Everyday Grinder: Online Player Jeremy Becker on Moving to Vegas, Facing New Challenges
Las Vegas has a new resident and his name is Jeremy Becker. The live circuit grinder moved to town to take advantage of the constant live action along with opportunities to play online poker. Becker seems to have found some success since setting his bags down in February.
“It’s been a hot start for me,” he says. “I’ve played four tournaments so far since moving out here and I bricked one, finished third in two, and first in the other.”
The 26-year-old decided to leave his home in the Big Apple behind and make the move to Sin City. After already racking up over $33,000 since landing in the desert, Becker’s rent is at least now paid for the near future.
Poker in the Sunshine State
With more than $750,000 in live tournament winnings, Becker doesn’t show signs of slowing down anytime soon. He took on Las Vegas so he could play even more.
While he considers himself more of a live player, Beck plans to get into online poker as well at WSOP.com in the shared Nevada/New Jersey player pool. That especially includes firing in the WSOP Circuit online events.
“There is just always something good to play,” he says. “And if you bust out there’s another tournament you can jump in down the street.”
Originally from New York City, Becker started playing poker with friends in high school. Flash forward to 2016 when he moved to Tampa, Florida, to attend college. He also found his passion when not hitting the books.
“When I got to college there was a casino 10 minutes away,” he says. “To gamble in the casino you had to be 21 but to play poker you only had to be 18. So it was my only option to really get my fix.”
Becker played as much as possible to gain experience and build a bankroll. Experience is an understatement, as he cashed in over 80 events from 2017-20. His poker life eventually turned into his full-time job.
“The last job I had was in high school,” he says. “I was a caddy at a country club.”
Learning some hard lessons
Life as a poker pro didn’t come without some challenges along the way. Becker learned a hard lesson after falling victim to the casino pits like a lot of players.
“There was a one week span where I was playing blackjack 10 to 12 hours a day and lost about half my net worth that I grinded so hard to have in the first place,” he saysa.
“I look back on that and believe that it was good for me in the long run. I had to drop down in stakes and really start treating poker as more of a job. I then began studying tournaments.”
Hard work pays off
After refocusing, Becker found his stride and started dominating small stakes events. Since 2021, he’s collected 17 tournament victories. Some of major wins include:
- $400 Deepstack Open (Hollywood Florida) – $33,615 (2023)
- $600 Deepstack (Las Vegas) – $15,606 (2023)
- $600 Superstack (Tampa, Florida) – $27,200 (2021)
- $400 NLHE (Las Vegas) – $19,373 (2021)
“The last series in Hollywood I won a one-day, $400 event with over 500 players,” he says. “This one felt really good because I was the last entry in the tournament. I was on line to register a different tournament and they called last call for that one.
“I figured why not? I grinded sub-10 big blinds for three to four hours to eventually get all the chips from about 30 left to the end.”
Keeping the momentum going
With no plans of slowing down, Becker hopes to add some online poker success to his record now. Hitting more live events is also on his agenda.
Living in Vegas will also make playing in the World Series of Poker much easier. He played in the Main Event the last two years, which included a deep run last year, finishing among the top 1,100 players for $17,000.
“I’m definitely excited for the main event this year,” he says. “I was one of the chip leaders heading into day four and didn’t make it through the day. I feel like I have learned a lot since then and am excited for the opportunity.”
For most successful poker players, winning is built by putting in the work. Becker is no exception. He watches countless hours of high stakes poker. To be the best, he believes, then you have to understand how the best play. His advice for upcoming players?
“Don’t underestimate variance and experience is worth a lot.”