Jeremy Ausmus is a member of the PokerOrg Player Advisory Board, but that's not the reason why we think his trip on 888Ride is a must-watch.
At 45, Ausmus is one of the best tournament players in the world. He hit 16 cashes at this summer's WSOP, including an incredible seven final tables, a second place in the $100K High Roller for $1,892,260, and a sixth-place finish in the prestigious $50K Poker Players Championship won by Daniel Negreanu. In total, Ausmus has over $23 million in tournament winnings and six WSOP bracelets. That's quite a CV for someone who was known more as a cash-game player a decade ago.
Ausmus talks about the state of poker in the modern age, revealing that 90% of the world's top players are in the solver streets. According to Ausmus, "Even if you're going to deviate from these strategies, you need to know them."
He also explains why he moved from cash games to tournaments and claims that the current leveling-up system for cash pros is broken.
"If you rewind 10 or 12 years ago, there were hardly any high-stakes tournaments," Ausmus says. "There was a $100K at the WSOP once a year, but outside of that you could play some $10Ks, maybe some $25Ks, but this whole phenomenon of the high-stakes scene has blossomed in the last 10 years or less.
"I used to play a lot of cash, but I saw the writing on the wall of that going private. Someone organizes the game, and they decide who sits in it.
"They're making all the money in poker if I can be honest. The guys who are running these private games are winning all the money because the games are filled with recreational players for the most part, and they're the best players in the world. They have a real stranglehold on a lot of money in poker."
Ausmus claims the networking and schmoozing behind this wasn't his thing, but he sees it as an obvious evolution of poker. However, it does mean that it's much harder for a player to level up through the stakes, like players used to in the past.
"There used to be a clear path from the low stakes to high stakes, and it was open to anyone," Ausmus says. "I love the purity of that. That's gone now. If you're the best chess player, the best football player, you work your way up the system, and that's how it works. In cash, that's broken. In tournaments, that exists still... It's a good time to be a tournament pro."
Watch the full episode above and check out the full range of 888Ride interviews in our video channel.
