Jamie Gold

Born Jamie Usher in Missouri, Gold moved to Manhattan at an early age with his mother for her pending marriage to Dr Robert Gold, whose name Gold legally took. Gold graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Albany, before studying entertainment law at UCLA.

Gold had become a talent agent before he was 21, and over the course of his career managed big names such as the late James Gandolfini, Lucy Liu, Jimmy Fallon and Felicity Huffman.

While Gold had been exposed to card games from a young age, due to his mother’s fondness for poker and has grandfather’s prowess at gin rummy, it was actually his connections as a talent agent that helped him to improve.

He met poker legend Johnny Chan while preparing for a TV show, and Chan began to mentor Gold. He began to enter tournaments more regularly, with some success as he earned over $100,000 in winnings before his World Series of Poker success.

The 2006 World Series of Poker is where Jamie Gold exploded onto the scene, as he took down the Main Event for $12,000,000. Gold’s play style was unorthodox, as he frequently talked to his opponents, often telling them the actual hand he was holding, a tactic that is against the WSOP rules. Moreover, at the final table, Gold actually flashed one of his hole cards to an opponent, prompting him to fold his hand. Despite breaking the tournament rules, Gold never faced disciplinary action. While some have criticised this style of play, it certainly worked for Gold, as he was often able to goad other players into calling when he had the nuts, and talk them into folding when he had air.

Gold is also known for his charitable work. He has played in several charity poker tournaments, including the WSOP Ante up for Africa event, as well as Annie Duke’s charity tournament. Gold has also expressed interest in holding a charity event to benefit those afflicted by Lou Gehrig’s disease, the illness which sadly took his step-father.