Jamie Gold
Encyclopedia
Jamie M. Gold is an American
television producer
, a talent agent
, and poker
player, based in Malibu, California. He is known for winning the 2006 World Series of Poker
(WSOP) Main Event and currently divides his time between his activities as president of production for the entertainment company, Buzznation and poker competition, primarily major tournaments.
as Jamie M. Usher and moved to Manhattan
as a young child with his mother. His name was changed by court order to Jamie M. Gold following his mother's divorce and remarriage to Dr. Robert Gold. The family moved to Paramus
, New Jersey
where Gold was raised by his mother and her second husband. He graduated from Paramus High School
in 1987. He later earned a bachelor's degree
from the State University of New York at Albany
in 1991, and studied entertainment law
at UCLA
.
before he was 21, but soon moved into management/production. Gold's clients have included Jimmy Fallon
and Lucy Liu
.
player, and his grandfather was a champion gin rummy
player. Gold's most serious efforts to improve his recreational poker exploits came about when he began working with former WSOP main event winners Johnny Chan
and Chris Moneymaker
on an upcoming television show, and Chan began to mentor Gold in poker. In 2005, Gold began regularly playing in poker tournaments. In April 2005 at the Bicycle Casino
, he won his first major no limit
Texas hold 'em
tournament, earning $54,225. Over the next 12 months, Gold had seven more in the money finishes in California tournaments. A neighbor of 2000 WSOP
main event winner Chris Ferguson
, Gold has said in numerous interviews that Ferguson was one of the few pros to endorse his poker style during the 2006 main event tournament, which he eventually won. While many pros criticized Gold's play in the later stages of the tournament, Ferguson urged him to stick with his own perfected style as he progressed deep into the money. Gold favored pressuring all of the players at the table especially when playing in position (being among the last to act in a betting round). Bluff magazine, a major poker trade publication has analyzed Gold’s winning poker strategies as follows: “He forced his tablemates to risk their entire stack time after time. If they reraised him, he either knew they were holding the nuts and folded, or he sniffed out a bluff and forced them all in,” thus "he transformed this strategy into an art form."
At the 2006 WSOP
, Gold maintained a significant chip lead from Day 4 onwards to win the World Series of Poker Main Event (No Limit Texas hold 'em, $10,000 buy-in), outlasting 8,772 other players. Excluding 4th place finisher Allen Cunningham
, Gold had more casino tournament final table finishes than the rest of his final table opponents combined. Gold eliminated 7 of his 8 opponents at the final table. Gold defeated Paul Wasicka
heads-up, earning a record $12,000,000 when in the final hand his made a pair with the board of . Wasicka held and did not improve with the on the turn and on the river. Gold won the event despite earlier saying that he would prefer to finish second as he felt uncomfortable with the idea of being famous. Gold ate blueberries
during the play of the 2006 WSOP main event final table and joked in a post-tournament interview that the blueberries were "brain food" and the reason he won. Gold's WSOP win was marked by an uncanny ability to goad his opponents into either calling his bets when he had an unbeatable hand or folding to him when he was weak. He consistently told his opponents that he was weak or strong, telling the truth sometimes, and sometimes lying, with the net result of successfully deceiving his opponents most of the time. Prior to the 2006 WSOP Main Event, Gold had compiled a solid record in tournament competition, using lessons learned from poker legend and previous two time WSOP main event winner and owner of 10 WSOP bracelets, Johnny Chan
.
Gold's "table talk", was both an asset and a source of criticism for his tendency to tell opponents his actual hand during play, contrary to WSOP rules. In one case at the final table, Gold actually flashed one of his hole cards to an opponent (a face card), creating enough uncertainty that his opponent folded the better hand. However, Gold was never penalized for any rules infraction. Prior to his elimination in the 2007 WSOP, Gold was issued a warning for his tactics. As of the end of 2008, with just 13 in the money tournament finishes and only two wins, Gold's total live tournament winnings exceed a record $12,100,000, and he was the first person to eclipse the $10,000,000 mark in tournament poker. Most of his tournament winnings have come at the WSOP, where he has amassed $12,067,292 in cashes. Immediately after his WSOP win, Gold called his stepfather, Dr. Robert I. Gold, who could not attend as he had suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease
. Gold pledged to use his winnings to make his step father more comfortable. His stepfather died four months later on December 13, 2006.
