Leader of the Pack -- Jeremy Joseph Q & A

Poker annals are full of stories about chip leaders at the end of one day who crash-and-burn the next. The ability to maintain a consistent chip stack is vital to a player's success, and to do it at the top of the leaderboard is a rare feat.

Jeremy Joseph has managed just that. Leading the field after day 3 of the main event at the 2008 World Series of Poker with 1,458,000 chips, Joseph kept his perch atop the leaderboard through day 4 and increased his stack to 2,187,000. In fact, he was the first player in the field to top both the 1M and 2M chip mark.

Joseph, a 23-year old professional from Buffalo, New York, has been playing professionally for about four years, beginning online before tackling the live tables. He cashed in his first WSOP main event last year, and spoke with Card Player magazine prior to play beginning on day 5 of the 2008 WSOP main event.


Cameron Yoos: You're the chip leader coming in – again. Are you prepared for this? Are you relaxed? Nervous? What are the emotions like?

Jeremy Joseph: It's kind of a mix of emotions, but I'm trying to keep myself focused, trying to prepare myself the best I can at the start of every day.

CY: Do you have a specific routine you try to follow to maintain that focus?

JJ: Not really. I just play all day, go home, order room service, go to sleep, then get up and come play all day again.

CY: Just try and stay out of the social circles and other distractions?

JJ: Pretty much. I mean there are a lot of interviews and things, and they only give you like nine hours to sleep anyways, so what are you going to do? You just have to go home and go to bed.

CY: What about the extra rest the field has been getting? Play ended early last night because of all the eliminations.

JJ: I don't know, it evens out, everyone gets the same amount of rest. I don't think it gives me a particular advantage, but I'm happy for it because I was getting pretty worn down.

CY: How does your strategy change, say from the first couple days with such a large field with so many online qualifiers, to now that we're getting into the meat of things.

JJ: You definitely have to be more careful and watch your step more than before. The people that are left, there are a lot of really good players. You don't know what's waiting for you.

CY: You cashed in the main event last year. Did you think success would come this quickly?

JJ: I don't know, I had a lot of chips last year. I've only played it two years, but I haven't had any problem accumulating chips in this tournament. So to be here, it isn't a huge surprise to me. It's an expectation of mine.

CY: How did last year help you in preparation for coming back this year?

JJ: I learned a lot from the way I played last year. I learned to be more careful with a big stack, and not to just spew off my chips every time I'm in a hand. And through the course of the year I learned a lot, too.

Card Player Live Player Database – Jeremy Joseph