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Where are they now? October Nine: Jeremy Ausmus

October 29, 2012

With the final hours before the 2012 WSOP Main Event final table ticking away, it’s still anyone’s game. But someone has to lose. But someone also will win. Thirty-three-year-old Jeremy Ausmus hopes it will be him who wins.

Ausmus isn’t your typical poker pro whose ideal job is flying around the world to participate in every big-money poker event he can. Instead, he’d rather grind it out at the Bellagio for 30 to 40 hours a week and then go home to his family.

Since his placement in the October Nine back in July, Ausmus has been exhaustively preparing for the today with coaches and tournament simulations. Although he’s the short-stacked of the nine, he’s not letting that get his confidence down. He says, “I’ve played the least amount of poker I’ve ever played in my life, actually. I’ve played less poker than everyone else at the table.”

And destiny does have a mind of its own. As luck would have it, Ausmus’s second child was due to be born during the same week as the final table. However, the high-risk pregnancy only went to 34 and a half weeks, putting Kai Ausmus in the world five weeks early. Because his wife had to rest, Jeremy chose to stay home and take care of her, his newborn, and his two-year-old, Calia. He didn’t mind that he had to cancel his trip to Cannes, France to play in the WSOPE. His family is a priority above poker.

“I like the change and getting a little bit of time away from poker,” he explained. “I’m a full-time pro but I have a life away from it, which a lot of these guys don’t have.”

But with the events of the past few months, Ausmus believes anything is possible, despite the fact that since the style of the WSOP Main Event went to the three-month break format in 2008, the shortest stacked player hasn’t finished better than 7th place. Furthermore, two of the last three short-stacked players actually finished in 9th place. He does point out, though, that he has more chips to start with than other last chipped players who finished in 9th.

“I feel like I have less pressure than anyone else because I’m expected to go out first,” says Ausmus. He continues, “The chip leader is going to have a ton of pressure because everyone is expecting him to win, and he can’t make a huge mistake. I can’t make a mistake either, but I’m really comfortable with this stack size.”

And the fact that he stands to win at least $754,798 already probably helps to ease the sting of a possibly first elimination.

He does have one thing in his favor though. He had become a short-stack cash game specialist playing Internet poker for the few years before online poker was shut down on Black Friday.

Depending on his win, he plans to invest most of the money and add some to his bank roll without much change to his lifestyle. He likes to play poker, and he loves being close to his family, and he’s not interested in the notoriety that comes along with the game. To him, it’s a job that makes him happy. With the odds stacked against him, he doesn’t seem to mind.

Written by Bea · Filed Under Poker News 

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