Poker Masters Opening Event Won by Jeremy Ausmus for $204,000

The opening event of the 2022 Poker Masters has been won by Jeremy Ausmus, after he triumphed heads-up against a player he beat to a bracelet only the other day. With players such as Erik Seidel, Cary Katz and Anthony Hu all missing out on glory, it was Ausmus who claimed the $204,000 top prize and crucial points on his quest to win the Purple Jacket, the infamous trophy for topping the overall leaderboard in this exclusive event series.

PokerGO Tour Announce Player Bans

“The language explicit, the message clear: cheating players won’t take part.”

Ahead of the action, there were two notable absentees in the field of this year’s Poker Masters in the shape of Ali Imsirovic and Jake Schindler. Both players have highly enviable records in PokerGO events and with a large amount of PGT points already banked, the news that PokerGO had banned the pair came out of the blue.

The statement was unequivocal in its clarity. The language explicit, the message clear: cheating players won’t take part. It was also something that many players such as Tony Dunst and Jason Wheeler were all for on Twitter in response to the news. The action got underway at the final table with Ausmus the man to fear, despite being only a three-bet ahead of nine-time WSOP bracelet winner Erik Seidel.

Ausmus not only led the way into the final table action, but he had enjoyed success earlier in the week when he won a ridiculous fifth WSOP gold bracelet in his career – and fourth within a year – by triumphing against Nick Schulman heads-up in the 2022 WSOP Online Series.

Katz and Ferraro Fall

The first player to leave the final table action was the man who owns PokerGO himself, Cary Katz. All-in with queen-eight against Anthony Hu’s eight-seven in a dominating position, a seven on the flop spelled doom, and despite an eight on the turn presenting Katz with some kicker outs, he lost out to claim the seventh-place prize of $42,500.

Next to go was Cole Ferraro, who had put himself into the final day in part on the back of a fortunate hand where his pocket fives outdrew Sam Soverel’s pocket sevens. Ferraro was committed with pocket eights against Jeremy Ausmus with pocket kings. By the river, the board of A-T-2-A let Ferraro needing an eight and only an eight to extend his maiden visit to a Poker Masters final table, but another deuce on the river sent him home in sixth for $51,000.

Out in fifth was Jacky Wang, who claimed $68,000 for his result but was unable to reach the fab four. In a blind-on-blind battle with Jeremy Ausmus, who had shoved with ace-five from the small, Wang called with king-eight from the big blind and needed help to double up his 10 big blind stack. The board was ace-high and Wang was dead by the turn to further strengthen Ausmus’ chances of sealing victory.

Seidel Slips Out in Third

Four players remained, and while Ausmus led the way, both Seidel and Schulman were close behind him. Anthony Hu was the odd man out, holding just 1.5 million chips, less than half of any other player, and he paid for that chip deficit with his tournament life. Hu was all-in with ace-six and was in terrible shape for a double when Schulman’s ace-eight was revealed. A six on the flop changed all that, giving Hu an 86% chance of winning the hand, but an eight on the turn and no six on the river meant that play moved three-handed and Hu headed to the rail with $85,000.

The podium places would be fought over between three players with remarkably close stacks. Schulman took the chip lead with that elimination, holding 3.8 million chips, with Seidel (3,675,000) and Ausmus (3,150,000) both chasing him down. Seidel ran short soonest, and all-in with king-queen of spades, got a call from Ausmus with ace-eight of diamonds, who had a 56% chance of victory.

A king in the window put Seidel ahead with two cards to come, but an ace on the turn flipped the script and there was to be no happy ending for the New Yorker, another ace on the river condemning the Poker Hall of Famer to a third-place finish for $102,000.

Ausmus Repeats Heads-Up Win Over Schulman

“I’ve got my sights set on a cool purple jacket.”

Heads-up, Ausmus (6,825,000) led Schulman (3,800,000) by a good chunk. Despite that, it was no quick kill for the eventual winner. Incredibly, the pair had battled for a WSOP bracelet in the week preceding this event and Schulman started out “with work to do” in the words of PokerGO’s commentary team of Jeff Platt and Brent Hanks.

Play swung back and forth for an hour before Ausmus teased with a raise holding pocket sevens and Schulman took the bait with ace-three, shoving and getting a quick call. Ausmus was a 69% shot and he loved that number pre-flop and post-flop.

The flop of Q-9-7 ended the contest before even needing a turn or river and Ausmus won the $204,000 top prize, with Schulman consoling himself with $144,500. Asked afterwards if he was pushing for the leaderboard victory, Ausmus was as clear as could be.

“I’ve got my sights set on a cool purple jacket.”