Jamie Gold
- Nickname: The Poker Philanthropist
- Facebook: Jamie Gold
- Twitter: @RealJamieGold
- Website: www.jamiegold.com
- Birthdate: 25th August 1969
- Birthplace: Kansas City, Missouri
- Residence: Malibu, California
- WSOP Bracelets: 1
- Biggest Win: $12,000,000
- Total Winnings: $12,245,468
Poker was not Jamie Gold’s first calling. After graduating from the University of New York at Albany, he relocated to California to study Entertainment Law at UCLA. Immediately, he found work as a talent agent and was employed by several renowned agencies before starting his own company, JMG Management, in 1996. He has represented many high-profile clients including James Gandolfini (The Sopranos), Lucy Liu (Charlie’s Angels) and Kristen Davis (Sex and the City).
As his company began to move into television production he met former WSOP champion, Johnny Chan, whilst working on an upcoming poker show. Gold’s conversations with Chan about poker rekindled his passion for the game he was first introduced to by his mother, an avid player. A talent for cards ran in the family as his grandfather was a gin rummy champion and Gold began reading poker books and taking advice from Chan.
In the year leading up his WSOP win, he dedicated himself to playing in his local casinos, sharpening his poker skills in large field tournaments. Despite one notable win in the Stars and Stripes tournament and eight final table finishes, Gold was a relative unknown in the poker world when he entered the 2006 WSOP main event as part of the Bodog.com celebrity team.
Controversy followed Gold’s massive win and he immediately afterwards found himself embroiled in a lawsuit that laid claim to half of the $12,000,000. His former business partner, Crispin Leyser, who had put in half of the $10,000 WSOP entry fee was demanding his share of the fortune and Gold found his assets frozen until an out of court settlement for an undisclosed amount was reached almost six months later.
During this time, Bodog.com dropped him from their team and he has never managed to repeat his success, having not reached many final tables since. His poker tactics have come under scrutiny after Gold was alleged to have shown one of his opponents a hole card during the 2006 WSOP event and in the following year he was warned for telling his opponents what cards he was holding, prior to his elimination. His detractors have even called into question his credibility as a talent agent and television producer.
Despite all this, Gold’s brilliant performance when he dominated the 2006 WSOP cannot be doubted. Chip leader from as early as the fourth day, he bluffed and bullied his way past talented newcomers, celebrities and seasoned professionals alike, to come out first among a record-breaking 8,772 entrants. His table manner was at times both calm and animated but always calculated and fascinating to watch. We look at some of the play below. Whether he can duplicate his form of his historical poker achievement remains to be seen but in the 2006 WSOP, Jamie Gold definitely had the Midas touch.
Jamie is a poker columnist for Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and these columns are syndicating to 180 other newspapers around the U.S. $175 million has been raised for charitable causes with Jamie donating or working as a host at 125 events 2007 to 2012. He is also known for eating blueberries whilst playing, this can be seen in some of the 100 hours of poker programming on USA tv networks – ESPN, ESPN2, NBC, GSN and MSNBC.
WSOP 2006
A record prize of $12,000,000 was heaped onto the table as Jamie Gold and Paul Wasicka went heads-up for the 2006 World Series of Poker. The final table had been dominated by Gold who had already eliminated seven out of the eight finalists and now had almost 90% of the chips stacked neatly in front of him. Munching on blueberries from the bowl that he had taken to every table of the tournament, he quietly accepted defeat in the first hand to a flush draw.
In the next hand, he was dealt Q♠ 9♣ with Wasicka holding a 10♥ 10♠. Gold hit a pair of Queens on the flop of Q♣ 8♥ 5♥. Scratching his face, Gold calmly announced, ‘All in’. He watched Wasicka hesitate, got to his feet and asked, ‘You don’t have a queen, do you?’ Gold’s goading, though criticized, had produced results for him so far in the tournament and so he continued, ‘I guess if you did, you’d call me.’ Gold then correctly guessed that Wasicka had a pair and shouted, ‘Let’s go! Let’s do it!’ before comically checking his cards again.
With the stack sizes so uneven, Wasicka had little choice and called. Jamie Gold turned to his friend and mentor, Johnny Chan, barely able to watch as the final two cards, an A♦ and a 4♣ were turned. Grinning, Gold ran to his opponent, hugged him and for a moment the arrogance was dropped as he whispered ‘You were awesome,’ to the defeated Wasicka. Gold then rang his father, who was unable to attend due to illness, to tell him he had won the largest pot in the history of professional poker.
Last updated May 2013