Jeremy Ausmus Hits a Royal Flush to Beat Quad Aces in the NAPT Main Event

The $5,300-entry NAPT Main Event featured one of the hands of the year on Day 1b as Harlan Karnofsky’s pocket aces made quads by the river but still lost the hand. Jeremy Ausmus, a six-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner took the hand down with a Royal Flush that he hit on the turn. Incredibly, with no bad beat jackpot on offer in tournaments, Karnofsky’s defeat in the hand left him with nothing.

Where Did the Hand Take Place?

On Day 1b of the North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Main Event, the dramatic hand played out. Jeremy Ausmus won big at Resorts World in Las Vegas as he hit a royal flush on the turn to beat Harlan Karnofsky’s rivered quads. The odds of losing the hand for Karnofsky? Just a cool one in 2.7 billion.

There is precedent for the hand, of course. Back in 2008, Justin Phillips reacted to Ray Romano turning up at his table by finding a runner-runner royal flush against his opponent’s pocket aces. Wearing a white vest, Phillips took off his headphones in amazement as one of the most iconic hands in WSOP history played out to a stunned table.

This, of course, was not the WSOP Main Event, but the NAPT Main Event has got a massive top prize of $653,050 and so there was real value in winning the hand, with Jeremy Ausmus somehow getting the better of his opponent. Back 17 years ago, Lon McEachern said, “If you flop a set of aces then river quads and get knocked out, that’s a bad beat!”. In 2025, Harlan Karnofsky managed to turn the set then river the quads and still bust. Ouch!

How Did the Hand Play Out?

Pre-flop, Harlan Karnofsky was the aggressive player, betting 1,600 chips with pocket aces. That bet was flat-called by Ausmus who held jack-ten of diamonds. The  flop of K-Q-8 all in diamonds gave Ausmus the flopped flush but any kind of scary betting and he could push Karnofsky off the pot. He check-called another bet of 1,600 instead, and quite wisely.

On the turn, the ace of diamonds landed, giving Karnofsky a set of aces. Once again, however, he couldn’t have felt too strong with it. Any diamond gave his opponent a flush so again, a tentative bet from the at-risk Karnofsky was only called by Ausmus.

The river was, of course, the case ace, in spades this time. Karnofsky shoved over the top of Ausmus’ bet of 9,000 chips and the American snap-called to show his hand to a stunned table.

Did Ausmus Use the Chips Wisely?

Awful luck for Karnofksy aside, the mission now for Ausmus was to turn the stroke of fortune into a deep run in the tournament proper. With a total of 738 entries, Ausmus had a long way to go in the event, but managed to make it to Days 2, 3 and 4, before beating the money bubble and booking profit in 37^th place for a score of $14,600.

Ausmus won big in the hand but those chips were only good for a decent stack on Day 1b. He had to work very hard to put them to further use. Karnofsky’s luck didn’t balance up, either, as Ausmus’ fellow American didn’t run deep. If only he’d busted in the hand at the Playground Poker Club in Montreal, who last month paid out a $1.6m bad beat jackpt after two players hit a different straight flush in the same hand, both using both of their hole cards, as was stipulated in the rules.

Ausmus’ incredible royal flush on Day 1b of the 2025 NAPT Main Event gave the modern poker crusher a superb story to tell, but no guarantee of greatness. Tournaments may be better than cash games in many respects but for bad beat jackpots, even Ausmus  got the right hand at the wrong time.