An Insider's Look at the World Series of Poker Champion

Jamie Gold no longer needs an introduction. The former Hollywood agent turned television producer has been the talk of the poker world since he ripped through a field of more than 8,000 players on his way to poker immortality. Winning a whopping $12 million first-place prize at the World Series of Poker and the coveted championship bracelet will have that kind of effect for a person.



Plenty has been written and even more has been said about this controversial figure. As a Hollywood insider and coming to the poker world from Malibu, it seemed somewhat perfect that Gold would be playing under a sponsorship from Bodog.com, which boasts itself as the "celebrity's choice" of online poker. It also seemed perfect that this focused individual would come out of nowhere to hijack the world's biggest and most profitable poker tournament.



Driven by an insatiable need to win and the hope of winning a title in honor of his ailing father, who is suffering from ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease), Gold repeatedly capitalized on his table image and took challenger after challenger to the cleaners.



Using acting skills typically found in his former clients, such as James Gandolfini, Kristin Davis, and Lucy Liu, Gold managed to fool the field while always telling the truth. The more he spoke, the more people disbelieved. Having worked in an industry where the truth is sometimes bent, Gold used his strengths of reading people and judging character, and seemed to recognize weaknesses in opposing players, pouncing whenever he had a chance. Many people will probably be surprised to know that despite his image of being a Hollywood guy, Gold doesn't really care for the spotlight and really wants to be considered a poker player, not just a successful television producer and former celebrity agent.



Whether you love him or hate him, many people are mystified right now about Jamie Gold, and he has kept pretty quiet up to this point, but not even a champion can avoid the press. So, facing up to the eventual press meeting, Gold sat down with Card Player recently to answer questions about his life, his path to victory, rumors surrounding his past and present, and the things that make him tick.



Made in Gold


Jamie Gold's 2006 win has to be considered one of the most dominant victories in WSOP history. Taking on all challengers, Gold played a hyperaggressive style that featured a lot of bluffing, which equally amazed and frustrated players from both the online and live-tournament communities. Uncharacteristically bold, Gold relentlessly attacked contender after contender, never relinquishing the chip lead he took on day three. Here are Gold's thoughts on his impromptu run at poker history.



Michael Friedman: Can you walk readers through the ups and downs of the tournament?



Jamie Gold: The ups and downs came when I was the chip leader. From day three on, I was the chip leader, and I ran into some really tough table assignments. One day, I got assigned to a table where I covered the whole table, meaning that collectively, I had more chips than the entire table. At this table, I showed no fear and bullied people around. I knew I could lose three or four big hands and still be a big chip leader. That was part of the ups.



The downs came when I got the worst seat assignment possible. Four of the top 10 chip leaders ended up at the same table with roughly 1,000 players left in the tournament. We all just looked at each other and thought how ridiculous it was. It was poor timing and bad luck. I was sandwiched between three or four people who had nearly as many chips as I did. Those were the downs.



MF: Is there a hand that will be shown on ESPN that will have message boards talking about why Jamie Gold is a world-class player?



JG: I don't think it's any one hand, but I think the hand that is going to be the most misunderstood is the one in which Allen Cunningham called me with ace high. I lost. People said, "Wow, what a bad play he made."



But if you're a poker player and you realize that I put in $2 million because I knew he had only ace high, I played it perfectly. I didn't risk too much. I didn't know what he had, and I knew that I had nothing. Of course, there was a chance that he could call with a pair, so I didn't risk that much. Cunningham just made a better call with his cards. It doesn't discount my read or my play; he just outplayed me in that hand. That was a great play and an awesome read on Allen's part. Even though I lost the hand, I still made a smart play.



MF: Allen Cunningham was favored by many online sites to win the main event. Tell readers about your battles with him.



JG: I basically called Allen Cunningham's hands every single time. The only one in which you could say I made a mistake was when I had the flush and he had the nut flush. That was tough. I was in the small blind and he was in the big blind. I hit my flush on the river and he bet $2 million into a $6 million pot. It wasn't a bad call on my part, but my instincts told me that he had me beat. That was the longest I took on any hand, probably close to 12 minutes. I knew I was beat, but I wanted to see his cards, so I paid him off anyway.



Everyone said that he was going to be my toughest opponent. I thought he would be the most solid opponent and the hardest guy to get his chips in the middle. He's not as tough to read as some of the other guys. If you notice, I read him really well and constantly put him all in, telling him he had nothing. He told me I was right.



