Jamie Gold won the World Series of Poker’s Main Event and a $12 million prize. Not needing the money, he says he will use it to help his friends and his father, who is in the final stages of Lou Gehrig’s disease.
By Jonathan Friedman / Assistant Editor
In less than two weeks, Jamie Gold went from a mostly unknown poker player to the card game’s ultimate champion. Last week, the former Hollywood agent and 15-year Malibu resident beat out nearly 9,000 competitors to win the World Series of Poker’s No-Limit Texas Hold ‘Em Main Event at the Rio hotel in Las Vegas. Gold’s $12 million prize was the most amount of money ever received in a single poker tournament.
“It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” Gold said on Saturday from his hotel room just two days after the final day of the tournament. “It’s still crazy. I was live on CNN this morning. I’ve been getting lots of attention.”
And Gold said if anybody could be prepared to deal with the media blitz, it is he. As a former agent to the stars, he has seen how fame affects people.
“Had this happened to me 10 years ago, it might have destroyed my life,” said the 36-year-old Gold. “But now I can deal with it.”
Gold, who heads the television production end of a production and marketing company, already had plenty of money before winning the $12 million. He said he would use the prize money to support his friends and his father, a New Jersey resident suffering from the final stages of Lou Gehrig’s disease who requires round-the-clock care. Robert Gold, a retired dentist, was diagnosed with the illness six years ago and given less than a year to live, but Jamie Gold said it has physically and financially drained his parents.
“They won’t tell me when they need money,” Gold said. “But now they finally have realized that it’s OK for me to help them. I am happy to help them and do whatever it takes to make my father comfortable and give him what he needs.”
When Gold won the tournament in the early hours of Friday morning after more than 13 hours of play at the final table, he called his father on his cell phone to tell him about the victory. Gold was not able to get his father on the line, but he did leave a message on the voicemail to tell him about the win.
“I just wanted him to know I love him and I made him proud,” Gold said. “He’s the one person I wish could have been there.”
About 30 of Gold’s friends and family members, including his mother who attended the final three days of the tournament, were able to be there. He said their support helped him to focus on the game.
Gold entered the tournament as part of the celebrity team sponsored by the Internet gambling site Bodog.com. He said he was not prepared to win the competition, but had a feeling he could do well.
The 10-day tournament was tiring. Gold kept himself awake and alert by consuming several bowls of blueberries, which he calls “brain food,” vitamin-enriched water and salmon. Gold said he slept only about four hours each night.
“It was crazy,” Gold said. “I didn’t sleep very much. You’re so in the zone that when you get back to the hotel it’s not easy to get to sleep because you’re thinking about the next day.”
On the third day of the tournament, Gold took the chip lead, and he never looked back. Each day, he increased the margin, entering the final table with an almost $8 million chip lead, an impressively large margin, over the nearest competitor.
“I don’t play my cards, I play the players,” Gold said. “It’s an interesting style of playing.”
And Gold showed just how he played the players at the final table, which aired for the first time ever live on ESPN Pay-Per-View. Of the eight opponents competing, Gold single handedly knocked out seven of them. His final ousting came against Paul Wasicka. He convinced the 25-year-old Colorado resident that his hand was better than Gold’s, and Wasicka put all his chips in the pot. But Gold had a pair of queens to Wasicka’s pocket 10s, and took the tournament victory.
Although Gold did not take up poker seriously until about two years ago, he said he has always been a card player. His grandfather was a gin rummy champion, and Gold learned to count through playing cards.
“It’s always been in my blood,” Gold said.
Gold became extremely interested in poker after seeing “Rounders,” the 1998 film starring Matt Damon in which Damon’s character, a reformed gambler, must play big stakes poker to help a friend pay off loan sharks.
Gold later met legendary poker champion Johnny Chan. The two-time World Series winner agreed to help Gold with his game in exchange for assistance with some entertainment projects.
“He really taught me about the game,” Gold said.
And now with Chan’s help, Gold has won an unprecedented amount of money playing poker. The record payout, nearly $10 million higher than the amount Chris Moneymaker won in his 2003 World Series win that inspired many people to get involved in poker tournaments, was due to the dramatic increase of participants. With an entry fee of $10,000 (Gold’s fee was covered by Bodog), there were 8,773 players competing in this year’s World Series Main Event, up more than 3,000 from last year.
Gold said Chan told him he was the most gifted player he had ever seen, and Gold said he is going to continue pursuing his goal to be the greatest person ever to play the game.
ESPN is replaying the tournament beginning on Aug. 22 at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. every Tuesday through Sept. 22.