High On Poker

If you are not wearing shoes, I suggest you put them on now, because this one is about to knock your socks off.

HighOnPoker is mostly about introspection and poker, but rarely am I able to offer the juicy poker scene gossip, since I’m not really in the scene. But I do have friends, and one friend recently told me a story about a WSOP Main Event Champion that I found both delightful and pathetic.

In all the years I’ve played poker, one Main Event Champ stood out to me as the least deserving of accolades. That man is Jamie Gold. As I watched the WSOP broadcasts, I couldn’t help but think that Gold was an attention whore who gave off more information than an A-Z encyclopedia set (or Wikipedia for all of my readers under the age of 24).

So it does not shock me much to find out that he was recently allegedly involved in running a chop-shop of an underground poker game that was supposedly for “charity”. Now, I can’t say whether or not the rake really did go to charity. What I do know is that a party was originally scheduled in the location, a private bar/party room setup in Manhattan. The tables and dealers were provided by a local, legitimate entertainment company and the event organizers tried to arrange extra discounts since it was “for charity.”

On the night of the party, a backroom or two were set up for live poker, three tables or so. The players were all rich guys, likely Wall Streeters, and were terrible at poker. The games spread were 5/5 NLHE ($500 min), 5/10 NLHE ($1000 min) and when they were able to, 10/25. The players were largely drunk, didn’t know much about poker like how to know its their turn to act, and had tons of cash, reaching into their pockets for $1000 buy-ins like they were putting coins in a slot machine. Meanwhile, model-caliber cocktail waitresses served drinks in barely-there mini skirts.

Jamie Gold was holding court. According to my sources, Gold was playing on more than one table at times, and he was playing like crap. I give Jamie some leeway though, because he was obviously the sideshow attraction (“STEP RIGHT UP AND PLAY WITH A GIN-YOU-WINE WORLD SERIES CHAMPEEN!”). Often in these games, or even in actual underground games, the house will play just to keep the game going, too, and in those scenarios, its not unheard of for the host to play a weaker game, since he’s really just there to fill a seat. Both of those elements could have been in play.

If all of this is not enough (and really, this is the interesting part), the game was up again on the next two nights, sans party. And after a while, when the house, um, I mean, “charity”, was not making enough money, they covertly told some dealers to just start ratholing chips. Rake was already 10%, uncapped. Let me repeat that. 10% uncapped rake was not enough for the “event” organizers, in games with upwards of $10k on the table. I mean, a $1000 pot is not unheard of at these stakes, and 10% of that would be $100, but that still wasn’t enough for the greedy hosts (of which Mr. Gold may or may not have been a member).

So, there you have it. Now, this is all alleged, third-party information, so do not take it as gospel, but it sure sounds like Gold is involved in an underhanded scheme to make money from donkey rich poker players. I am only guessing here, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he had money problems. After all, he gave away a chunk of his WSOP winnings and probably spent another large chunk on lawyers. And lord knows he isn’t raking in the endorsement deals or winning any other events.

Until next time, make mine unsubstantiated gossip!