MF: How did this influence your play?



JG: I decided that I was never going to play my cards. Everyone was worried about his cards and chip stacks. Nobody was playing me. Nobody was trying to figure me out. They may have thought they were, but they were more focused on their hands and chips. I just focused on everybody else, and I think that is what won the tournament for me. I was playing the players while everyone else was playing the cards.



MF: Tell us about your table image. You seem to revel in being considered a "luck-box donkey."



JG: I loved it. People are really funny. I can't imagine anyone who has won a tournament anywhere near this size not getting lucky a couple of times. There's no question, you have to. If people are saying that this was all luck, I have a feeling I'm going to be the luckiest guy for a long time. I work really hard to be a very good player. I'm not the best player, by any stretch. I don't have as much experience as the other players and haven't seen as many hands or been in as many situations as some players.



As far as my table image goes, I think I was the guy who was constantly telling the truth, and no one would believe me. It was beautiful. If I flopped a set, I would say, "I have a monster hand. If you want to lose all your chips, put them in the middle." For some reason, people would put them all in and lose their chips.



When I was bluffing, it worked the same way. I probably bluffed more in this tournament than anyone has in a major poker event. I was bluffing probably 80 percent of the time. I told them almost every time I was bluffing that I had nothing, and told them they would have to call me. They just threw away their cards. For whatever reason, I had this influence on people. I just told them the truth and they did the exact opposite, probably because no one has experienced a poker player continually telling the truth. I told the truth every single time, and every single time, they did exactly what I wanted them to do. No one ever believed me. I would say, "I told you I was bluffing. When I tell you next time, you really should listen to me." The next time, they would think I was going to trick them, and they played right into my hands.

MF: Did this attitude win you any friends at the tables?



JG: Maybe people are saying negative things about me now, but everything I heard from players during the event was positive. Along the way, I thought people really came to like me because I was telling the truth. I'm a very social person and I really like people. I think I made some friends along the way. A lot of people have e-mailed me and said that I was really kind and really gracious. To be honest, half the time I didn't want to knock those people out. I know the tournament is supposed to be about that, but sometimes I didn't have the killer instinct. I really wanted a lot of those guys to make it further in the tournament. Take Lee Cort, for example. We play in the same home game together in L.A. I didn't want to knock him out. I wanted him to be in it.



MF: Explain how your attack-first method of play differed from traditional thoughts on managing a big stack.



JG: Every pro will tell you that I wasn't playing the chip lead the way I should. When you have a big lead, you're supposed to sit back and coast. I could have sat back, especially at the final table. I would have had close to $50 million, and the person in second would have had only about $30 million, so I still would have played it out in the end. Both Phil Hellmuth and Doyle Brunson came over and told me to hang back. There was no way I was going to follow that mindset. I went and did it my way, knocking out 10 to 20 people each day. It's not the way you're supposed to play, but it worked real well for me.



MF: Did acting like the Terminator hurt your reputation in any way?



JG: No. I think I actually bonded with those guys in a positive way. I don't see how any of them could resent me for it. I didn't trick them the way most poker players try to trick their way to victory. The only time I thought I tricked anybody with table talk was on the last hand, and I feel as though I may have gone too far, but I really hadn't slept in 10 days and I just wanted to get it over with. I shouldn't have used the phrase, "Hey, do you have the balls?" There was no reason to say that, but I was in the moment and got caught up in it. I was exhausted, and knew I had the best hand. I was trying to do whatever I could to get him to call.



MF: Tell readers about taking the chip lead and whether you had any inclination that you would end up winning.



JG: I never think that far ahead. Maybe at the end of the day, it's hard not to dream about making the final table. I plan on making the final table, but I really try not to focus on it. The only thing I focus on is the table that I am at. Being the chip lead didn't mean much to me. What did matter was that I knew that I was never in jeopardy of being out of the tournament. Survival is so important. Once I had the chip lead, it was obvious I was in a good position. All I ever want is to be the chip leader at the table. It's not for my ego, it's not so that I can feel powerful. I'm playing a game, and the rules of the game are that if you have the most chips on the table, you can't lose. From day one, I was never in jeopardy of being out of the tournament.



MF: How difficult was it to play a large stack throughout the majority of the tournament?



JG: Before this tournament, if you asked the people close to me what my greatest poker skill is, they would have said playing a short stack. I was never known as a big-stack player. My style was created specifically to deal with this event. It just turned out that I had a big stack, and I played it really well. I learned to play big-stack poker in this tournament. I was so focused that I figured out how to maximize the potential of my table.



