The 2024 PokerGO Tour Player of the Year completed a sweep of season-ending accolades when Jeremy Ausmus won the $1,000,000 PGT Championship on Saturday at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas.
Ausmus — a member of PokerOrg's Player Advisory Board — beat a field of 44 players for the top prize of $500,000 after PokerGO invited the top 40 point-getters and 10 Dream Seats to the studio for the $1 million freeroll. Nick Schulman finished in second after laddering up from one of the short stacks, while Calvin Anderson finished third. Day 1 chip leader Dylan Weisman, Chris Hunichen, and Jim Collopy rounded out the final six players who were invited back for the final table on Saturday.
The final six players played for a $1,000,000 prize pool. "I couldn't have written it up any better," Ausmus said after the win. The 2024 PGT Player of the Year entered the final day near the bottom in chips after starting the tournament with the biggest stack.
"There are so many great high-stakes players in Vegas. We all gather here and play tournaments all year. The leaderboard is really fun for everybody and I think it inspires us to play more to compete."
Taking down POY was "amazing" and topping it off with this was "ridiculous" according to the six-time WSOP champ.
Anderson takes the lead
The first elimination of the day came about 30 minutes into play when Collopy shoved with pocket sevens and Schulman called with Big Slick. The flop delivered a king and Collopy accepted the $40K prize for sixth place.
Calvin Anderson took (temporary) control of the tournament in four-handed play. With Collopy gone, Anderson doubled and Hunichen showed life, but the $250K WSOP champ couldn't overcome the short stack and Big Huni was out in fifth place.
Anderson continued to climb in four-handed play and Ausmus found a flush that brought some health to his short stack. Weisman was holding down the second spot until Ausmus got it all in with king-queen. The Day 1 chip leader called, but a king on the river sent Ausmus soaring while Weisman fell to the short stack.
Another miracle for Ausmus
Weisman was soon out in fourth place for $80K and Anderson held the big stack with three players left — but the counts had a shake-up again when Ausmus received another miracle on the river.
Anderson had limped from the small blind with 
and Ausmus checked from the big blind with 
– with no sign of trouble until the flop landed 
. Both players checked and the situation turned critical for Ausmus when the turn was 
. The chips went in and Anderson had the advantage until the 
appeared on the river to vault Ausmus into the chip lead with the better full house of the two.
Anderson bows out, Ausmus closes in
Schulman took another piece of Anderson with a small double before Ausmus called the new short stack's shove with pocket kings. Anderson turned over 
and it was no match for Ausmus, who entered heads-up play with 7.4 million chips to Schulman's 1.8 million.
Heads-up was a short affair after the short-handed Schulman moved in on the river with a busted straight draw and Ausmus called with two pair to complete the Player of the Year-PGT Championship sweep.
2024 PGT Championship final table results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jeremy Ausmus | $500,000 |
| 2 | Nick Schulman | $200,000 |
| 3 | Calvin Anderson | $120,000 |
| 4 | Dylan Weisman | $80,000 |
| 5 | Chris Hunichen | $60,000 |
| 6 | Jim Collopy | $40,000 |
Photos courtesy of PokerGO/Antonio Abrego
