2024 PGT Last Chance: Brandon Wilson Goes Back-to-Back to Win Event #4: $10,100 No-Limit Hold’em ($285,000)

The 2024 PokerGO Tour (PGT) Last Chance is heating up in Las Vegas, and one player is absolutely crushing the competition: Brandon Wilson (cover image). Less than 24 hours after taking down Event #3: $10,100 No-Limit Hold’em for his first-ever PGT title (thanks in part to a massive bluff), Wilson kept his foot on the gas and conquered Event #4: $10,100 No-Limit Hold’em for a cool $285,000 and his second consecutive PGT title. Wilson even made a huge hero call to defeat 2024 PGT points leader Jeremy Ausmus, who finished as the runner-up for $176,700.

Wilson, who outlasted Ausmus in a tense heads-up battle, now has nine live tournament titles to his name. He is having a run that is the stuff of dreams Just last month, he scored a career-best $602,900 in a $25,500 High Roller at the Seminole Hard Rock Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open. His live tournament earnings now stand at over $3.85 Million, and he has all but guaranteed himself one of the three Dream Seats into the 2024 PGT $1 Million Championship.

Congratulations to Brandon Wilson, winner of Event #4: $10,100 No-Limit Hold'em at PGT Last Chance.

Wilson wins back-to-back PGT titles after topping the 114-entrant field to collect the $285,000 first-place prize.

He is now assured of a Dream Seat into the PGT $1,000,000… pic.twitter.com/xn22Znq7yk

— PokerGO Tour (@PokerGOTour) January 7, 2025

After Events #2 and #3 tied the record for the largest field in a $10,000 buy-in PGT event with 119 entries, Event #4 almost matched them, drawing 114 players. This tied Event #1 of the 2023 Poker Masters for the second-largest $10,000 in PGT history, generating a $1.14 Million prize pool. The top 17 finishers all took home a share of the prize money, with a min-cash worth $17,100.

Chino Rheem was the unfortunate bubble boy, finishing in 18th place and narrowly missing out on a payday.

Several well-known poker players made deep runs but couldn’t quite reach the final table, including Michael Jozoff (8th for $45,600), Stephen Song (9th for $34,200), Jesse Lonis (12th for $24,225), Justin Saliba (13th for $24,225) and Matthew Wantman (14th for $24,225).

The Race to the PGT Championship is Tightening

For many of these players, the PGT Last Chance series is their last shot to earn enough points to qualify for the PGT $1 Million Championship, a tournament reserved for the top 40 finishers on the PGT leaderboard.

With four of the six PGT Last Chance events in the books, Brandon Wilson is running away with the lead. His two wins have earned him 583 PGT Points, nearly double that of his nearest competitor.

Shannon Shorr, who won Event #2, is in second place with 298 points. Landon Tice, the runner-up in Event #3, sits in third with 184 points. There’s still plenty of poker to be played, and these guys are going to be battling it out for those coveted spots in the Championship.

If you missed the live action, you can catch the replay of the final table on the PokerGO YouTube channel and witness Wilson’s incredible back-to-back victories.

Final Table Chip Counts

1. Brandon Wilson – 5,745,000
2. Sam Laskowitz – 2,170,000
3. Jeremy Ausmus – 1,810,000
4. Kristina Holst – 1,720,000
5. Byron Kaverman – 1,400,000
6. Dylan Linde – 925,000
7. Stoyan Madanzhiev – 480,000

Final Table Recap

The day’s short stack, Stoyan Madanzhiev, was the first to go. His pocket fives were no match for Sam Laskowitz’s made flush, and he exited in seventh place for $45,600.

Next, a classic race went down, with Sam Laskowitz‘s pocket jacks losing to Kaverman’s pocket aces. A ten-high board with no help meant Laskowitz was out in sixth for $57,000.

Kristina Holst‘s suited ace-ten needed to improve against Byron Kaverman’s pocket pair when he hit top pair on the flop. Unfortunately, the turn and river were no help, and Holst took home $74,100 for her fifth-place finish.

Next, Dylan Linde crashed out in fourth place, taking home $96,900.

Jeremy Ausmus looked to be in trouble starting three-handed play. He was down almost four million chips to Byron Kaverman and over six million behind the leader, Wilson. But the poker gods had other plans. Ausmus doubled through both his opponents to take the lead when his pocket fives stayed ahead of Kaverman’s ace-nine, sending him packing in third place with $125,400.

The heads-up match was intense, with Brandon Wilson and Jeremy Ausmus neck-and-neck in chips. It all came down to one hand, though. Wilson raised with pocket tens, and Ausmus defended with queen-five offsuit. The king-high flop saw Wilson continue with a bet, and Ausmus check-raised him. Wilson made the call. The turn brought a seven, giving Ausmus a gutshot straight draw.

Ausmus kept up the pressure with a huge bet of 1.5 Million, and Wilson called just before his time ran out. The river paired the board, and Ausmus, after using a time extension, moved all in. Wilson went deep into the tank, using two of his own time extensions before making the call. Ausmus could only shake his head as Wilson raked in the massive pot, leaving him with just a tiny fraction of the chips.

The final hand was a dramatic one. Wilson flopped a wheel with his pocket fives on a board while Ausmus, holding , had outs to a straight and a backdoor flush. The turn and river brought no help, and just like that, Wilson won his second PGT title on consecutive days!

Final Table Results (USD)

1. Brandon Wilson – $285,000
2. Jeremy Ausmus – $176,700
3. Byron Kaverman – $125,400
4. Dylan Linde – $96,900
5. Kristina Holst – $74,100
6. Sam Laskowitz – $57,000
7. Stoyan Madanzhiev – $45,600

Content & Images Courtesy: PokerGO

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