Saturday, September 30, 2006

I'm Shocked!!

I've probably been hiding in my own little world, but even reading other player's blogs and not seen a mention of it, so I was shocked to read some of the comments about Jamie Gold since his WPT win. Is it justified? I don't know, as you can't believe everything you read, but the more I read, the more I don't like the guy and it can't be good for the game. The most startling was his admission in a recent interview to, well, cheating. He calls it collusion, but either way, I still see it as cheating. This is what he said in Bluff Magazine:

"So every day I'd come to the table and everyone would freak out, and there'd be this guy sitting next to me who was practically in tears because he knew [he] could never raise a hand. So I said, "No, listen, think about it like this: No one can raise you, because they're raising me after you. You're in a great spot, and here's the deal. In return for this protection, every time I tell you to lay down your hand, you lay down your hand. And they all said okay. So I would look at my cards before the guy to my right, and then I'd say, "OK, you're cool; proceed..." or "Nope. Lay it down."

Add to this rumours of part of his winnings being witheld, extra chips appearing at the final table, stories that his past is not quite as he says it is and then, to add insult to injury, it appears he is also being sued for $6million (half his winnings)!
Apparantly, and this is where it gets a little complicated, Bodog put up the $10k entry fee if Jamie would wear their branded stuff. They also asked that he encourage other players to do the same. Jamie then, allegedly, offered to split his winnings with Bruce Leyser if he could get the players to wear Bodog stuff.
Bruce did this, getting a handful of players to wear the logo, but Mr Gold has not paid him the agreed 50% of any winnings in return for his help. One website 'news' page says that Jamie Gold has gone into hiding, has not been home since his win and is living out of hotel rooms (probably suites, actually, with $6mil in his back pocket).

All very strange and add in a few more ingredients about Mr Gold's background and it all looks very shady. Is it true? I think I'll wait for the blockbuster Hollywood movie to come out before I make my decision.

1 Comments:

At 3:44 PM, Blogger Juice said...

actually the chip thing is less sinister than you might think.

The WSOP go the start time wrong for alot of players. So players would turn up on day three, not knowing that they were scheduled for day two. The effect was on day two they were blinded out. So the WSOP acknowledge their mistake and game them their chips to play on day three because they messed up. Which is why there are more chips at the final table then there were players.

 

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