If there is one player who is heading into the 2025 World Series of Poker (WSOP) with a great recent record, it is Jeremy Ausmus. The PokerStake player and reigning PokerGO Tour champion reached record numbers in 2024 and could be one of the biggest players to watch when the 56^th annual WSOP kicks off in just a week’s time.

Looking Back on 2024

“It’s much better to focus on the process and not the result. You can find yourself doing things that aren’t profitable.”

Just 10 short months ago, a phenomenal series saw Jeremy Ausmus appear at a record-equalling number of tables in Las Vegas in WSOP events. He won millions at the felt, too, only missing out on the Super High Roller bracelet after losing heads-up to Chris ‘Big Huni’ Hunichen. Jeremy is proud of his most recent summer at the WSOP felt.

“It’s hard to say it wasn’t a smashing success,” says Jeremy. “I won a lot and met Phil Hellmuth’s record for final tables. Nothing is more fun in poker that running like that at the WSOP.  Sure, it would’ve been great to win some bracelets but I’ve won many in the last few years so I can’t complain at all. Some of those years I didn’t even have that great of a summer or might have even lost money but won a bracelet. I view that as not very successful. I’m here to win money over bracelets or trophy’s but they are fun to win also.”

This year, the WSOP host 100 bracelet events in Vegas alone. By 2020, Jeremy had one WSOP bracelet. Today, he has six, so has the accumulation of gold made him hungrier for more?

“A bit I suppose. It’s not something I put huge emphasis on. I play a lot in the summer and I know they will come. I don’t think it’s good to set goals like I’m going to win a tournament or X amount of money.”

Jeremy focuses on playing his very best poker and over the past few years, the financial and bracelet rewards have come as a result.

“The goals I set are more like ‘I will play this many tourneys or hours’ and ‘I will study this much in the down time’. It’s much better to focus on the process and not the result. You can find yourself doing things that aren’t actually profitable when you are forcing the end result to happen.”

High Rollers in Las Vegas

“There are a lot of great people in the poker world today.”

Over the past couple of months alone, Jeremy has four cashes in PokerGO Tour events and is already playing with a high level of consistency against the toughest poker opponents in the world. He really commits to the hours required to maintain those high levels.

“I play everything so I will cash a lot, but I do put a lot into preparation,” he admits. “I study GTO outputs and final table sims along with watching video of high stakes tournaments to try to get some information on my opponents.”

Along with the mental side of the game, Jeremy says that as he’s gotten older, it’s also become increasingly more important to stay on top of how he eats sleeps, along with working out when he can. It takes real effort on his part.

“[It] can be challenging over the course of a long series because if you go deep, you’ll likely be staying up later and, for me, I get thrown off my routine a bit. I’m lucky to not have too many terrible days or think I’m playing completely awful very often, so that adds up in the consistency department.”

The close nature of high roller events, where so many of the players at each PokerGO or Triton stop, for instance, know each other well is another element. There’s almost a fraternity feel to them and Jeremy enjoys that dynamic.

“Yeah, it’s cool because I’m friends with a lot of of the guys I play with consistently,” he says. “There are a lot of great people in the poker world today. I think we also have a certain amount of respect for each other given that we all have made it to the highest stakes. That being said, I’m not the most social guy out there so I do prefer my fair share of ‘alone time’ whether that’s on breaks or dinner breaks sometimes also.”

Winning Big at Home and Abroad

⁠Each year, the PokerGO Tour’s $1m Freeroll Championship features the top 40 players from the tour over the previous 12 months and 10 ‘Dream Seat’ winners. Jeremy topped the overall leaderboard at the close of last year and went on to win the Championship title for $500,000. As he tells us, he treated the win – and the money – like it was any other event he’d bought into directly.

“It was no different than any other money I win – some adds to the bankroll, some might need to go to real life or investments depending on what exactly is going on. Just because it was a freeroll didn’t change anything in the way I viewed it.”

One of Jeremy’s longest trips abroad in 2024 was his journey to Cyprus, where he won over $1.6 million in three Super High Roller Bowl events. Travelling much further than his European counterparts, it was hard to be away from his family.

“As I’ve gotten older the travel is definitely harder than it used to be,” Jeremy admits. “I felt OK overall but when I went to Jeju earlier this year I was so out of it for way too long. I hadn’t gone out of the country to play for a while, so I wasn’t that prepared. Next time I’m going to do some hacks to adjust to the time zone quicker and a few other things like keeping my food and exercise dialled it better. That doesn’t always mean more exercise but more likely less. Realizing when your body needs rest is a big deal.”

The Family Man and the Hall of Fame

“It’s possible many deserving players won’t get in because of what it focuses on.”

The question of whether this will be Jeremy’s year where he is inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame comes up annually and has done since he turned 40 and became eligible. With no change to the ‘single winner’ induction in recent years, could a Hall of Fame be imminent?

“I think the current method of entering will change actually. I think I’ll be there one day but there are many great players turning 40 [this year]. With the current system, it’s hard to tell when I’d get in.”

Jeremy says it isn’t something he’s too stressed about (‘I try not to let my ego run the show’) and he knows that if he deserves to be inducted, it’ll happen eventually, albeit at the behest of players already in the hallowed inner sanctum of poker’s history books.

“It’s possible many deserving players won’t get in because of what it focuses on, primarily WSOP,” he tells us. “The system is not perfect and tends to measure one facet of poker more favorably. My chances are OK, though, since that is the arena I’ve thrived in the most.”

The family man of poker has won big in recent years, and now balances parenting older children rather than younger children, changing his poker routine a little.

“Yeah, as the kids get older it’s different for sure. They are more independent, so it allows us to have more time for ourselves whether that’s towards work or whatever we want.  I’m already looking ahead to when my kids are out of the house and it’s coming surprising quick! Considering that, I try to be around more for sports or events they are involved in because there will only be so many more.”

Wanting to be around his family as they grow up together is crucial and Jeremy says that it has impacted on his ability to travel to EPTs and Triton events. Not that he’s complaining at all, knowing that there will be a time for those to happen.

“I just don’t want to be gone too much and look back in a few years and regret that decision,” he says. “If I want to dive more deeply into [EPTs and Triton events] after they leave the house, I’m sure international poker will still be an option. For now, I’m content playing most of the PGT and WSOP events in Vegas. High school is on the horizon so we will see how it goes!”

Buying Some Ausmus Action This Summer

“Ideally, it’s priced so both the seller and the buyer are making some money.”

Always a popular player in the legendary Daniel Negreanu-hosted $25,000 Fantasy Draft, Jeremy is selling his action to WSOP events this summer exclusively on PokerStake. With the $25,000 NLHE Heads-Up Championship, a $100,000 High Roller and $250,000 Super High Roller already available on his staking page, he’s excited about the seven weeks of poker action that lay ahead.

“I have a couple listed and will probably list a couple of more for WSOP eventually,” he says. “Trying to decide on markups and what to sell can be challenging. I’ll look at the current market and what I sold for the same or similar event in the past. Ideally, it’s priced so both the seller and the buyer are making some money.”

When it comes to how much he sells, Jeremy weighs up how much he’s comfortable risking in any single tournament. The higher the buy-in, the more he’ll look to sell.

“In the $250,000 Super High Roller event, I’m selling 25% at a minimum,” he reveals. “That’s probably my best buy because the tourney was better than the $100k last year but because it’s such a big number, I set the markup much lower to sell a higher amount.”

With a packed schedule, a busy summer of WSOP action lies ahead for one of the biggest, if not the biggest winner of the past few years in Las Vegas.

Don’t miss out on the action, check out which events Jeremy has put on offer before they sell out.