Danielle Andersen

A very close friend of mine, Jeremy Kaufman, passed away suddenly over the weekend. Jeremy was an integral part of my poker network in LA and Chicago. Jeremy was a very successful wealthy businessman with 3 teenage children and left us way too early at the young age of 56. He certainly didn’t act his age. He was always the life of the party. He always had a smile on his face and made people laugh. I’m certain he was the most loved person in our poker group. Everyone loved spending time with him. His attitude at the table was perhaps the best of anyone we know. Never once did he ever complain about losing a hand. No matter the size of the pot or how bad of a beat it was, he would lose graciously with a smile. He popularized the phrase “fair” as a comment after an all in run it twice situation where the result clearly wasn’t fair. Sometimes players who didn’t know him would say “wtf how was that fair” and we’d have to explain that it’s what we say no matter how fair or unfair the hand is. He also popularized “drats” as a comment after losing a big pot. Jeremy really was a one of a kind unicorn. His humor, his positive attitude, his words of wisdom, his caring for all of his friends made him so amazing to be around, whether it was poker or vacations or dinners or just phone calls. I met Jeremy in 2020 when Phil Hellmuth brought me into his online poker group during COVID with Danielle, Matusow, Jason Otto, Markus, DC Lawyer, etc. Of course I knew who Jeremy was from his infamous appearance on Poker Night in America. We quickly became good virtual friends and the first time we met in person it was like we had known each other forever. He treated everyone with so much love. A year or 2 later, he became an integral part of the Chicago poker community with Luiz, Ala, Texas Mike, Pink, etc. So many times he told me how thankful he was for us putting this group together and how poker was the most fun thing in the world for him and how much he loved our group. He started off as a competitive recreational player. By the end, he was considered one of the best players in our group. It shows how insanely smart he was for such a successful businessman to teach himself without coaching how to go from a fun player to one of the toughest players in the high stakes Chicago scene. Jeremy, we will all miss you so much. It’s hard to even put into words how much we will miss you. Getting that call was one of the worst feelings of my life. I cannot imagine what his family is going through right now, especially his children. Remember to hug your loved ones every day and live life to the fullest.