Images courtesy of PokerGO Tour
Many poker video blogs center around a young player experiencing the vagaries of success and failure in the game as they start to win money at exciting stakes.
One recent addition to the poker vlog genre is anything but a newcomer to the game, however. Jeremy Ausmus has won more than $28m in live ranking events alone.
Now he’s embarking on a vlogging journey via YouTube and his social media channels, helping others understand what it’s like to play tournament poker at the highest stakes.
We caught up with the six-time WSOP bracelet winner to find out how he plans to grow his channel and why he’s quitting coffee ahead of his latest World Series of Poker adventure.
The Perks of Prop Betting
Jeremy’s adventure is exciting enough that he could need no other challenge in life, but this week, he confirmed one of poker’s most theoretically crazy prop bets. In a game where many long hours are spent at the felt and staying on high alert is paramount, Jeremy has quit caffeine for the month of April.
Betting three of his fellow players $5,000 each, he stands to win $15,000 if he’s successful. The problem is that those fellow caffeine nuts who are giving up coffee, tea, and other stimulants are all tough coffee nuts to crack.
WSOP Main Event finalist Garry Gates, Wisconsin’s third-best player of all-time, and high roller Victoria Livschitz are all going to be desperate to stop Jeremy from bagging any profit. We asked Jeremy exactly how strong he thinks his chances are.
Honestly, I have no clue about who my toughest opponent is out of these three! laughs Jeremy. Garry Gates sounded pretty dialed in. Victoria does too, but she says she will often completely forget things, so she might accidentally drink something, haha!
Jeremy might fancy his chances, but the dad-of-two admits it will be very challenging.
It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while, and I needed a little monetary incentive to make it happen. I’ve gotten off coffee for the most part in the past and have turned it down, but lately I’ve been back on the coffee, so we’ll see what happens when I try to give it all up.
I think the best strategy will be to wean off it as I’ve done that fairly successfully in the past. That way, you avoid the big headaches and withdrawal symptoms.
Hitting Record While Playing
With just 53 videos so far on his YouTube channel, Jeremy has amassed a terrific subscriber base of 5,600 people. When he set out to start his own channel, he says he “didn’t really know what to expect” and is pleasantly surprised at the growth of his channel in the first year.
I think I didn’t think it would start off as well over the first few videos… but then that happened, and I thought I would be doing a little better than I currently am. Things kind of got off to a pretty good start and then leveled out. But it’s just a process. I’m learning a lot and have a lot more to learn to try to improve on what I’m doing. It’s a fun adventure!
Everyone has their own style on YouTube, and many successful poker vloggers have gone down the ‘point and shoot’ scattergun approach. Jeremy’s videos are more structured, have bold thumbnails, and are similar to a Mr. Beast video in length and appearance. Jeremy says he’s still in the experimental stage.
I’ve experimented with that a little bit. At first, I was doing every other week, and they would be longer. But then I switched to once a week and made them shorter for more chances for something to blow up.
I’m more of a long-form watcher on YouTube, so it’s something I prefer to make. I might get back to that eventually, but if I’m doing 30 minutes to an hour every week, that is quite a lot!
Only a ‘Psycho’ Could Be the Best
Jeremy is one of poker’s most respected fathers, a true family man who wins everything he can for those he loves back home. As his children have grown up, he’s managed to structure his poker career more religiously, but there are still times he steps back to fit in with family plans.
We wanted to know the positive or negative impact on poker results that parenthood provides.
[My daughter] is now a freshman in high school, which is insane! It’s been great, and they’re great kids. One way it affects me is not wanting to travel as much.
My kids, at 15 and 13 now, will be out of the house within just a few years, which is hard to wrap my head around. With that in mind, traveling to Triton stops for a month at a time becomes less appealing.
Jeremy believes he’ll have more time for longer journeys abroad in future years, but says that they take a lot out of a player at any stage of their lives.
I’ve been sticking closer to home, hanging out with the family and playing local stuff more, he says. Honestly, if you’re going to become the top poker player in the world, you almost have to be a psycho with nothing else going on.
That’s not totally true, as I know some of the best poker players who have families now, but the more time you can put into something, the better you’ll get at it.
While this might hint that restrictions on Jeremy’s time are counter-productive to his bottom line, the reverse might be true because of another benefit of being a Dad.
On the flipside, having the responsibility and others that you are providing for gives you a sense of focus and dials you in to really get things done and be more efficient and intentional with your time.
Picking up the Mixed Baton
Just this week, Jeremy bagged his latest PokerGO Tour title when he won a PGT PLO Series gold cup. We’ve seen Jeremy winning over and over again in PGT events despite their fields often containing some of the best players in the world.
We asked Jeremy if it was the PLO or the competition that inspired him most in PGT tournaments.
PLO, I have played a fair amount of over the years. Mix is only at the PokerGO series, then the World Series of Poker. Outside of that, it’s all No Limit and PLO. PokerGO series that have treated me well; they give away a lot of money, which helps, and have near rake-free entry if you’re on time.
Jeremy says that home comforts have helped him a lot over the years in PGT events.
Being able to sleep in your own bed is a big plus. Yes, the tournaments can be tough, but I still see plenty of value in them for the best players. There’s just a lot of volatility along the way!
It’s Going to Be an… Ausmus Summer?
The 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP) is around the corner, with Prague the location for WSOP Europe before the 100-event traditional series stars in Las Vegas, the city Jeremy calls home now.
He’ll be vlogging plenty and playing a lot of events too, but how much should fans or $25k Fantasy Draft bettors pay for him to be on their team?
I’m actually still trying to figure that out, Jeremy says with a smile. I would like to keep up my once-a-week vlogs at a minimum. I’m actually missing the first week or so – a couple of events – ‘cause I’m going on a trip, but that’s OK. I’ll be ready when I get back.
Jeremy doesn’t set targets for bracelets to add to the six he’s already won, but with six weeks of poker still in his sights, there’s every chance he’ll be making some big scores to rack up POY Points too.
Obviously, I’d like to win another WSOP bracelet or make a run at Player of the Year. POY is a little tougher this year because I’m not going to Prague, and I’m missing the first week of the World Series, but we will see what happens. I am looking forward to another monster summer!
This year, Jeremy Ausmus will be bringing his WSOP journey to life along with every other big event he plays via his popular YouTube channel, which you can subscribe to now.
From mixed game mastery to the latest nosebleed super high roller, one of poker’s most successful tournament players in history is now more revealing than ever. Just don’t ask him if he’s grabbing a coffee before the cards are in the air.