MF: Do you consider yourself a world-class player?



JG: I don't know if I'm a world-class player. I know that for those eight days, I played as well as anybody played in that tournament, and could definitely compete with the best players in the world.



MF: Who was the toughest player you encountered?



JG: Daniel Negreanu. I couldn't beat him. He's maybe the best player in the world. He has an unbelievable amount of experience. He's seen people do what I've done before. I tried to bluff him, and he came right back at me. He outplayed me.



He's just awesome.



MF: Some pros questioned your playing style. How did you feel about that?



JG: I don't feel like I should have to defend my style of play. That's who I am; that's how I play. I'm proud of the way I played. I don't believe that it's the only way you can win, but it's not like I squeaked by. I won pretty decisively, and by a pretty large margin. The fact that my chips were never at risk after day one says a little about my play. I don't believe other people should necessarily play that way; it's my style, and it's different than anybody else I have ever seen. I didn't plan on playing that way.



I played that way because I was playing against the players at the table, each and every day. I believe it's really the other players who created my style. My style is based on my need to play against the other players at the table. There are plenty of times when people will say that I don't play a particular style, but that's because I play differently all the time.



MF: How special was it to have your mom on hand for the win?



JG: It was so special. Having her and my friends supporting me meant the world. It was amazing. It probably was more exciting for her than it was for me. My head was in the game, and since I play poker all the time, it was just another game to me. It had nothing to do with the World Series of Poker in that game. My mom got much more pleasure out of it than I did, I think.

Striking Gold



Growing up on the East Coast, Jamie Gold learned to be a success by taking risks that few others would contemplate. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, he was raised by his dentist father and teacher mother in New York City until he was 10. There, Gold was introduced early on to the world of professional cards by his grandfather, who was a gin rummy champion. According to Gold, it was his grandfather's love of cards that sparked his future interest in poker.



"We didn't play a lot of poker at the house when I was young. I grew up with my grandparents in my home, which was amazing. People think that it must have been tough, but it really was great. Your grandparents are constant love, not like your parents, who can get mad quickly. I would sit on my grandfather's lap and watch him play gin rummy. All he did when he wasn't working was play gin. To this day, my mother reminds me that when I was 2 years old, I was counting really fast. I would say, 'One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, jack, queen, king, ace.' That's how I learned to count.



"My grandfather had a great sense about cards. He was the equivalent of Stu Ungar, in that his brain just worked so that he always knew what everyone else had," Gold said.



It wasn't long before young Gold was putting his card and counting skills to good use. "I used to play with my friends at summer camp. One of the greatest things about winning is how I have come in contact with friends from so long ago. I loved those people, and we just lost touch. Now, all those people are coming back into my life, and they're reminding me how every summer their parents would give them candy money, and within the first week, I had usually won it all," he said.



After living in the Big Apple, Gold's family moved to Paramus, New Jersey. At 16, Gold interned for J. Michael Bloom & Associates across the Hudson River in New York City. This is where he began his journey into the entertainment industry. "I wanted to be an agent and didn't have any connections in the entertainment industry, and wasn't sure how to go about getting in. So, I spent a lot of time working for free, trying to learn the industry. I trained under a famous agent who now works at CAA; his name is Peter Levine. He was very kind to me and taught me so much about the business," Gold commented.



Gold spent the rest of his days in Paramus until he headed to the University of Albany in New York, where he worked to make his dreams a reality. After graduating, it wasn't long before he packed up and headed west, hoping to make a splash in the entertainment industry. Never looking back, Gold moved to Malibu with not much more than dreams and a strong personal drive. He managed to make a name for himself almost immediately.



He quickly recounted his splash into showbiz. "I became the youngest franchised agent in Hollywood at age 21. It was great," he said with a smile.



Before moving on and co-founding GoldBuchard in 1994, Gold already had an impressive client list, working with stars like Brandy, RayJ, and James Gandolfini. "I was Gandolfini's agent before GoldBuchard, and I was also working as Lucy Lui's and Kristin Davis' agent, and I brought in new clients like Felicity Huffman as well," Gold said.



Never one to sit on his laurels, Gold decided that he wanted to move into television production rather than continue managing talent. "I had made a commitment to the agency at the time and was unwilling to break it, so working for someone else was out of the question. Managing people just wasn't enough for me. I had spent a lot of time in the agency business and I wanted something new. I wanted to be able to empower my clients to do new projects."



