A Trying Year for WSOP Main Event Champion Jamie Gold

It's been one hell of a ride these past months for the 2006 World Series of Poker Champion and this year's defending champion for the 2007 WSOP Main Event, Jamie Gold.

After triumphing at the tournament and taking home an astounding $12 million, defeating about 8,773 players for the top prize, 38 year old Jamie Gold, who is also a Hollywood producer, got involved in a federal lawsuit which was filed by a fellow poker player, Mr. Crispin Leyser. He claimed that Gold said that he would split the money with him in exchange for helping him get some players to help represent an online site that Jamie Gold sponsors.

The pair settled their differences in February, but then Jamie Gold ran into more controversy when he admitted that he had committed 2 violations during the actual poker game - he showed his hole card to a fellow poker player and informed another player about the cards that were in his possession at that time.

If caught, Gold would have been penalized; he would have been forced to sit out for about 10 minutes of the poker game. On April 2, 2007, the officials of the World Series of Poker, headed by Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack, stated that Jamie Gold will not be punished for his faults, but they said they would talk to him about it.

April 29, 2007
Brian Nelson