and Gold entered into a business relationship when Gold agreed to find celebrities willing to play in the main event under the Bodog banner in exchange for a paid entry into the main event. Gold partnered with Crispin Leyser to help with this task in exchange for half of Gold's winnings, according to Leyser. After Gold won, Leyser says that Gold reneged on the deal and had decided to keep the entire $12 million prize. Leyser sued Gold on August 22, 2006 which resulted in Chief U.S. District Court Judge Kathy Hardcastle issuing a restraining order which prevented Gold from collecting $6 million of his winnings from Rio Hotel and Casino before the first hearing of the lawsuit on December 1, 2006. At the December court hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Roger L. Hunt rejected a motion by Gold's lawyers to lift the restraining order on the $6 million and ordered the frozen funds be moved into an interest-bearing account, saying that the "likelihood to prevail" lay with Leyser. Gold did a radio interview on Rounders the Poker Show following his Main Event win where he mentioned his deal with Leyser. It was later entered into evidence for the lawsuit. On February 6, 2007, Leyser and Gold released a joint statement stating they had settled the matter outside of court. The amount of the settlement was not disclosed. On January 25, 2007, Bodog ended their business relationship with Gold, citing their decision to cease all offline marketing initiatives in the U.S., and instead refocus their efforts on growing their entertainment brand in Europe and Asia. Despite that reason for ending their business relationship, Bodog still retained David Williams
, Josh Arieh
, and Evelyn Ng
as Team Bodog members.
episodes of NBC's
Poker After Dark
and in season 3 and 4 of GSN’s High Stakes Poker
, Gold returned to defend his title at the 2007 WSOP, but was eliminated on the first day. He had more success in the 2007 WSOP Europe, where he finished 35th in the main event. Gold has also participated in numerous poker tournaments that have been designed primarily to benefit charitable causes. Allowing himself to be auctioned off, making special appearances, or by purchasing buy-ins, Gold has been involved with a wide variety of causes, including WSOP “Ante Up For Africa”, Annie Duke
's charity poker tournament, and a few others. He has also mentioned in several recent interviews his plans to create a charity poker tournament to benefit people affected with Lou Gehrig’s disease
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television producer
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
, a talent agent
Talent agent
A talent agent, or booking agent, is a person who finds jobs for actors, authors, film directors, musicians, models, producers, professional athletes, writers and other people in various entertainment businesses. Having an agent is not required, but does help the artist in getting jobs...
, and poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
player, based in Malibu, California. He is known for winning the 2006 World Series of Poker
2006 World Series of Poker
The 2006 World Series of Poker began on June 25, 2006 with "satellite" events, with regular play commencing on June 26 with the annual Casino Employee event, and the Tournament of Champions held on June 28 and 29...
(WSOP) Main Event and currently divides his time between his activities as president of production for the entertainment company, Buzznation and poker competition, primarily major tournaments.
Early years
Gold was born in Kansas City, MissouriKansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
as Jamie M. Usher and moved to Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
as a young child with his mother. His name was changed by court order to Jamie M. Gold following his mother's divorce and remarriage to Dr. Robert Gold. The family moved to Paramus
Paramus, New Jersey
Paramus is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 26,342. A suburb of New York City, Paramus is located between 15–20 miles northwest of Midtown Manhattan and approximately west of Upper Manhattan.Paramus is one of...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
where Gold was raised by his mother and her second husband. He graduated from Paramus High School
Paramus High School
Paramus High School is an American four-year comprehensive public high school, located in Paramus, New Jersey, operating as part of the Paramus Public Schools...
in 1987. He later earned a bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
from the State University of New York at Albany
University at Albany, The State University of New York
The State University of New York at Albany, also known as University at Albany, State University of New York, SUNY Albany or simply UAlbany, is a public university located in Albany, Guilderland, and East Greenbush, New York, United States; is the senior campus of the State University of New York ...
in 1991, and studied entertainment law
Entertainment law
Entertainment law or media law is a term for a mix of more traditional categories of law with a focus on providing legal services to the entertainment industry. The principal areas of Entertainment Law overlap substantially with the well-known and conventional field of intellectual property law...
at UCLA
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
.
