button in SafariPocket Jacks Propel Jeremy Ausmus to the Top in Event #4: $10,000 NLH
Event #4: $10,000 NLH, the first $10k buy-in of the 2026 U.S. Poker Open, concluded with five players remaining from the 66-entry field. Jeremy Ausmus was among the bigger stacks in the room throughout the day, scoring several knockouts en route to bagging the chip lead and nearly half the total chips in play.
Also still in the hunt for the lion's share of the $660,000 prize pool are high stakes crushers Sam Soverel, Kristen Foxen, Michael Rossitto, and Brock Wilson. Ausmus and Wilson recently clashed heads-up in the opening event of the series, where Wilson overcame a 10:1 chip deficit to win his third PGT title in a month.
Final Table Seat Draw
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Rossitto | United States | 210,000 | 7 |
| 2 | Brock Wilson | United States | 765,000 | 26 |
| 3 | Kristen Foxen | Canada | 1,315,000 | 44 |
| 4 | Jeremy Ausmus | United States | 4,060,000 | 135 |
| 5 | Sam Soverel | United States | 1,905,000 | 64 |
Day 1 Action
Ausmus got off to a hot start, eliminating Joe Serock and John Krpan in the first half of the day to put himself near the top of the counts. Alex Foxen and Jesse Lonis also established themselves as early chip leaders, but both fell to Ausmus before the end of the night. Ausmus first eliminated Foxen before the money bubble, after Foxen's pocket threes were counterfeited by a two pair on the board. Soon after, Darren Elias earned the title of bubble boy after losing a flip with ace-king against Kristen Foxen's red nines.
Following the money bubble bursting, Lonis was among the big stacks, and he got in a huge blind-on-blind confrontation against Ausmus, who was chip leading. All the chips went in on the ten-high flop, with Lonis holding ace-ten to Ausmus' pocket jacks. Ausmus, who notably recorded and released a song about the misfortunes of playing pocket jacks, held to eliminate Lonis in a pot worth nearly 100 big blinds.
Ausmus had over double the chips of any other player following Lonis' elimination. He maintained his iron grip on the lead as Cherish Andrews, who earlier today won the third event of the series for $117,407, fell to Soverel in eighth place, after running pocket deuces into Soverel's pocket queens. Ausmus then won a flip to dispatch Nate Silver in seventh, before Brandon Wilson's elimination in sixth place brought an end to the night.
Event #4: $10,000 NLH Payouts
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $198,000 | ||
| 2 | $128,700 | ||
| 3 | $89,100 | ||
| 4 | $66,000 | ||
| 5 | $49,500 | ||
| 6 | $36,300 | ||
| 7 | Brandon Wilson | United States | $26,400 |
| 8 | Nate Silver | United States | $26,400 |
| 9 | Jesse Lonis | United States | $19,800 |
| 10 | Vladas Tamasauskas | Lithuania | $19,800 |
Players return for Day 2 tomorrow, with 24 minutes left on Level 16 and the blinds at 15,000/30,000 (30,000). The plan is to play as many 40-minute levels as needed to determine a winner.
Keep it locked in with PokerNews to find out who will be taking home the first-place prize and moving up the leaderboard on the U.S. Poker Open standings.