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with a field of 8,773,
it is truly a feat for the ages.
Gold, a former Hollywood
agent turned television producer from Malibu,
Calif., amassed a commanding chip lead starting
on Day 3 when he ended the day with $3.7 million
in chips. He went on to maintain that lead, ending
each subsequent day as the chip leader. An amateur
sponsored by Bodog.com, Gold sat down at the final
table with a whopping $26,650,000 in chips –
$8.88 million more than his nearest competitor.
Gold capitalized on his chip
lead in all situations. Over the course of the
14 hours of play on the final table, he eliminated
seven of his eight opponents, including top poker
pro Allen Cunningham.
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Jamie Gold's Path
to Glory
WSOP Main Event champion Jamie Gold
held the lead for the final four rounds
of the tournament, which lasted an
entire week.
End of
Day 4:
1st place Jamie Gold - $3,700,000
2nd place Max Reele - $2,358,000
End of
Day 5:
1st place Jamie Gold - $7,330,000
2nd place Eric Friberg - $5,905,000
End of
Day 6:
1st place Jamie Gold - $13,000,000
2nd place Eric Friberg - $7,735,000
End of
Day 7:
1st place Jamie Gold - $25,650,000
2nd place Allen Cunningham - $17,770,000
Final
Table:
1st place Jamie Gold - $88 million
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On winning poker’s
largest ever tournament and its prestigious bracelet
an elated Gold stated, “I won because of
the blueberries.” Gold was eluding to the
fact that he had been seen with a bowl of blueberries
on everyday he played. He had eaten blueberries
before his first day of play and didn’t
want to jinx himself by changing anything. So
blueberries it was, all the way to the championship.
Gold stirred up some controversy
in the poker world recently when he suggested
in an interview with Bodog Nation that he might
consider throwing the final table in order to
escape the burden of fame.
After his victory early Friday
morning at the Rio Casino & Resort, Gold responded
to questions about whether he actually thought
of dumping.
“No,” Gold asserted.
“No way. I wanted to win really bad. That’s
why I went after everybody the way that I did.”
He added: "At one point
it just hit me. I realized, the accomplishment
meant a lot to me and from that point on, I knew
I had to win it."
The big moment finally came
after a $1.7 million pre-flop raise by Paul Wasicka
was called by Gold. The flop came Q/8/5 and Wasicka
bet $1.5 million. Gold moved all in and Wasicka,
after much contemplation, called. Wasicka turned
over pocket 10s to which Gold answered with Q/9,
giving the Team Bodog player top pair. The turn
was an Ace, the river was a 4, and the bracelet
was Gold's.
Gold’s buy-in to the
Main Event was picked up on a hunch by Team Bodog,
which saw his skills and knew of his recent success.
"Jamie came to us through
our Hollywood connections," said Calvin Ayre,
Founder and CEO of Bodog.com. "We knew he
was a good player with some impressive tourney
results and that he was coached by Johnny Chan.
We thought he'd be a strong competitor but an
amazing run like this one we really can't call,
we did see his potential though."
More than 500 players qualified
to the various WSOP tournaments by playing poker
online at Bodog.com. Gold was among the 400 Team
Bodog players participating in the Main Event.
Originally from Paramus, N.J., the 36-year-old
former agent has represented a number of A-list
celebrities including James Gandolfini, Felicity
Huffman, Lucy Liu and Brandy. Gold quit being
an agent six months ago and is now the head of
production at Buzznation, a branded entertainment
media and production company based in Los Angeles.
Gold is currently in development on a branded
reality television series.
An avid poker player, Gold
grew up in a family of card players, with his
mother, Jane, a longtime poker player and his
grandfather a gin rummy champion. Gold plays close
to 40 hours a week in Los Angeles-area card rooms
and in the 15 months prior to the WSOP had earned
just under $100,000 in tournament winnings. Gold
has also had the opportunity to learn from one
of the game's biggest legends – 10-time
WSOP bracelet-holder Johnny Chan. The two men
met while working together on a poker television
concept. In exchange for Gold's assistance, Chan
promised to help him refine his game. Both Gold's
mother and Chan were at the WSOP cheering him
on, but with Chan literally standing behind him
throughout the entire final table, Gold had all
the support he needed to win.
"He believed in me,"
Gold said. "He told me I could win this."
But even with his poker pedigree
and legendary mentor nearby, the person who was
the source for Gold’s strength and motivation
throughout the two-week tournament could not be
in Las Vegas to watch him make history.
Gold's father, Dr. Robert
Gold, has ALS, better known as Lou Gehrig's Disease,
which makes him immobile. According to Gold, the
money he has won at the Main Event will go toward
making his father as comfortable as possible.
"He's not well and unable
to travel,'' said Gold of his 76-year-old father,
"This is all for him."
PHOTOS
(scenes from Jamie Gold's big moment, from top
left): Team Bodog's Jamie Gold raises his arms
after giving the most dominant WSOP Main Event
performance in recent history;
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