roller on the schedule. The six-time bracelet winner overcame a field of 35 total entries to bank the $350,000 top prize and his 41st career title.

A number of high-stakes regulars also kept themselves in contention for the Cup with deep runs. Brock Wilson recorded his fourth cash of the series, finishing fifth for $61,250, while Sean Winter earned $227,500 as the runner-up. This was Winter’s third in-the-money finish of the festival.

The penultimate event was the final $25,000 of the series. Ali Imsirovic, who won both the 2021 Card Player and PokerGO Tour POY awards, came out on top of a field of 43 entries to earn $365,000 and his 16th title in a 12-month span.

In January, Imsirovic won a $25,000 high roller at the Venetian for $270,000 and then finished runner-up in the $50,000 Stairway To Millions event for another $315,000. The 27-year-old poker pro increased his lifetime earnings to more than $16.6 million in the process. Imsirovic also earned enough rankings points to move into 10th place in this year’s POY race, and currently sits in fourth place in the PGT standings.

Darren Elias finished sixth, marking his fourth cash of the series. The four-time World Poker Tour champion did well at the high-stakes series, taking third in the first event for $100,100 before adding a fifth-place and two sixth-place showings.

Cary Katz finished fifth for $86,000. This was also his fourth cash of the series, including a pair of podium finishes in event no. 2 and event no. 4. The high roller regular and PokerGO founder accrued nearly $380,000 in cashes throughout the series.

Nick Schulman finished fourth for $118,250, making his third cash of the series, while Ausmus placed third for $161,250, putting him in pole position in the Player of the Series race heading into the final event.

The Grand Finale

The last event on the schedule, the $50,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em high roller, saw five players finish in the money, with each of them mathematically able to come away with the Cup were things to break their way.

Daniel Negreanu’s hopes of going back-to-back were ultimately dashed when he hit the rail in fifth place. The six-time WSOP bracelet winner went home with $112,000 for his second six-figure payday of the series. He now has more than $44.8 million in lifetime tournament earnings, the third most of any player in poker history.

Ausmus shoved with K 6 from the small blind and Schulman called with 10 10. The board ran out J 3 2 5 9 to give Ausmus a backdoor flush and the pot. Schulman earned $176,000 for his fourth cash of the series. He ultimately finished sixth in the race for the cup with $482,250 in total earnings.

Ausmus’ run came to an end in third place, adding $256,000 to his bankroll, but even that solid result didn’t entirely lock up the series win. Brock Wilson, who finished second, would have pulled out a buzzer-beating win had he defeated Perry heads-up. With the $50,000 bonus on the line, Ausmus stuck around to sweat the action.

Perry took roughly a 7:1 chip lead into heads-up play with Wilson. It didn’t take too long for him to convert that lead into the title. In the final hand, he raised on the button with pocket jacks. Wilson picked up K Q in the big blind and shoved for just over 16 big blinds.

Perry made the quick call and it was off to the races. The 10 8 6 4 8 runout kept Perry’s jacks ahead to earn him the title, while also securing the cup for Ausmus.

Wilson’s $416,000 payday as the runner-up was the second-largest of his career, bringing his earnings to more than $4.8 million. His five cashes saw him ultimately finish third in the series points race, while Perry ended in second place thanks to his two titles, three cashes, and $872,000 in earnings.

Perry pocketed $640,000 as the champion of the finale, the largest score of the 25-year-old tournament star’s career. This victory increased Perry’s career earnings to almost $5.9 million, all of which has come within the last five years.

The son of longtime poker pro Ralph Perry broke out in 2021 with 20 final-table finishes and five titles won, finishing third in both the Card Player Player of the Year and PokerGO Tour points races.

Now, thanks to his success at the PokerGO Cup, he has once again positioned himself as a top contender. He is currently in 14th place in the POY standings and second on the overall PGT leaderboard. ♠

PokerGO Cup Event 1 – $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em

PokerGO Cup Event 2 – $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em

PokerGO Cup Event 3 – $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em

PokerGO Cup Event 4 – $15,000 No-Limit Hold’em

PokerGO Cup Event 5 – $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em

PokerGO Cup Event 6 – $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em

PokerGO Cup Event 7 – $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em

PokerGO Cup Event 8 – $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em