Entertainment business
Gold began his career in the entertainment business at 16 as an intern at the J. Michael Bloom & Associates Talent Agency. He became a talent agentTalent agent
A talent agent, or booking agent, is a person who finds jobs for actors, authors, film directors, musicians, models, producers, professional athletes, writers and other people in various entertainment businesses. Having an agent is not required, but does help the artist in getting jobs...
before he was 21, but soon moved into management/production. Gold's clients have included Jimmy Fallon
Jimmy Fallon
James Thomas "Jimmy" Fallon, Jr. is an American actor, comedian, singer, musician and television host. He currently hosts Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, a late-night talk show that airs Monday through Friday on NBC...
and Lucy Liu
Lucy Liu
Lucy Alexis Liu is an American actress and film producer. She became known for playing the role of the vicious and ill-mannered Ling Woo in the television series Ally McBeal , and has also appeared in several Hollywood films including Charlie's Angels, Chicago, Kill Bill, and Kung Fu Panda.-Early...
.
Poker
Gold's interest in poker began as a youngster. His mother, Jane, was a keen pokerPoker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
player, and his grandfather was a champion gin rummy
Gin rummy
Gin rummy, or simply gin, is a two-player card game created in 1909 by Elwood T. Baker and his son C. Graham Baker. According to John Scarne, Gin evolved from 18th-century Whiskey Poker and was created with the intention of being faster than standard rummy, but less spontaneous than knock...
player. Gold's most serious efforts to improve his recreational poker exploits came about when he began working with former WSOP main event winners Johnny Chan
Johnny Chan (poker player)
Johnny Chan rather than his Chinese birth name. born in Guangzhou, China in 1957) is a Chinese American professional poker player. He has won 10 World Series of Poker bracelets, including 1987 and 1988 World Series of Poker main events consecutively....
and Chris Moneymaker
Chris Moneymaker
Christopher Bryan Moneymaker is an American poker player who won the main event at the 2003 World Series of Poker . His 2003 win is said to have revolutionized poker because he was the first person to become a world champion by qualifying at an online poker site...
on an upcoming television show, and Chan began to mentor Gold in poker. In 2005, Gold began regularly playing in poker tournaments. In April 2005 at the Bicycle Casino
Bicycle Casino
The Bicycle Casino is the world's second largest poker cardroom.Founded by George Hardie Sr. in 1984, located in Bell Gardens, California, the Bicycle Casino offers a wide variety of poker games and limits, as well as pai gow poker, panguingue and California blackjack.Financing to build the casino...
, he won his first major no limit
Betting (poker)
In the game of poker, the play largely centers on the act of betting, and as such, a protocol has been developed to speed up play, lessen confusion, and increase security while playing...
Texas hold 'em
Texas hold 'em
Texas Hold 'em is a variation of the standard card game of poker. The game consists of two cards being dealt face down to each player and then five community cards being placed face-up by the dealer—a series of three then two additional single cards , with...
tournament, earning $54,225. Over the next 12 months, Gold had seven more in the money finishes in California tournaments. A neighbor of 2000 WSOP
2000 World Series of Poker
-Preliminary events:-Main Event:There were 512 entrants to the main event. Each paid $10,000 to enter the tournament.Ferguson had a 10 to 1 chip lead when starting his heads-up vs Cloutier. After a see-saw battle, Ferguson decided to call Cloutier's AQ all-in with his own A9...
main event winner Chris Ferguson
Chris Ferguson
Christopher Philip Ferguson is an American professional poker player. He has won five World Series of Poker events, including the 2000 WSOP Main Event, and the 2008 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. On September 20, 2011, the U.S...
, Gold has said in numerous interviews that Ferguson was one of the few pros to endorse his poker style during the 2006 main event tournament, which he eventually won. While many pros criticized Gold's play in the later stages of the tournament, Ferguson urged him to stick with his own perfected style as he progressed deep into the money. Gold favored pressuring all of the players at the table especially when playing in position (being among the last to act in a betting round). Bluff magazine, a major poker trade publication has analyzed Gold’s winning poker strategies as follows: “He forced his tablemates to risk their entire stack time after time. If they reraised him, he either knew they were holding the nuts and folded, or he sniffed out a bluff and forced them all in,” thus "he transformed this strategy into an art form."
