Jamie Gold
Jamie Gold is the most controversial personality of the professional poker world. Everyone knows him for his 2006 WSOP Main Event victory when he busted everyone out, including Allen Cunningham and Paul Wasicka at the final table. The fact alone that he was coached by Johnny Chan for the event would probably not have been enough to propel the amateur past the pros to the $12 million prize (which is to date the biggest prize ever awarded by a WSOP Main Event), but he also had lady luck backing him heavily.
Following the win, Gold didn't just take his $12 million and rode off into the sunset, he remained the center of media attention for some time to come.
Fresh off his win,
Bodog signed him as a member of their team of professional players. About the same time, Crispin Leyser, a partner of Jamie's, surfaced claiming that Gold had promised him half of whatever he'd win at the WSOP. Gold didn't want to cut Leyser a share, and the whole affair went to court. The money got blocked, and thus Gold missed out on a fortune in potential interest.
Bodog dropped him too, and rumors began to surface that the producer and talent agent wasn't exactly the kind of player he claimed to be. In different tournaments following his win, he did little to douse his critics by busting out early every time.
Whether Jamie Gold is a lucky opportunist or indeed a gifted professional is still debated today, and the question has all the makings of one that'll never gain a definite answer.
Born in 1969, in Kansas City, Jamie Gold's original name was Jamie M. Usher. After his mother divorced his natural father and moved to Manhattan to live with Dr. Robert Gold, his name was changed by court-order.
Jamie graduated from Paramus high-school, and earned a degree at the State University of New York in 1991. He began working in the entertainment industry at the age of 16, at J. Michael Bloom & Associates. At the age of 21, he was already a talent agent. Through his career, he represented actors like James Gandolfini, Luvy Liu, Donnie Wahlberg and Jimmy Fallon.
Gold did actually have a few tournament achievements before his WSOP win, so that does lend him some legitimacy. He began playing as a kid with his mother and grandfather who was a notorious gin-rummy player.
Jamie says the moment he decided he wanted to get serious about poker came when he got involved with Chris Ferguson and Johnny Chan on account of a television show he was producing. Chan began mentoring him, and sure enough, in 2005 Gold began playing in tournaments in California. In April 2005 he won $54k at the Bicycle Casino in a NL Texas Holdem tournament, and had seven more money finishes that year.
The fact that besides the bracelet won in 2006, he's also had 4 money finishes in different WSOP events also comes to support Jamie's claim that he is indeed a genuine poker player, and not an amateur who got lucky once.
Nowadays, Jamie is splitting his time between working as a TV producer and playing poker. In 2007, he returned to the WSOP Main Event to possibly defend his championship, but he got eliminated on day 1.
He's also taken part in several episodes of Poker After Dark, and in 2 seasons of High Stakes Poker.
He is heavily involved with charity tournaments and besides the WSOP's 'Ante up for Africa' he plans to organize a charity tournament to benefit those suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease.
Jamie Gold : Poker Player
