Ausmus Denies Hellmuth and Negreanu; Wins Third WSOP Bracelet in the $50K PLO High Roller ($1,188,918)

Jeremy Ausmus of Las Vegas won his third career World Series of Poker bracelet in the early morning hours of Sunday, Nov. 21 when he took down Event #84: $50,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller after an epic final table battle that seldom poker fans will forget in the near future. Ausmus earned the bracelet and a cash score of $1,188,918 after more than three hours of three-handed play against two of the game’s biggest titans in Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu.

The high-roller PLO tournament attracted 85 entrants including the likes of Shaun Deeb, Dan Cates, Chance Kornuth, Adam Hendrix, Ka Kwan Lau, Dan Smith, Ole Schemion, and Scott Seiver to generate a $4,069,375 prize pool. All eyeballs were on the Mothership on Sunday as all-time bracelet leader Hellmuth continued his quest for his 17th bracelet and as six-time bracelet winner Negreanu looked for his first bracelet of the series. For hours on end, poker fans were teased with whether they would see a heads-up battle between the two icons whose names are synonymous with poker.

Event #84: $50,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller Final Results

Iconic Final Table

Hellmuth’s appearance at the final table made for history as it marked his seventh of the series, breaking the record of most final tables in a series set by An Tran in 1992. He was also on the hunt for WSOP Player of the Year points as he currently sits in second place.

The man in front of Hellmuth, Josh Arieh, was by his side at the PLO final table. Arieh, who has won two bracelets this series, ultimately finished in seventh place when his pocket jacks were no good against the flopped flush of Alexander Petersen.

Petersen later busted in fourth place to mark the beginning of a three-handed battle for the ages between Ausmus, Hellmuth and Negreanu. Ausmus almost went home in third when he was all-in and at risk in a hand against Negreanu, who had the lead with a pair. Petersen improved to a flush on the river to stay in contention and deny spectators a Negreanu-Hellmuth match.

Later, it was Hellmuth who was all-in against Negreanu and at-risk of elimination in third place in a hand where Hellmuth had two pair and Negreanu had a straight. Hellmuth improved to a full house on the river and Negreanu flipped over his chair in frustration as his opponent celebrated.

In an ironic turn of events, it was then Negreanu who busted in third when he had two pair and couldn’t fill up against the straight of Hellmuth.

Straight-versus-two-pair hands were in vogue on Sunday and heads-up play between Ausmus and Hellmuth lasted only two hands as the duo got it in on a flop where, you guessed it, Hellmuth had two pair and Ausmus a straight. Hellmuth didn’t improve on the turn or river and Ausmus robbed the Poker Brat of his 17th bracelet.

New School Beats Old School

After the victory, Ausmus, who has $4,599,668 in career WSOP earnings and won his second bracelet at the start of the series in Event #3: Covid-19 Relief No-Limit Hold’em Charity Event, told PokerNews he was thrilled to have prevailed against two of the biggest names in the game.

“It was fun playing with those guys,” Ausmus said. “Like the old-school, iconic guys. I used to watch them on TV, you know, 15 years ago, 17 years ago, before I moved to Vegas and things like that. So it’s cool.”

But Ausmus was not intimidated or star-struck during the high-roller action.

“I mean, I’ve played with them a lot. A fair amount over the years. I play a fair amount of PLO, so I felt like I liked my spot, you know. Not saying they’re not great players or anything. And they have a lot of tournament experience and they’ve been here a million times.”

Reflecting on the victory, Ausmus said he believed he played well and chose his spots correctly, while also acknowledging that he had a bit of luck on his side.

“You kind of have to just get a hand and go with it,” he said about short-stacked play. “I mean, you have to play most hands. Especially heads-up. We only lasted two hands heads-up. And we were super short, but you just can’t fold (any) hand(s) hardly.”

Ausmus added that he was happy to win another bracelet at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino before the WSOP moves to a new location next year.

“It feels really good. My first bracelet was in Europe, outside of Paris, so until this year I had never won a bracelet here at the Rio. I’d had a lot of deep runs, so it’s cool to take a couple down here.”