New Season of ‘High Stakes Poker’ Debuts Next Week, Ausmus Scores PokerGO Cup Series Title
The high stakes action continues at PokerGO for televised poker fans. The platform announced on Monday that High Stakes Poker returns Feb. 21 from the Aria casino in Las Vegas.
Plenty of big names return including Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, and Patrik Antonius. The platform’s PokerGO Cup also concluded last week with Jeremy Ausmus coming out on top as the overall series champion.
Cards back in the air for High Stakes Poker
Season 9 of High Stakes Poker premieres Monday at 8 pm (ET). Episodes are filmed inside the PokerGO Studio with stakes of $200/$400 and up to $500/$1,000. Brunson and Negreanu are playing in their eighth season on the show, the most of any player.
Both are featured on the first episode of the new season, with a minimum buy-in of $100,000. Ivey, Dwan, and Antonius also appear along with 2021 World Series of Poker Main Event champion Koray Aldemir.
Hosts Gabe Kaplan and AJ Benza return to the commentary booth with hundreds of thousands of dollars on the lineat the table. Fans will find a new episode every Monday for 14 weeks.
“Season 9 of High Stakes Poker is arguably the best season yet, and we cannot wait for poker fans to enjoy the game in its purest form at breathtaking stakes,” PokerGO President Mori Eskandani said in a news release. “In addition to the star-studded lineups, fans will be pleased to see a revamped set that aims to capture the traditional authenticity of this legendary show and the return of $50,000 bricks of cash on the table.”
Ausmus shines at PokerGO Cup champion
After two weeks of action, the PokerGO Cup came to a close on Feb. 10 with Ausmus taking the cup championship. Ausmus cashed in four of eight events for $824,500, which included one win and four top-three finishes.
The win came in Event 4: $15,000 No Limit Hold’em for $263,250. After topping the series leaderboard, Ausmus scored a bonus of $50,000.
“It’s great,” Ausmus said afterward. “It was a big sweat to win this. Everyone coming into the final table could’ve won it and I barely eked it out.”
Coming into the final table of Event 8, Ausmus had the points lead in the series but didn’t have the championship locked up. In fact, all four of his opponents could still win.
“I was the shortest stack, but then [Nick] Schulman couldn’t win anymore after [Daniel] Negreanu busted, so as long as I kept laddering I was more likely to get the win,” Ausmus said. “Then [Sean] Perry had to win heads up for me and he had a huge chip lead.”
Adding the title and bonus were nice extras for this high stakes regular. He now has more than $11 million in live tournament winnings.
“It’s awesome,” Ausmus said of how winning the series title. “I was telling someone earlier that I’ve gotten crushed in here. In the US Poker Open and Poker Masters, I was home for dinner every night and I didn’t realize what it was like to have any points or anything.
“Then I was part of the big race and saw how involved everyone was and how people are into it, and I didn’t get that before. It’s cool. It’s a lot of fun. The extra $50,000 that’s given is awesome.”
A look at the final two Cup events and rankings
The final two events of the series saw some familiar names rise to the top again. In Event #7: $25,000 NLHE, Ali Imsirovic once again found the winner’s circle for $365,500.
He topped a field of 43 entries that produced a $1.1 million prize pool. After entering the final table as chip leader, Imsirovic continued to cruise and top Sam Soverel in heads-up play for the title. For runner-up, Soverel took home $236,500
In the final event, Sean Perry took his second title of the series in $50,000 NLHE for $640,000. The tournament produced 32 entries for a $1.6 million prize pool.
Brock Wilson finished runner-up for $416,000. Earlier in the series Perry scored the title in Event 2: $10,000 NLHE for $200,000. It was quite a run for Perry, who also scored third- and ninth-place finishes. Here’s a look at some of the earlier action in the series.
As for the PokerGO Tour leaderboard, Nick Petraneglo sits atop the standings after winning Event 5: $25,000 NLHE for $369,000. He also made a huge run in January’s Stairway to Millions, winning two events and taking the series title.
Perry sits just behind Petraneglo with Ausmus in third. Here’s a look at the top five in the rankings:
PokerGO Tour 2022 leaderboard
- Nick Petraneglo – 1,066 points ($2.1 million)
- Sean Perry – 707 points ($1.2 million)
- Jeremy Ausmus – 658 points ($824,500)
- Ali Imsirovic – 651 points ($1.1 million)
- Brock Wilson – 570 points ($760,250)
The US Poker Open is next up for the platform in March.