Jeremy Ausmus Spoils Hellmuth-Negreanu Show, Wins Third World Series Of Poker Bracelet

The final three players in the 2021 World Series of Poker $50,000 buy-in pot-limit Omaha high roller final table combined for 24 bracelets, with more than $75.5 million in prior tournament earnings between them. While plenty of poker fans were likely hoping to witness an epic heads-up matchup between sixteen-time WSOP champion Phil Hellmuth and six-time bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu, it was ultimately Las Vegas-based poker pro Jeremy Ausmus who emerged victorious from the stacked three-handed battle.

Ausmus earned $1,188,918 and his third career gold bracelet after surviving the nearly four-hour final showdown with Hellmuth and Negreanu. The score increased his career tournament earnings to $10,270,009.

“It was fun playing with those guys, like the old-school, iconic guys. I used to watch them on TV, 17 years ago before I moved to Vegas,” said Ausmus after closing out the title just before 4:00 am local time.

“I’ve played with them a lot over the years, and I play a fair amount of [pot-limit Omaha], so I felt like I liked my spot, you know. Not saying they’re not great players or anything. They have a lot of tournament experience and they’ve been here a million times,” he continued.

When asked if he thought the final day took as long as it did (lasting nearly 14 hours) in part due to who was still in at the business end of the event, Ausmus said, “Probably, compared to the Europeans who were here earlier. [It’s] just the older style versus the newer style. I’m kind of in the middle. It did drag out. Nobody wanted to bust, and then the short stack just kept doubling up, also.”

In addition to the title and the money, Ausmus was also awarded plenty of rankings points for his huge win in this event. He took home 816 Card Player Player of the Year points for his second title and tenth POY-qualified final table finish of the year. As a result of this latest score he climbed into 25th place in the 2021 POY race, which is sponsored by Global Poker. He now sits with 2,892 total points and $1,842,667 in year-to-date POY earnings. Ausmus also secured 700 PokerGO Tour points in this event, enough to move him inside the top 20 on that leaderboard.

The second and final day of this event began with 33 players remaining and Hungary’s Laszlo Bujtas in the lead. Ausmus sat in eighth place when play resumed. A number of big names made the money in this event, including five-time bracelet winner Shaun Deeb (11th – $91,821), three-time bracelet winner Scott Seiver (10th – $91,821), bracelet winner, 2011 WSOP main event fourth-place finisher Ben Lamb (8th – $132,370), and four-time bracelet winner Josh Arieh (7th – $165,452). Arieh came into this event as the leader in the 2021 WSOP POY race, and he added precious points with his fourth final-table finish of the series with two wins secured along the way.

Jared Bleznick hit the rail in sixth place ($212,223) to narrow the field to five. Bujtas was the next to fall, with Hellmuth making queens full of aces to send the Hungarian home with $279,168. Alexander Petersen’s run in this event came to an end when his turned flush was beaten by the rivered full house of Negreanu. Petersen earned $376,376 as the fourth-place finisher.

The final three all took their turns at both the top and the bottom of the leaderboard as they battled for hours. Hellmuth was all-in and at risk with two pair at one point. Negreanu made a straight on the turn, only to have Hellmuth find a board pair on the end to improve to a boat and stay alive.

Daniel Negreanu makes his straight on the turn, but Phil Hellmuth fills up on the river to stay alive!!!

If you’re not following @PokerNews updates, you’re missing out.#WSOP pic.twitter.com/x6u3DOrPTX

— David Salituro (@DavidSalituro) November 21, 2021

Negreanu went from possibly holding a strong lead heads-up to the bottom of the chip counts after that swing. Negreanu got all-in with two pair against a straight for Hellmuth not too long after that, but he was unable to fill up and was eliminated in third place ($519,764). The payday increased Negreanu’s career earnings to just shy of $43.7 million.

Heads-up play lasted only a few minutes. Ausmus raised to 1,800,000 from the button with A852 and Hellmuth defended his big blind with K976. The flop came down 976 and Hellmuth checked with his three pair. Ausmus bet 2,000,000 with his flopped nine-high straight. Hellmuth check-raised all-in for 8,000,000. Ausmus made the call to put Hellmuth at risk. The turn was the 10, keeping Ausmus ahead. The Q on the river locked up the pot and the title for Ausmus.

Hellmuth earned $734,807 as the runner-up finisher. Although he fell short of his record-furthering 17th bracelet, he did set another record by making the most final tables at the series with seven. Hellmuth now sits in second place in the 2021 WSOP POY race behind Arieh.

Here is a look at the payouts and rankings points awarded at the final table:

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