Jamie Gold: Not your average WSOP winner

When Jamie Gold took home the biggest prize in World Series of Poker history, an estimated $12 million dollars in 2006, there were a few things that made him a little bit different than past winners. For one thing, he was a high-powered talent agent living in Malibu, California with a roster of A-List clients like James Gandolfini, Jimmy Fallon and Lucy Liu.

Also, Gold may or not have been the inspiration for the character Ari Gold on the hit HBO show Entourage.

That debate is on-going, but it is 100% clear that Gold played the main event at the WSOP like nobody who has ever won the tournament. He aggressively pressed hard on his opponents, challenging them to go all-in whenever he held the positional advantage. And while the style annoyed many seasoned pros, it did the job, allowing Gold to walk away with a HUGE prize that fueled by the online poker boom and the high number of entrants it generated.

And speaking of online poker, Gold also became involved in a dispute over his winning with his quasi-sponsor Bodog.com. Bodog claimed that Gold had agreed to provide sponsored talent for the WSOP to play under their name. When he himself won, they claimed their cut. The two parties would eventually settle out of court, but not before the Hollywood media had plenty of fun at Gold’s expense.

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World Series of Poker: Look how big you’ve gotten!

Given the popularity of the event today, it’s hard to believe that not long ago The World Series of Poker was an invitation-only event that barely took up one table. The multimedia experience that is now broadcast concurrently across the internet and high-def television was once hard for the participants to even find.

Consider some of these interesting facts from the first four decades of the WSOP’s existence:

Johnny Moss won $30,000 for taking the main event in 1971. In 2006, Jamie Gold brought home $12 million at that same event.

In 1970, there were 7 participants in the WSOP. In 2006, there were 8,773.

The first TV coverage of the WSOP came in 1973. Highlights, hosted by the late Jimmy-the-Greek were aired on CBS.

Phil “The Brat” Hellmuth has the most WSOP bracelets with 11.

In 2005, the World Series moved out of its humble original home at Binion’s Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas, and into the huge poker room at the RIO Resort and Casino, located several blocks off of the Las Vegas Strip.

2007’s winner, Jerry Yang, had only been playing the game of poker for two years prior to his victory in the main event.

Today, casinos around the world (both online and offline) offer tournaments where the winner is given a seat at one of the WSOP tables. In fact, several of the most recent winners of the tournament have entered as a result of these “satellite” tournaments.

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Poker Player Profile: Phil Ivey

Although jealousy may be a sin, it’s hard not to lust after Phil Ivey’s life. Young, good looking and with over $7 million dollars in tournament winnings under his belt, Phil seemingly has it all going for him.

When the poker explosion hit mainstream media, Ivey was there to pounce. His phenomenal card playing skills and killer instinct was enhanced by a handsome mug that soon got him dubbed “The Tiger Woods of Poker” by writers around the world. While it’s good to be the Tiger Woods of anything, we can imagine that Phil took it all in stride. That’s just how he rolls.

His aggressive playing style have netted him five WSOP bracelets to date, and at the ripe old age of 32, there’s no reason to believe he won’t be adding more jewelry to his collection in the years to come.

Fast Facts about Phil:

Fast Facts about Phil:

· Where you’ll see him when he’s not at the poker table: courtside at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, watching his beloved Lakers ball up another opponent.
· Where he fine-tuned his aggressive style: as a top-performing telemarketer
· Tournament accessory of choice: Apple iPod

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