While focused on building his career, Gold only played poker in home games with friends and business associates. However, over the last two years, he has come to play in celebrity-filled games like the one at the Playboy Mansion. According to Gold, Frank Sinatra was one of the original players and early inspirations in this Hollywood Hills home game. "There was this guy named Doctor Feelgood, who was a best friend of Hef, and his daughter Jenifer, who is a friend of mine and grew up in the Playboy Mansion. She started running the poker games there at 12. It eventually became Ben Affleck's poker game, then Pete Sampras'. Now, Gary Pollack, Morris Chesnutt, Eddie Cibrian, and poker pro Lee Cort also play in it."



Now heading production for branded television production company Buzznation, Gold has worked on his poker almost as much as he has his professional career off the felt. Finding success in his business, Gold decided it was time to pay attention to his other love, poker. Although he played in a lot of home games, there was nothing like the experience he soon found playing in the high-limit cash games at Commerce Casino in L.A.



"There are a few Hollywood players in that game, like Jeffrey Katzenberg and Dylan Sellers, and it features possibly the best cash-game player in the world, Bobby Hoff. I learned a lot from watching him play. He didn't directly teach me a lot, because I think he likes to beat me. Every time I sat down at the table with him, he was a winner. I'm always impressed by him. He's getting up there, but he's just so sharp, and he reads everyone so well. I'm honored to play with him and the other players in that game. When it got down to four tables in the main event, there were four Commerce players left out of the 27 people. It shows how strong that game is," Gold said.



As for his previous action in Los Angeles' poker hot spots, Gold said, "I play small tournaments at the Hustler and have won a lot of them. I played bigger tournaments at the Bike, and then played most of my cash games at the Commerce. On a day-to-day basis, the toughest cash game isn't at Bellagio in Las Vegas, but at the Commerce. Every single day, there is a tough cash game at the Commerce.



According to Gold, in his last year of tournament victories, he won more than $100,000 and the support of his friends, who helped build his confidence going into the World Series. "I was doing great. My friend Eric would buy me into every tournament, even though I didn't need the money. We just had a camaraderie together. We wanted to feel like we were doing it together.



He's a great cash-game player and I'm a good tournament player, so it was like we were a team. He funded every single tournament I played in, because he believed in me more than anyone else. He saw how well I was playing and improving week by week. I probably put in more time over two years than most people will put in playing for 10. Sometimes I was playing 40 to 80 hours a week while I was working."



Between poker and work, Gold had little room for much else over the course of the last year, but that didn't bother him. "The things I like to do are go out for great meals and spend time with my friends and families. I work, and I work a lot, but poker is my passion. It might have been a little somewhat obsessive, to be honest. I wanted to be the best player that I could possibly be. Any moment that I was awake that I wasn't working, I was playing poker. I put a lot of time into this. This is not a fluke, and I've worked really hard at it."



Even during the WSOP, Gold had to maintain a balance between his job responsibilities and playing. "During play, I had to take phone calls from people working on our new show, America's Hottest Mom. Fortunately, I have these amazing producers working for us, and they made it work. My partners at Buzznation were 100 percent behind me, and took care of the lion's share of work while I was playing," Gold said.



Despite winning a record $12 million, don't expect Gold to quit television production anytime soon. With his success, Buzznation has had to hire more production people so that Gold could take more of a supervisory role and continue to play poker. "I'm not quitting my job. It's a very lucrative thing for me to do, and it is a very rewarding thing for me to do. I've always wanted to produce television shows. I'm not going to give that up now."



Gold has been constantly asked what is next for him since he conquered the field of more than 8,000 players, but he seems to welcome the question. "People ask if it is bittersweet, since I achieved everything I wanted to achieve in the poker world, and I just say that that isn't really true. To me, I'm a good player, better than most, maybe, but nowhere near the best. It is so important for me to know that I can compete with them. I did it for a week, but that doesn't mean that I could do it again, until I become a great player. Every day, I'm going to work my ass off to be a better player. I'm nowhere near the level I want to be at.



"What makes me smart is that I know how ignorant I am. People think that they're smart, and they never learn anything. I know that I know nothing. I want to know everything. For the rest of my life, I just want to become a better player," Gold said.

The Gold Rush


Jamie Gold's meteoric rise to fame didn't come without consequences. After taking the chip lead, Gold was subject to vicious rumors about his past and present relationships. "I don't have need to justify what my life was before and what my life is now.



