Jamie Gold screws the image of poker
You can win the largest prizes in poker, but it's no use if you don't know how to manage them.
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Jamie Gold: "I just had a great run and made the most of it"
I would call Jamie Gold one of the most controversial WSOP champions. I think he just happened to win the right event at the right time. Poker ego was in fashion at the time. Everybody wanted to play with the pros, the pros fiercely battled with each other for a place at poker's Mount Olympus. And here comes Jamie Gold, a charismatic character whose antics and unbelievable upswing in 2006 led him to the greatest title in poker.
It's difficult to comprehend, but Jamie actually assumed control of the chip lead on the third day of that 8,773-player Main Event, and never once relinquished it over the next seven days of action. The tournament still stands as the largest prize pool in poker history.
"I've got top/top"
And that's one of the most popular hands from that Main Event. Yes, Jamie, like anyone would believe you would have folded if you hadn't thought that your opponent also had "top/top".
"What am I gonna do?"
Jamie just assumed that he was the new king of poker. He started playing the highest stakes, but only managed to produce an example of extremely poor money management. In some way it's hard to blame him because in the biggest WSOP Main Event of all time practically everything went his way. And even on TV show "High Stakes Poker" where he got destroyed, he managed to luckbox two thirds of the biggest pot in the history of the show at the time.
"What am I gonna do?" said Jamie. Well, Mr. Gold, if you don't see how you can play this hand differently, we can't help you.
Where's the money?
The previous hand was played on "High Stakes Poker" in 2009. Just a year later rumours were already rife that Jamie owed the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa approximately $50,000, and that the cheque he had written for that amount had bounced. What happened to that $12,000,000, Jamie?
The bracelet auction
The next couple of years, according to Jamie, brought a lot of legal issues. He blames the US gambling tax system that charges for wins but doesn't account for losses. But I doubt that even the cruellest of taxes would be the sole catalyst for the auctioning off of your championship bracelet.
Master of mind games
It has to be acknowledged though that Jamie reallу was great at mind games and table talk. It was amazing to see him get into the heads of his opponents and manipulate their decisions in his favour.
Jamie Gold, the cruise guy
"I realise how lucky I am. I don't think I'm the best poker player. I just had a great run and made the most of it". It took Jamie 8 years to understand that. He said those words in 2014 when Island Breeze Casino Cruise had a poker room designed in his name. For $10 in the day and $25 at night anyone at Palm Beach could play a hand with the infamous world champion. Unfortunately, even that endeavour didn't last long, and the owners of the ship soon filed for bankruptcy. Not exactly surprising given the dour quality of their promo video...
Silver lining
Since winning the Main Event for $12 million in '06, Gold, now 45 years old, has cashed for just $73,694 in WSOP bracelet events. That’s the lowest out of any of the Main Event champions since Chris Moneymaker.
However, this year Gold arrived at the WSOP early to take part in a full schedule, or at least the busiest he's played in the better part of a decade.
"This is the first time doing a long run of tournaments," Gold told PokerNews. "I think I'm going to do 12 or 13 events. About a year ago I decided I wanted to start playing again. I took six months to train with people who I believe to be really talented, young players. The game changes all the time, so I wanted to make sure I could still compete."
Eventually Gold came 5th in Event #59 ($1,500 No Limit Hold'em) for $120,952. Let's hope it's the beginning of a new chapter.