2006 World Series of Poker
2006 World Series of Poker
The 2006 World Series of Poker began on June 25, 2006 with "satellite" events, with regular play commencing on June 26 with the annual Casino Employee event, and the Tournament of Champions held on June 28 and 29...
, Gold maintained a significant chip lead from Day 4 onwards to win the World Series of Poker Main Event (No Limit Texas hold 'em, $10,000 buy-in), outlasting 8,772 other players. Excluding 4th place finisher Allen Cunningham
Allen Cunningham
Allen Cunningham is an American professional poker player.Cunningham studied civil engineering at UCLA before dropping out of school to play poker professionally. At the age of 18, he began playing at in Indian casinos...
, Gold had more casino tournament final table finishes than the rest of his final table opponents combined. Gold eliminated 7 of his 8 opponents at the final table. Gold defeated Paul Wasicka
Paul Wasicka
Paul J. Wasicka is a professional poker player, based in Las Vegas, Nevada who was the runner-up at the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event and the winner of the 2007 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship....
heads-up, earning a record $12,000,000 when in the final hand his made a pair with the board of . Wasicka held and did not improve with the on the turn and on the river. Gold won the event despite earlier saying that he would prefer to finish second as he felt uncomfortable with the idea of being famous. Gold ate blueberries
Blueberry
Blueberries are flowering plants of the genus Vaccinium with dark-blue berries and are perennial...
during the play of the 2006 WSOP main event final table and joked in a post-tournament interview that the blueberries were "brain food" and the reason he won. Gold's WSOP win was marked by an uncanny ability to goad his opponents into either calling his bets when he had an unbeatable hand or folding to him when he was weak. He consistently told his opponents that he was weak or strong, telling the truth sometimes, and sometimes lying, with the net result of successfully deceiving his opponents most of the time. Prior to the 2006 WSOP Main Event, Gold had compiled a solid record in tournament competition, using lessons learned from poker legend and previous two time WSOP main event winner and owner of 10 WSOP bracelets, Johnny Chan
Johnny Chan
Johnny Chan rather than his Chinese birth name. born in Guangzhou, China in 1957) is a Chinese American professional poker player. He has won 10 World Series of Poker bracelets, including 1987 and 1988 World Series of Poker main events consecutively....
.
Gold's "table talk", was both an asset and a source of criticism for his tendency to tell opponents his actual hand during play, contrary to WSOP rules. In one case at the final table, Gold actually flashed one of his hole cards to an opponent (a face card), creating enough uncertainty that his opponent folded the better hand. However, Gold was never penalized for any rules infraction. Prior to his elimination in the 2007 WSOP, Gold was issued a warning for his tactics. As of the end of 2008, with just 13 in the money tournament finishes and only two wins, Gold's total live tournament winnings exceed a record $12,100,000, and he was the first person to eclipse the $10,000,000 mark in tournament poker. Most of his tournament winnings have come at the WSOP, where he has amassed $12,067,292 in cashes. Immediately after his WSOP win, Gold called his stepfather, Dr. Robert I. Gold, who could not attend as he had suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , also referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a form of motor neuron disease caused by the degeneration of upper and lower neurons, located in the ventral horn of the spinal cord and the cortical neurons that provide their efferent input...
. Gold pledged to use his winnings to make his step father more comfortable. His stepfather died four months later on December 13, 2006.
