Jamie Gold

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**Jamie Gold**
Jamie Gold at the 2006 World Series of Poker
Nickname(s)	None
Hometown	Malibu, California
World Series of Poker
Bracelet(s)	1
Money finishes	1
Highest ITM main event finish	Winner, 2006
World Poker Tour
Titles	None
Final tables	0
Money Finishes	0

Jamie M. Gold (born August 25, 1969)^[1] is an American television producer, poker tournament player, and formerly a talent agent, based in Malibu, California. He is the reigning World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion.

1 Early years
2 Entertainment business
3 Poker
- 3.1 2006 World Series of Poker
- 3.2 Winnings controversy
4 Notes
5 External link

[edit] Early years

Gold was born in New York City,^[2] and raised in Paramus, New Jersey, where he graduated from Paramus High School in 1987.^[3] He later earned a bachelor's degree from the State University of New York at Albany in 1991, and studied entertainment law at UCLA.^[4]

[edit] 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 agent before he was 21, but soon moved into management/production. Gold's alleged clients are James Gandolfini, David Strathairn, Donnie Wahlberg, Jimmy Fallon, Lucy Liu, Kristin Davis, Melora Walters, Felicity Huffman, Brandy and Natasha Henstridge. Gold is currently President of production at Buzznation.^[5]

An article on Defamer.com^[6] fueled a rumor that Gold did not represent certain stars, which was partially rebuffed by a letter from Gandolfini's current manager and reports of Gold and Gandolfini dining together.^[7]

There is some speculation as to whether Jamie Gold was at least part of the inspiration for fictional Hollywood agent Ari Gold, a character on HBO's Entourage. This character is most likely based on real life super agent Ari Emanuel, who represents actor Mark Wahlberg, the show's executive producer.^[8] However, Jamie did go to the same college as Entourage creator Doug Ellin, but they never attended SUNY at the same time and never knew each other. Jamie believes Ari Emanuel is the basis of the character. In the Entourage pilot, the character's name was actually Jamie Gold, but HBO executives changed it to Ari Gold because of Jamie.^[9]

[edit] Poker

Gold's mother Jane was a keen poker player, and his grandfather was a champion gin rummy player. Gold 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.^[10]^[11]

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 twelve months, Gold had seven more in the money finishes in California tournaments.

He is a neighbor of 2000 WSOP main event winner Chris Ferguson.^[4] Gold has confirmed that despite his poker success, he will continue to work his regular job, and just play poker in his spare time.^[12]

[edit] 2006 World Series of Poker

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.^[13] Gold eliminated 7 of his 8 opponents at the final table. Paul Wasicka eliminated the other finalist, Douglas Kim.^[11]

Gold defeated Paul Wasicka heads-up, earning a record $12,000,000 when in the final hand his Q♠ 9♣ made a pair with the board of Q♣ 8♥ 5♥. Wasicka held 10♥ 10♠ and did not improve with the A♦ on the turn and 4♣ on the river.

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.^[11]

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. Gold had compiled a solid record in big-stakes tournament poker and was mentored by poker legend and previous WSOP champion Johnny Chan.

Gold also received criticism for his tendency to tell opponents his actual hand during play, contrary to common poker 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.

As a result of the WSOP win, Gold's total live tournament winnings exceed a record $12,000,000, and he became the first person to eclipse the $10,000,000 mark in tournament poker.^[14]

Immediately after his WSOP win, Gold called his father, Dr. Robert I. Gold, DDS, who could not attend as he had suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease. Gold pledged to use his winnings to make his father more comfortable.^[11] His father died four months later on December 13, 2006.^[15]

[edit] Winnings controversy

Just prior to the 2006 WSOP, Bodog.com Entertainment 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 and on August 22, 2006, Chief District Court Judge Kathy Hardcastle froze the payment of the funds as part of the ongoing legal dispute between Gold and Leyser. ^[16] At a December court hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Roger L. Hunt rejected a motion by Gold's lawyers to lift an injunction set in September on the $6 million still at the tournament host, the Rio casino-hotel, and ordered the frozen funds be moved into an interest-bearing account. Hunt also indicated Leyser likely would win his claim to the $6 million. On February 7, 2007, it was reported that the parties had settled, without divulging the amount.^[17]

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. ^[18] This cited reason for dropping Gold has been called into question, however; Bodog has maintained its relationships with other popular US poker professionals like David Williams and Josh Arieh despite online poker's murky legal situation in the United States.