Tournament Trail Q and A -- Jamie GoldGold Speaks About Day 1 of the Irish Open and His Controversial Table Image |
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People love him or they hate him, but either way, Jamie Gold is written forever in poker history for winning the largest tournament — the 2006 World Series of Poker main event — for which he received $12 million. An interesting player at all fronts, he came to the feature table at the PaddyPowerPoker.com Irish Open 2009 on day 1 with a smile on his face and his foot firmly pressed on the accelerator. Card Player spoke to him as chips were counted and players made their way to unwind in preparation for day 2.
Rebecca McAdam: How did the first day of the Irish Open go for you?
Jamie Gold: It went very well. The first level, I was doing well and then I got pretty short for a while, and then I made a couple moves, and pulled off a couple of big bluffs. I stayed steady around 10,000 or 15,000 for most of the day. I was just waiting, I knew that if I ever got a little run, and I finally got a big hand — I hit a flush — and talked the guy into raising me. I reraised him and got him to make a really bad call with just one pair. That put me on about 25,000, and I just started rolling from there. I was the chip leader of the table when I came to the feature table, and once I have a big stack I can really push people around.
I did it very well until someone made a great call on me. I knew he didn’t have a great hand — he had second pair, and I thought I’d get him off of it, and I still had a double-gutter, I had eight outs, anyway. It was a great move on my part, and it was a really good call on his part. I didn’t think he’d call, but he called with jacks with an ace on the board. I made it look like I was playing the ace, but I guess it’s also pretty easy to call me because I bluff so much. So, I went back down to about 25,000, and built it back up to 40,000 and pulled off a couple of nice bluffs. I think I’m playing pretty well, not perfectly, not as well as I’ve ever played, but I think I did well enough. The average is 22,000, you start with 10,000, so 39,150 for the day is pretty good, you can’t ask for more than that.
RM: Do you like playing on the feature table?
JG: Yeah, it doesn’t make me nervous at all, and I don’t really play it up for television, because that’s me anyway, but everyone else I think plays it up for television, or becomes pretty frozen.
RM: You’re just being yourself then...
JG: I am. I feel like I can take advantage of a little of that nervousness, and I know that people don’t want to look stupid when they are on TV, and I don’t mind. I’m bluffing, you call me, that’s great, but people are very afraid to make a bad call, so I think I can pull off a lot more bluffs when it’s on a feature table, so I think that works to my advantage. Plus, it’s the only tournament in the world where they will allow me to talk about anything that’s in my head, so that really works for me. Nowhere else in the world but the Irish Open, and they made a point of telling me that. That’s how poker should be heads up, it doesn’t change the action and once I’m all in or they’re all in, what’s the difference? Why not just play online if you’re not allowed to talk! I understand if it’s more than heads up, but when it’s heads up ... that’s poker!
RM: Needless to say, you’re liking the Irish Open then?
JG: Loving it! I’m just a little upset that my two closest friends here, Ciaran O’Leary and Michael Greco are out. Michael, I had the pleasure of playing with on the table, and the gentleman who took me for dinner last night, Liam Flood — I busted him so that didn’t feel good at all.
RM: But that stays at the table...
JG: Well, now I can go see Ciaran and Michael and we’ll have some fun. I also love that you guys have a two o’clock start time and you never start on time. It’s the perfect tournament for me, because I love sleeping late, and everything’s a little slow, and you guys start everything late. I’m late naturally, so I love it.
RM: What do you think your table image is?
JG: I think people just call me no matter what because they feel like if they get busted out — “Hey, I got busted by the world champion!” so no big deal, and if they bust me they feel like, “Hey, I busted him!” So people usually love me or hate me, but very rarely do they not care at all, and when people don’t care, it’s the best to play against them because they have no preconceived notions about you, they have no inclinations towards you, but when I make a raise, I’ll get four callers. It’s almost impossible to win a tournament when everyone is calling you. You have to isolate, and it’s very difficult for me to isolate. I’m not complaining, I’d much rather be in the position I’m in than any other position, but it is very, very tough.
Right after I won, Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, and Chris Ferguson said, “Good luck trying to win another one, because everyone’s after you. It’s easier for them, because I’m known as the biggest bluffer, and they still had respect because they played somewhat standard poker, but for me, people believe I’m bluffing every single time. I get called no matter what, which is great, but then people get lucky on me, so again I’m not complaining, but I’ve had to figure out a completely different style. It takes a lot more for me to win. On the positive side, I get so many bad calls when I have the nuts. If the cards go other people’s way, it doesn’t mean they’re going to win the tournament, but if the cards go my way, I’m gonna win the tournament.
RM: Finally, what have you been doing, in general, since your big win?
JG: Mainly just charity events, I’ve done about 58 charity events, and that’s what I want to do with my life. I’ve now just recently decided to come back, because I’ve made a deal with a new sponsor and I owe it to them to travel around the world and front the brand. They also promised that they would give a portion of all the winnings and the earnings to the site to charity.
RM: It’s really nice to see poker players giving back, there has been a lot of that lately...
JG: I am, I just started the Jamie Gold Foundation with a good friend of mine in England, so we’re going to support a lot of great causes, so if there’s anything that you feel like needs support, we’re happy to consider it.
RM: Back to the Open — what’s the plan for day 2?
JG: Be the chip leader!
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