"People say the poker dream is dead, but the ladder from the smallest stakes to the top is still intact."
That's how Jeremy Ausmus started a recent thread on X, one that received quite a bit of blowback from the community – from notables and unknowns alike.
Ausmus went on to argue that money isn't what prevents most players from reaching the top. Instead, he posited, it's a lack of effort, an unwillingness to put in the work.
"If you have the drive, the path to the high rollers is still wide open," his post concluded.
Whether you agree with his viewpoint or not (and many did not, more on that below), Ausmus' opinion should be taken seriously. After all, he's played at the highest stakes for the better of 15 years and that kind of longevity doesn't come without a keen understanding of what it takes to reach the pinnacles of poker – and how to stay up there.
But that doesn't mean his opinions are immune to criticism. And that's what he got in the thread, lots and lots of players chiming in to disagree with his take.
We've aggregated the responses from the most notable players in the thread – check them out below or click above to spool through at your leisure.
'Much tougher to realize in recent years'
Fedor Holz sounded off in the replies, writing: "Easier today than it was in 2019, harder than 2021. Quite easy to make $50K EV a year, very very hard to make $300K EV a year."
World Poker Tour Ambassador Tony Dunst was one of the few voices in the thread to take Ausmus' side, albeit with a qualifying statement attached to the end.
Dunst wrote: "I don't think the dream is dead, it's just gotten much tougher to realize in recent years."
Matt Berkey, founder of training site Solve For Why and PokerOrg Player Advisory Board member, replied with: "Pretty strong survivorship bias in that sample. Something being possible isn't the same as it being probable. The likelihood of scaling from any entry point to high stakes has decreased by many, many magnitudes and will continue to do so as the game continues to mature."
If anyone knows a thing or two about making it in the world of high stakes poker, it's Dan Smith. Dan Smith agreed with Ausmus from a theoretical standpoint, but followed that up by saying he wouldn't recommend that anyone try to reach the high stakes level – citing the current tax circumstances as part of his reasoning.
"While I agree it is theoretically possible for some, I personally wouldn’t encourage anyone to try it these days," Smith wrote. "Even ignoring the tax situation (which is brutal) it’s just way less lucrative for 99.9% than it used to be. I feel making $250k/year in EV used to be relatively easy and now it’s not."
What do you think of Ausmus' perspective? Is the poker dream alive and intact as he claims? Sound off in the comments below.
