Jamie Gold is a multi-talented individual best known for his skilled victory at the 2006 World Series of Poker, taking down the Main Event for a whopping $12,000,000. Aside from his professional poker career, Jamie Gold is also a television producer with experience as a talent agent. Since his triumphant WSOP Main Event Bracelet win, Jamie Gold now juggles his time between playing poker, mostly in major live tournaments, and heading up the “Buzznation” entertainment company as president.

Born in Kansas City, Missouri on August 25, 1969 as Jamie M. Usher, he and his mother moved to Manhattan when he was just a boy. When Jamie’s mother remarried Dr. Robert Gold, she went through the courts to have his named legally changed to Jamie M. Gold. The family then moved to Paramus, New Jersey, where Jamie grew up and graduated Paramus High School in 1987. While attending the State University of New York in Albany, Gold earned a bachelors degree in 1991 before going on to UCLA to study Entertainment Law.

At this time, Jamie Gold had set his sights on the entertainment industry in California. By the age of 16, Jamie was employed as an intern at a talent agency, becoming a talent agent himself before he turned 21. Gold quickly moved his way up into the production/management industry. Jamie Gold’s impressive list of clientele includes James Gandolfini, Jimmy Fallon, Lucy Liu, Felicity Huffman, Donnie Wahlberg and others.

While in pursuit of such ambitious goals, Jamie Gold never really intended to become such a successful poker player, though he always had a love and strong instinct for the game. Jamie began playing poker as a young boy. His mother was a very skilled poker player herself, and his grandfather was a champion of Gin Rummy. One might say that from birth, a lucrative poker career was “in the cards” for Jamie Gold.

Jamie Gold never really pursued a major poker event until he met former WSOP champions Johnny Chan and Chris Moneymaker while working on a new television series. Ten-time WSOP Bracelet winner Johnny Chan became a poker mentor to Gold and, in 2005, he began entering poker tournaments on a regular basis. By April of the same year, Jamie Gold had earned his first major victory in the Stars and Stripes tournament at Bicycle Casino in California, pocketing $54,225. Gold earned another 7 cashes at California casinos over the following 12 months leading up to his WSOP championship.

Since late 2004, Jamie has finished in the money 15 times at live poker tournaments, including 2 first place victories and numerous final table finishes. With a single WSOP Bracelet under his belt, Jamie Gold has racked up a very impressive total poker career earning of $12,161,719.

Jamie Gold and the WSOP
Jamie Gold entered the 2006 WSOP under the ‘celebrity player’ label, but quickly made waves in the tournament by outwitting opponents one after another, outlasting all of the other ‘celebrity’ entrants. Four days into the Main Event, Gold held a strong chip-lead, which he maintained until the finish. After seven days into the competition, noted for his poise and calm demeanor at the tables, Gold was offered a contract to become a ‘professional’ poker player.

As it came down to the final table, aside from Allen Cunningham, Jamie Gold held more final table casino tournament finishes than any of the other players combined. Using the same aggressive style as he had throughout the WSOP Main Event, Jamie Gold sent 7 out of the 8 remaining players to the rails himself. Gold’s heads-up opponent, Paul Wasicka, removed the final competitor, Douglas Kim.

In the last hand, Jamie’s Qs-9c outlasted Wasicka’s Pocket-10s by pairing the Queen on the Flop, Qc-8h-5h. The Turn and River, Ad and 4c offered no help for Wasicka, giving Jamie Gold his first WSOP championship and Bracelet, along with a record-breaking prize purse of $12,000,000.

Jamie Gold defended his title at the 2007 WSOP, but his luck fell well short of the previous year. Gold cashed twice that year, taking 44th position in Event #45 NL Hold’em Short Handed for $9,238, followed by an 84th place finish in Event #52 NL Hold’em for $4,840.

Jamie Gold’s Other Achievements
Jamie Gold started most of his poker success in California casino poker tournaments. His first major tournament cash came in a World Poker Tour (WPT) event in the Tour’s 3rd Season. The Legends of Poker Limit E.O. World Championship saw Gold finish in 12th position for a small prize of $985.

Gold’s ‘in the money’ finishes simply got larger and larger from that first profitable victory. The Stars and Stripes tournament at California’s Bicycle Casino was Gold’s next lucrative stop, earning 3 cashes throughout the event. The first came as a $1,060 prize for finishing 9th in the early rounds of NL Hold’em competition. Gold then triumphed in 1st place at a later NL Hold’em event, earning him $54,225. Another $240 made it’s way into Jamie’s pocket by finishing 18th in PL Hold’em.

Gold completed a few more in the money finishes leading throughout 2005 and early 2006 leading up to his famed WSOP championship, including two decent cashes at Larry Flynt’s Grand Slam of Poker 2005, and a 2nd place win in the Sport f Kings tournament on April 7, 2006, awarding $18,400.

Jamie Gold’s most recent cash was at the first annual World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) in September of 2007. Gold finish 35th overall in the NL Hold’em Championship, earning a respectable $50,898 for his skilled efforts.

Jamie Gold Goes to Court
There was a huge controversy over Jamie Gold’s $12 million victory, concerning who the prize money belonged to. The ordeal had nothing to do with the WSOP itself, but rather an agreement Gold had made with Crispin Leyser prior to the event.

As the story goes… Gold had made a deal with Bodog Entertainment to help bring celebrities onto the poker site, then made another deal with Crispin Leyser to assist him in this task by giving him half of whatever he won in the 2006 WSOP Main Event. When the tournament ended, Gold backed out of the deal, deciding to keep the entire $12,000,000 for himself.

Leyser took up the issue in court on August 22, 2006, opening a lawsuit against Jamie Gold. The court judge froze the prize money, allowing Gold to pick up only half of his winnings from the tournament. Gold tried to have he injunction lifted in September of 2006, but was denied. The judge instead moved the remaining fund from the Rio-casino to an interest-bearing account until the case was settled.

Bodog Entertainment cut off its working relationship in January of 2005, followed by Gold and Leyser coming to an agreement on February 7th. The amount agreed upon to settle is not known.

Jamie Gold Outside of Poker
At the age of 39, Jamie Gold resides in Malibu, California, unmarried and with no children. Jamie’s hobbies include his television production job, listening to live music and eating great food.