Everyone who knows me and who has known me in the past knows that everything I have said is true. I don't have anything to hide and I don't have anything to argue about. It's laughable that people would write these things to say that the things I am saying aren't true. I don't get it. I guess people are really bored and don't have much to do. I feel sorry for them," he said.



Here is the transcript of Gold's responses to some of the rumors and misconceptions surrounding him.



MF: What was with the bodyguards at the final table?



JG: I had some threats made toward me. The guys from ESPN, Bodog, and my agents from Poker Royalty told me I needed to take this stuff seriously. It's similar to what might have happened to Nancy Kerrigan in the Olympics, in that someone might want to hurt me so that I couldn't play at the final table. It's not that farfetched that because my win was worth $12 million, some of the shady people in the poker world might want to do me harm. So, I listened to them despite how uncomfortable it made me. I didn't want to be singled out, but when there are threats made, you have to take them seriously. I didn't arrange it.



MF: Did you care about the media's initial comparisons between you and the character "Ari Gold" from HBO's show Entourage?



JG: I get it, because I was an agent in Hollywood and he is an agent in Hollywood whose last name is Gold, but I don't believe that it was written about me. I know a very successful and famous agent named Ari whom I'm pretty sure that was written about. Being compared to someone on a show that popular is great. I love that show and I watch it. I think it's awesome, but it's nothing like my life.



MF: Your playing style got a lot of attention from the cameras. Did you mind being ESPN's new face?



JG: It seemed to work, but I wasn't mugging for the camera. That's why I always worked behind the camera. If I had wanted to be an actor, I would have done that, or at least I would have tried to have done that. That's not me. I tried to forget that the camera was there. No offense to the television people at ESPN, because they had a job to do, but I also had a job to do, and it wasn't helping them to do their job by providing outtakes. I wasn't trying to look good or be dramatic on camera. If anything, I had to hide the way I wanted to react or change my attitude because there were cameras around. Cameras were even following me to the bathroom. It got kind of uncomfortable. I had to act as though the cameras weren't there. It was tough.



MF: Tell readers about your relationship with Johnny Chan.



JG: I met Johnny when I first started playing Texas hold'em. I idolized him after seeing Rounders. In my small knowledge of poker at the time, I thought he was the best player who ever lived – because I didn't know a lot of players. I went after him and made someone at the Hustler introduce me to him. I told him that I was a Hollywood professional and that there were a lot of ways that I could help him capitalize on the poker boom. I told him that I wanted him to teach me poker and that I would help him with poker television projects and his book.



He checked me out and said that I could work with him, but he really didn't have a lot of time to teach me poker. I just kept picking his brain when I could. He didn't realize it, but every moment I was with him, I was always asking subtle questions about anything. What he did more than anything was inspire me. When you're around someone like that, it can only help. It's like being a golfer and hanging around Tiger Woods. It inspires you to greatness. I wanted to be as good as Johnny Chan. I wanted to play as well as he plays.



Once I had a big chip lead, I called him and said I thought I had a serious shot to win this thing, and I could really use his help now. I had never really called or demanded help from him, but now I demanded help from him. Well, as it turned out, he watched me play and then asked me what my plan was for the next day. He would said, "How can I possibly help you? You have this whole thing down, and everything you're doing is right. I'm not going to tell you anything to change your style."



He also kept reassuring me that I was doing the right things, and if you asked him how he helped me, he would say that he didn't help me at all, but that's not true. He helped me a lot. Just the fact that I was getting reassurances from him that I was doing the right things meant so much to me. Having him stay behind me and support me was invaluable. Having him around made us even closer, because my win proves his greatness. I really look up to him. He's been very generous to me, taking the time to be around. People say, tell us something specific. It was nothing like that; plus, I would never share his secrets. His knowledge is invaluable. I'll never reveal any secret that he revealed to me.



MF: Did Chan have a 10 percent piece of you during the World Series?



JG: No, that's not true. Whatever I choose to give him, I will give as a gift. There was no deal, no percentage, nothing. Johnny and I have never had a financial agreement for anything other than a television production deal. Johnny has never asked for a dime. He's a total class act who would never ask me for anything. He said this was one of his proudest moments. He said that my winning felt bigger to him than what he's done in the last few years. He felt like this was a bigger accomplishment for him.



It's not about money for him. He doesn't need my money. Johnny makes more money in one cash game than I could ever give him from this.