Winnings controversy
Just prior to the 2006 WSOP, Bodog.com EntertainmentBodog
Bodog is an online entertainment brand launched in 1994 by Calvin Ayre.Originally the company traded at but the brand was later divested and intellectual property rights were assigned to and consolidated in BodogBrand.com...
and Gold entered into a business relationship when Gold agreed to find celebrities willing to play in the main event under the Bodog banner in exchange for a paid entry into the main event. Gold partnered with Crispin Leyser to help with this task in exchange for half of Gold's winnings, according to Leyser. After Gold won, Leyser says that Gold reneged on the deal and had decided to keep the entire $12 million prize. Leyser sued Gold on August 22, 2006 which resulted in Chief U.S. District Court Judge Kathy Hardcastle issuing a restraining order which prevented Gold from collecting $6 million of his winnings from Rio Hotel and Casino before the first hearing of the lawsuit on December 1, 2006. At the December court hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Roger L. Hunt rejected a motion by Gold's lawyers to lift the restraining order on the $6 million and ordered the frozen funds be moved into an interest-bearing account, saying that the "likelihood to prevail" lay with Leyser. Gold did a radio interview on Rounders the Poker Show following his Main Event win where he mentioned his deal with Leyser. It was later entered into evidence for the lawsuit. On February 6, 2007, Leyser and Gold released a joint statement stating they had settled the matter outside of court. The amount of the settlement was not disclosed. On January 25, 2007, Bodog ended their business relationship with Gold, citing their decision to cease all offline marketing initiatives in the U.S., and instead refocus their efforts on growing their entertainment brand in Europe and Asia. Despite that reason for ending their business relationship, Bodog still retained David Williams
David Williams (card player)
David Anthony Williams is a professional poker player and popular Magic: The Gathering player.-Personal life:Williams was born in Arlington, Texas. He briefly attended Princeton University before switching to study economics at Southern Methodist University...
, Josh Arieh
Josh Arieh
Joshua Arieh is an American professional poker player. Arieh has been competing in poker competitions since 1999...
, and Evelyn Ng
Evelyn Ng
Evelyn Ng is a Canadian professional poker player. She currently lives in Las Vegas, Nevada.-Early Life:...
as Team Bodog members.
Post 2006 Win: a dual career
Following his success at the 2006 WSOP, Gold said he would split his time between business and poker pursuits. In addition to television production deals in the hopper and Gold's frequent appearances on televised poker shows includingepisodes of NBC's
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
Poker After Dark
Poker After Dark
Poker After Dark was an hour-long poker television program on NBC. The show made its debut on January 1, 2007, and was cancelled as another victim of the "Black Friday" criminal case due to the show's sponsorship by Full Tilt Poker, one of that case's defendants. on September 23, 2011 For its first...
and in season 3 and 4 of GSN’s High Stakes Poker
High Stakes Poker
High Stakes Poker is a cash game poker television program broadcast by the cable television network GSN in the United States. The poker variant played on the show is no limit Texas hold 'em. It premiered on January 16, 2006 and ended on December 17, 2007 and it returns back on March 1, 2009 and is...
, Gold returned to defend his title at the 2007 WSOP, but was eliminated on the first day. He had more success in the 2007 WSOP Europe, where he finished 35th in the main event. Gold has also participated in numerous poker tournaments that have been designed primarily to benefit charitable causes. Allowing himself to be auctioned off, making special appearances, or by purchasing buy-ins, Gold has been involved with a wide variety of causes, including WSOP “Ante Up For Africa”, Annie Duke
Annie Duke
Annie Duke is a professional poker player and author who won a bracelet in the 2004 World Series of Poker $2,000 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better Event and was the winner of the 2004 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions, where she earned the Winner-Take-All prize of $2,000,000...
's charity poker tournament, and a few others. He has also mentioned in several recent interviews his plans to create a charity poker tournament to benefit people affected with Lou Gehrig’s disease
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , also referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a form of motor neuron disease caused by the degeneration of upper and lower neurons, located in the ventral horn of the spinal cord and the cortical neurons that provide their efferent input...
.
| Year | Tournament | Prize (US$) |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 2006 World Series of Poker The 2006 World Series of Poker began on June 25, 2006 with "satellite" events, with regular play commencing on June 26 with the annual Casino Employee event, and the Tournament of Champions held on June 28 and 29... |
$10,000 No Limit Hold 'em Texas hold 'em Texas Hold 'em is a variation of the standard card game of poker. The game consists of two cards being dealt face down to each player and then five community cards being placed face-up by the dealer—a series of three then two additional single cards , with... World Championship |
$12,000,000 |