Twelve years ago, Jeremy Ausmus entered the 2012 WSOP Main Event as a virtual unknown to the poker world. He had one six-figure tournament cash to his name, and had been grinding for the better part of a decade looking for the kind of result that could make a career.
He did so to the tune of $2.1 million with a fifth-place finish. Plenty of players post that kind of result and then fade back into poker obscurity. Some hang around the edges and pop up every once in a while. But a select few take that special moment in the spotlight and make something greater of it – and Ausmus falls squarely into that last group.
He’s accumulated $20.6 million in lifetime live earnings, according to the Hendon Mob, which puts him 50th on poker’s all-time money list. He’s consistently held his own and enjoyed success in a high roller environment against some of the best poker players in the world.
“The amount of money for me, it was a big deal at that time,” said Ausmus. “I was a pro for seven years or eight years already at that point, but that was a big money windfall for me. It allowed me to raise two kids a little more comfortably and play bigger tournaments – whatever I wanted – so yeah, that was a big boost for me.”
Coming into the 2024 World Series of Poker, there were a handful of players on the outside looking in with regard to Poker Hall of Fame credentials. Jeremy Ausmus is a six-time WSOP bracelet winner with that WSOP Main Event final table appearance and a host of other credentials on his poker resume. He was listed as one of ten finalists for the Poker Hall of Fame in 2023, though with only one player inducted per year, his number was not called.
After that close call in 2023, Ausmus entered the 2024 WSOP and hit the ground running. His results have been staggering; Ausmus has already made six final tables thus far, including appearances at four of the biggest high roller final tables on the schedule. He also fought through two big No Limit Hold’em fields, finishing third and fourth in those events.
Despite Scott Seiver putting together a monumental summer with three WSOP bracelet victories, Ausmus is still pushing Seiver in one of the most compelling WSOP Player of the Year races ever.
And yet, when the list of 10 finalists for the Poker Hall of Fame Class of 2024 were released in recent weeks, one name was notably absent – Ausmus’.
With the current format of public nominations and voting done by current Poker Hall of Famers, all Ausmus can do is continue to go out and perform at the table and let everything else fall where it may.
When it comes to facing down a disappointing result, Ausmus has also shown this summer that he can absorb a disappointment and immediately roll on to the next task at hand, even when it comes with the potential of a seven-figure swing.
Ausmus was one clean river card away from winning his seventh bracelet in the $100,000 High Roller. During his heads up match with Chris Hunichen, Ausmus had Huni all in with an overpair of pocket jacks against Hunichen’s 
on a nine-high board. after a blank on the turn, Ausmus was dodging five cards heading into the river, only for Hunichen to spike three-of-a-kind on the river.
Despite a difference of over $1 million between first and second, Ausmus took the runout and final result in stride.
“I think it’s really important,” said Ausmus. “I’ve just been doing it so long, the runouts really just don’t affect me whatsoever. There is kind of a lot of pressure as far as PokerGO and WSOP events under the lights and streaming and big events. The highest pressure moments I do feel a little adrenaline rush and things like that. But the runouts themselves and the beats, they don’t really affect me.”
That kind of level-headedness has long served Ausmus well in his career.
Over the course of his poker career, Ausmus has enjoyed tremendous success and has built a reputation among top pros as both a tremendous player and a tremendous person. At 44 years old, legacy is something that has entered Ausmus’ mind, though his results thus far in 2024 show that he may only just now be entering the prime of his tournament career.
When he was asked about the potential of entering the Poker Hall of Fame, just before the list of nominees was officially announced, Ausmus was both hopeful and realistic at once. The current Hall of Fame process, which only inducts a single nominee each year, and the logjam is only getting more crowded as more and more icons of the online poker boom era start to reach the age of 40.
“It would mean something to me to be recognized by your peers for your accomplishments and something that you’ve put your life into,” said Ausmus. “I would like to get in and I’m kind of worried if I don’t soon there’s a lot of like megastars who are auto-ins their first year and they only put one in a year. Ike Haxton and Nick Schulman, and I mean, there’s more and more guys that just have ridiculous resumes also that are probably gonna get in there, too. But yeah, I hope to get in.”