Seat 3: Jeremy Ausmus -- 9,805,000
Every final table has to have a short stack, and this year it's Jeremy Ausmus. He's the only player under 10 million in chips, but that doesn't mean he can't run it up to become champion.
Ausmus is a professional poker player who resides in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was born in Colorado and achieved his bachelor's degree from Colorado State University. Married to his wife Adria, Ausmus has a son and a daughter.
Here's what Ausmus had to say about how he got into poker:
"Just in college. It’s funny. I watched Rounders, and I was wondering — cause I’ve always been into games, video games, chess, just strategy, thinking games and poker –- and I watched the movie and was wondering if you could really make a living with poker. I didn’t know if it was all luck or skill. So, I went and bought a book. I watched the movie like five times in a week, me and my roommate. Then I went and bought a book from Barnes & Noble, and it said, “Yeah, you can make a living playing poker.” So, I was really intrigued and bought more books about, like, how to play poker for a living basically. And then, you know, it was blowing up then, and I met some people that liked to play, and then I got into some games around town. Then I went to travel to Black Hawk (casino in Colorado where he was living) on the weekends. And it just escalated more and more into playing a lot, winning and improving."
Prior to this final table, Ausmus had $427,105 in live tournament earnings. He's had several five-figure scores, but only one six-figure score. That score came in 2011 when Ausmus took third in The Big Event in Los Angeles for $190,000. He also has 13 other WSOP cashes.
With this large score, Ausmus doesn't think he'll be making any big purchases to splurge. He said he might pay off his house, and make some other "responsible" purchases, but that he "probably won’t go and buy a nice watch." At the end of the day, Ausmus said, "I’ll probably just add it to my bankroll. I’m going pay down some debt. We’ve been talking about doing some remodeling on the house."