Jeremy Ausmus Wins $1m PGT Freeroll Championship as Schulman Falls Short

A packed final table full of American poker heroes battled to a man and when the dust settled, it was the incoming chip leader at the start of Day 1, Jeremy Ausmus, who won out against Nick Schulman – who won last week’s opening major live event of the year. The $1 million freeroll championship is a celebration of the PokerGO Tour where the top 40 players of the season, along with 10 Dream Seat winners, battle it out in a $1,000,000 freeroll event, where all the money is added and no-one pays an entry fee. Jeremy Ausmus’ victory was worth an astonishing $500,000.

Foxens Miss Out on Final Table Payout

With just six players making the money and 50 players qualifying via the PGT top 40 and 10 Dream Seats, anyone hoping to grab some of the million-dollar freeroll money had first to make the final table. That structure led to a fierce opening firefight which took care of players such as Phil Ivey (48^th), Adrian Mateos (45^th), Chance Kornuth (41^st) and Jonathan Little (33^rd), all of whom busted long before the final table was close.

After other poker legends such as Brian Rast (32^nd), Daniel Negreanu (26^th), Jared Bleznick (19^th) and Scott Seiver (13^th) made their way from the felt, the British two-time WSOP bracelet winner Stephen Chidwick was ousted in 12^th place. His exit was followed by that of David Coleman, one of the most consistent players of 2024, before PGT regular Sean Winter (10^th) and Bulgarian poker powerhouse Boris Angelov (9^th) departed.

Alex Foxen was unlucky to bust in eighth place, all-in with ace-king and busted by Dylan Weisman’s ace-five. With all the chips in the middle pre-flop, a flop of J-7-6 was safe enough for Foxen on both the turn and river condemned to an exit without any financial return despite a deep run.

With seven players left, only one player needed to bust to burst the bubble and finish as the final player to bust for nothing. That player turned out to be Alex Foxen’s wife Kristen. All-in when short-stacked with queen-four of hearts, she was called by Chris ‘Big Huni’ Hunichen with ace-nine and a flop of A-T-2 immediately gave her a massive mountain to climb. No help came on turn or river and as both Foxens made their way from the cardroom, the other six players could stack their chips knowing that they had made the final – and the money.

 Weisman Left On the Outside 

Heading into the final six, and the last day, Dylan Weisman had a big lead with a stack of 3.18 million chips. He was followed by Hunichen with 1.95m, Jim Collopy with 1.17m and Calvin Anderson with 985,000 chips. The two shortest stacks – Nick Schulman with 895,000 and Jeremy Ausmus with 880,000 – would end up competing for the trophy and $500,000 top prize but before that, they had to climb up the chipcounts.

A dramatic first level left Jim Collopy on the outside looking in, as he lost his stack to a resurgent Nick Schulman. Collopy committed his stack with pocket sevens but lost a flip to Schulman’s ace-king when a board of K-8-6-Q-T paired the latter’s second pair. With no assistance from the board, Collopy crashed out in sixth place for a return of $40,000.

Next to leave the party was ‘Big Huni’. Chris Hunichen moved all-in from the button for just 145,000 chips with king-ten of spades but lost to Schulman’s ace-nine and Anderson’s ace-four as a board of 6-5-2-2-5 left Hunichen fifth for $60,000.

A Final Flourish  

With four left, the lead changed hands almost as quickly as the dealer button was passed from player to player around the table. Ausmus started his march to glory with a fortuitous hand, however, doubling through Weisman when king-queen rivered a king when committed pre-flop against the dominating ace-queen of Weisman. Soon after, Weisman crashed out, cashing for $80,000 with sevens shot down by Anderson’s ace-five as once again the hand that was behind hit, a board of K-Q-5-5-4 giving Anderson trips.

Despite leading, Calvin Anderson doubled up both of his opponents in a run where twice he had been ahead in the hand before falling behind. Anderson then shoved with jack-five but ran into pocket kings belonging to Ausmus, and this time there was no luck for the at-risk player, a king even coming to give Ausmus a full house on the river. That pot, devastating to Anderson in sending him home with $120,000, was antistrophic to Ausmus, boosting his stack to 7.43 million to Schulman’s 1.82m.

Heads-up saw a chop kick off the action before the final hand played out. On a board of J-9-7-2-7, Schulman shoved with just eight-five for a missed gutshot straight draw. Ausmus, however, had king-nine and called it off to take the title and $500,000 top prize, with the ever-resourceful Schulman battling brilliantly to a runner-up score of $200,000.