MF: Explain how you came in contact with Bodog.



JG: Bodog.com sponsored me in the World Series main event. I had had a business relationship with them, working on a television show and a radio project. We were just starting to discuss possibly working together. I was then asked to play on their celebrity team. They just wanted me to go as far as I could. They weren't expecting any of us to win. They thought I was a legitimate, well-known Hollywood professional, so it made sense. They also knew I was playing great poker. I just had a sense that it was my time, so I accepted.



MF: According to Harrah's, you still haven't picked up the money. Is that true?



JG: Yes, it's true. I am getting the best advice I can about the possible tax implications. I want to make sure that it is handled properly. The money is not as much for me as it is for my father. Until they tell my family where the money can go based on tax issues, I'm just waiting. I don't want them getting hit any harder by taxes than they should. I want to make sure it is all handled right. If you take the money and just start spending it, you can easily run into problems with the government. I want to make sure everything goes right.



MF: There are rumors about how much you tipped the dealers. Can you clarify this?



JG: I never gave a number. I'm making sure that everyone who deserves to be taken care of will be taken care of. I'm extremely generous to everyone who has been generous to me in my life. A large percentage has already been taken out to take care of the dealers. What is odd to me is that dealers have been talking to the press and saying that they expect millions of dollars. It seems a little odd to me.

Jamie Gold Chooses Bodog.com

Jamie Gold, the television producer who marched through a field of more than 8,000 players to win the World Series of Poker championship and $12 million, has signed a long-term deal with online poker site Bodog.com.



The most important part of the deal for Gold, and where Bodog really showed what a great company it is, includes a substantial payment to a charity geared to raising money to fight Lou Gehrig's Disease. Gold's poker agent, Brian Balsbaugh said, "The value of the deal is similar to what a lottery pick in the NBA draft would receive; it's a win for everyone. Gold said he is ecstatic to be associated with such a fantastic brand and hopes to be the best ambassador he can be for Bodog.com."



According to Balsbaugh, the timing was right for matching Gold with a long-term deal with Bodog.com. "The agreement between Jamie Gold and Bodog.com is really a watershed moment for poker player sponsorship." In addition to some standard buy-in, bonus, and base retainer compensation, Jamie's television production company will do some work for Bodog.com.

Golden Inspiration

On one hand, for World Series of Poker Champion Jamie Gold, the bracelet is more important than the money. On the other hand, Gold also realized just how much the money could help his ailing father. In the end, for inspiration, Gold chose to focus on making his father proud and bringing home a payday that will enable him to make sure that his dad lives out the remainder of his life in comfort.



When asked about his dad, who suffers from Lou Gehrig's Disease (ALS), Gold speaks passionately and emotionally. "He's had it for years. It's heartbreaking to watch what he is going through and how he's physically deteriorating. Mentally, he's 100 percent there. He's lucid and still sharp. He's got such a great sense of humor. We laugh a lot and talk all the time.



"It's so hard to watch someone you love get trapped inside their own body. He's been very supportive of me. He always knew I was a great card player, and he figured that if I was going to do this, I probably would have a good shot of winning. I don't think he ever thought about me winning the World Series, and then as things started happening, he became so excited for me. He had someone pushing the refresh button on CardPlayer.com constantly."



He said it was amazing. Every time they checked, I would be higher and higher, and developing more of a chip lead. Then he started seeing my picture in newspapers and realized this was really taking place. Then it became an almost expectation that I was going to win.



It didn't matter if I won to him, though. He's proud of me regardless. He's proud of the human being I've become. This really didn't matter to him as much as it mattered to me that I could take the money and make sure that he's got the best care and the best doctors for the time he has left. He's made it longer than anyone is supposed to make it. He's had it for six years now, but keeps on fighting."

Can You Get Rich Playing Tournaments?
An estimate of earning potential by playing tournaments

Can you get rich playing tournaments? Somebody will. It might be you or me. But realistically, what should we expect to make if we play in a lot of tournaments. All Card Player readers should be familiar with the concept of "expectation," when used in a mathematical or statistical context. Briefly, it is the average result that would be achieved if an infinite number of trials were held. If I flip a coin for $100, my expectation is zero. My real result will be either plus $100 or minus $100, but on average, I "expect" to break even.



If an average poker player plays in a poker tournament with a $1,000 buy-in, what is his expectation? This is an easy question. He will break even. Well, he will really break even before fees, tips, and expenses.



