Jeremy Kaufman

Jeremy Kaufman died suddenly and unexpectedly over the weekend of 24 and 25 October 2026, aged 56. Ryan Feldman, co-founder of Hustler Casino Live, announced the news on X on 26 October 2026, and it was reported by PokerNews, poker.org, PokerTube and other poker outlets. No cause or place of death has been made public.

Tributes came from across the poker world. Feldman called him the life of the party and said he left his children far too early. Matusow wrote that the loss was truly one of the hardest things he had ever felt in his life. Hellmuth said the poker world had lost a beloved member, and Todd Anderson recalled him as one of the funniest and wildest players Poker Night in America ever featured. No funeral or memorial arrangements had been publicly announced as of 29 October 2026.

Jeremy Kaufman was from Chicago, Illinois. He studied at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy. Details of his birth date and family background have not been published in the reports of his death.

Before joining Kaufman Jacobs, Kaufman led real estate and energy projects outside the United States, including the installation of a thermal power plant on the Guayas River in Ecuador.

He became chief executive of Kaufman Jacobs, LLC, a Chicago based boutique real estate private equity firm, in 2002. The firm credits him with more than 20 years of experience in real estate, structured finance and project development, and with executing the acquisition, development and financing of more than five million square feet of property worth in total more than one billion dollars.

Alongside his business career he became a recognisable amateur in high-stakes poker. Mike Matusow taught him the game. In 2017 he took the amateur seat on Poker Night in America, facing professionals including Shaun Deeb and Doug Polk; co-founder Todd Anderson said he agreed to book him as a favour and found him one of the most entertaining players the show ever had. After one session at SugarHouse Casino in Philadelphia, Kaufman and Polk flipped for 42,000 dollars in ten-card stud. When Polk made aces up, Kaufman negotiated a 25,000 dollar buyout, though he would have gone on to make a straight. Polk later posted the clip on YouTube.

In 2018 he joined Daniel Negreanu and Maria Ho on the first Poker After Dark episode filmed at the PokerGO Studio. He later played several times on Hustler Casino Live, appeared twice on Poker at the Lodge in 2026, and was a fixture of private high-stakes cash games in Los Angeles and Chicago.

Kaufman was the father of three children, who were teenagers at the time of his death. Through poker he formed close friendships with Mike Matusow, Ryan Feldman, whom he befriended during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Phil Hellmuth, who said he had played hundreds of hours with him. Friends described his humour and warmth, and Matusow said Kaufman made him laugh every single day.

Kaufman is remembered in poker as the kind of recreational player that televised and streamed cash games depend on: someone who played big for the enjoyment of it and took the wild swings of the game with good humour. His 42,000 dollar ten-card stud flip with Doug Polk remains one of the most widely shared moments from Poker Night in America. In business, he led Kaufman Jacobs for more than two decades.