If a great poker player plays in the same tournament, what is his expectation? This is a very difficult question. What are some of the factors that make it difficult to answer? How good is he at the specific game being played? How good is he at tournaments (as opposed to cash games)? How fast is the structure? How good is he relative to other players? Is he rested, sober, and ready to play his best? The list is almost endless. There is no way to quantify all the significant factors and arrive at an answer by mathematical calculation.



So, if we can't answer it mathematically, is there any other way to arrive at an answer? We can try to approximate it, by looking at the statistics of some great players. We certainly can't average the results of the most successful players, as all of these players have been lucky. Some, but certainly not all, are also good, and a few are great. If we average the lifetime tournament results of the last five main-event winners at the World Series of Poker, we might end up thinking that a great player will win $50,000 for every $1,000 paid in entry fees. In order to make it easy, I decided to select two very successful tournament players, who have played in numerous tournaments over a long period of time, and see if I could approximate their expectation.



I chose Phil Hellmuth and Men Nguyen. Both have been playing tournaments for approximately 20 years. Both play a lot of tournaments. Phil is arguably the best hold'em tournament player. (If you have any doubt, just ask him.) His prodigious tournament skills have enabled him to finish in the money in a variety of games, even some at which he probably is not particularly proficient. Men is more of an all-around player. He has been not only a consistent tournament winner, but also a consistent contender in the Card Player Player of the Year race, winning it four times. CardPlayer.com has more coverage of their many accomplishments. According to that database, Phil has winnings of around $6,350,000, and Men, $5,050,000. (I am not sure when these figures were last updated. Their current totals are almost certainly higher.)



Remember that these numbers represent their gross return. No expenses have been deducted. Let's try to approximate what they have paid in entry fees. There are now more tournaments with high entry fees than ever before. This year, a hardworking player could play in a $50,000 event, a $25,000 event, a $15,000 event, and approximately 30 $10,000 events. Someone attempting every tournament might end up spending more than $500,000 in entry fees alone. Let's say that Phil has averaged $150,000 per year and Men, who plays more small tournaments, has averaged $200,000. Over 20 years, their respective totals would be $3 million and $4 million in entry fees. That now reduces their "earnings" to $3.4 million and $1.1 million.



But what about expenses? Travel and hotel bills aren't included. Phil probably covers more of the globe, but Men often has an entourage with him. Let's say it's $25,000 a year for each. Their nets are now down to $2.9 million and $600,000. If these estimates are close to accurate, Phil earns around 100 percent on his entry fees, while Men manages to make only 15 percent. In reality, some of their earnings come from freerolls and no-entry-fee invitational tournaments, so their real rates of return may be even lower. On the other hand, the CardPlayer.com total winnings may be low and my estimates of costs may be high, so their real results could be better than my estimates.



What conclusion can we draw from all of this? A top tournament player has an expectation of 15 percent to 150 percent of his entry fees. (I know that a lot of players have done better than this. But, can they really expect to continue to do so well or have they just experienced a run of short-term luck?) The current tournament environment includes more weak players than previously, but this is offset by the fact that the amounts deducted for fees and tips have increased. There are many more tournaments, so a successful player has more opportunities to earn, but there are also many more players, so a player needs a much larger bankroll to survive the inevitable fluctuations.



I think my estimates are reasonable. If you entered all of the major tournaments, and averaged 50 percent net return, you'd make a few hundred thousand dollars a year. That's not too shabby. Remember, these estimates are based on the results of two of the most skillful, successful tournament players out there. Do you think you can do better? I know I haven't.

Gold Factoids

Everyone knows Jamie Gold won $12 million and a World Series of Poker championship bracelet. What many people don't know is the man behind the chips. Here are some insights into Gold's likes and dislikes, and a rare glimpse into the personal life of the 2006 WSOP main-event champion.

A Key Hand

Jamie Gold played a lot of hands on his way to victory in the 2006 World Series of Poker main event, and in his mind, several stood out, but the following hand vaulted him to the top of the WSOP leader board and gave him a major push on his way to the title.



Michael Friedman: Was there a particular hand that was the most important to you on your way to victory?



Jamie Gold: No question, it happened on the first day. I was down to less than $5,000 in chips before the dinner break. There was a good chance that I wasn't going to make it. I had called a couple of friends and said that this might be it. I had gotten the worst run of cards and had the worst luck. I lost every hand on the river when I was ahead. After the dinner break, I caught a few hands and built my stack up to $50,000.



They moved me with a couple of hours left to a table with two other guys who had $50,000. No one wanted to play each other. On the first hand, I got pocket fours on the button. The first $50,000 guy raised from under the gun. The second $50,000 guy reraised the minimum. That was really fishy. The guy who raised from under the gun had a good hand, but the guy who rerasied in this spot had aces. I was convinced the guy had aces. I felt great about my read.



I was thinking that the first guy was thinking the same thing, and that he wouldn't reraise him and just call. So, the blinds were $200-$400. The first guy made it a thousand. Then, the other guy made it two. I had pocket fours and was figuring that if a 4 came and nothing funny like an A-K hit, I might clean one of them out. So, I called. There was now $6,000 in the pot. The flop came out Q-J-4. I could easily be in trouble.



Both players checked. I knew something was wrong. I was thinking the guy with aces was thinking the same way I was, that the first guy could have queens or jacks. So, I bet $3,000. Both players called and I had no idea where I was at. The next card was the 10, so if somebody had two diamonds, I was in trouble; plus, the straight was out there.



My initial reads were great, but I was no longer sure. I bet $10,000, which was less than the pot. That way, if someone put me all in, I could throw away my hand. If the guy with aces did it, I would have called, but if the other guy did it, I would have folded.



I now had $35,000 left and felt that was good for day two. The initial raiser went all in. The second guy started babbling, and now I knew he had aces. He was mad because he didn't put us all in before the flop. I said to him, "I know you have aces."



He said, "Of course I do," and threw them in the muck.



The first guy started complaining about the guy talking about his hand. I was sitting there thinking I was in trouble. Even if I thought I had the winning hand, I was thinking that maybe I had to throw it away so as not to risk the whole tournament. I was taking a lot of time and the table was starting to rumble.



I told everyone, "I just want you to know that I'm not wasting time. I've got a set of fours."



The guy freaked out and said, "You can't tell them what your hand is."



So, I said, "Call the floorman." The floorman told him that he already had put me all in and it didn't change the action. I said,



"What if I flipped them over?"



He said, "We would give you a warning."



The guy now said that my hand was dead. I started thinking to myself, why is this guy so upset? Why is he mad? He now would know if he had me beat, since I said what I had. I was now thinking that I may have this guy, but there was still a part of me that said that he could have me beat. I was thinking and thinking, and the floorman told the guy that all he could do was call the clock on me. So, he called for the clock.



I looked into his eyes and saw that he was the most nervous and ticked off guy. There was no way he had me beat. I told them,

"Don't worry about the clock. I call. I know I've got you."



He freaked and threw down his cards. All he had was A-Q, queens with an ace kicker. He was virtually drawing dead to a king (four outs for the straight).



That hand vaulted me toward the top of the chip lead. It was a great position for day two.

This Or That

Final Table Players

Although Jamie Gold took out seven of the other eight players at this year's World Series of Poker main-event final table, he readily admits that he faced some tough competitors. Gold said he ran into a few surprises, thanks to his opponents, and the final table was anything but easy. Here are some of his comments about his opponents.



Paul Wasicka: I never felt like I figured him out. He turned out to be my toughest opponent.

Michael Binger: He's really a nice kid. He played very solid and careful poker, but never had enough chips to make a run at me.



Allen Cunningham: I don't think he played his best. I think that I would have been in a lot more trouble if he had been more focused and on his A-game.



Richard Lee: Richard was the biggest surprise to me, because when I played with him at previous tables, his style was really solid. He was very smart and very patient. Then, he got to the final table and got superaggressive. He was amassing chips the same way I was. He was playing just as aggressively as I was. I was quite taken aback at the final table, and he became a much tougher read than I thought he was going to be.



Rhett Butler: He's a very kind and generous human being. Everything he said was nice and kind. He was a pleasure to play with. I felt bad for him; he never got any cards. He had the worst run of bad luck at the final table.



Doug Kim: Doug and I probably spoke the most. We were seated next to each other at the last three or four tables, and he always got stuck to my right. We became really friendly. I really like him. He seemed to have the least experience, but had a lot of heart.



EriK Friberg: I thought he was going to be a lot tougher to play against, and I thought he would last longer. When we got into it, I thought it was going to come down to both of us, but he didn't last.



Dan Nassif: Dan was the guy I was friendliest with before I reached the final table. We would see each other every day and ask how the other was doing. I have a feeling he and I will become good friends. He never had a shot, because he didn't get any cards.