Tao of Poker

Jamie Gold Wins 2006 WSOP Championship


2006 WSOP Champion: James "Q-9" Gold
Photo courtesy of Flipchip
Yes, after a 14 hour final table, a Hollyweird agent is the new world champion of poker. Here's the final hand:

3:40am... Recent Elimination: Jamie Gold busted Paul Wasicka and we have a new WSOP Champion. Gold limped and Paul Wasicka checked his big blind option. On a flop of Qc-8h-5h, Wasicka bet 1.5 million and Gold moved all in. Wasicka called with 10-10. Gold showed Q-9 aka "The Gapped Toothed Hooker." The turn was an ace and a 4. Gold's Q-9 held up and he became the 2006 WSOP Champion winning $12 million. Paul Wasicka finished in second place and won $6,102,499.

Final Table Results:
1: Jamie Gold $12,000,000
2: Paul Wasicka $6,102,499
3: Michael Binger $4,123,310
4: Allen Cunningham $3,628,513
5: Rhett Butler $3,216,182
6: Richard Lee 2,803,851
7: Doug Kim $2,391,520
8: Erik Friberg $1,979,189
9: Dan Nassif $1,566,858

After his victory, Gold called his dad to tell him that he won. His father has ALS and was sleeping. He said that his winnings will help his father out.

Here are some Jamie Gold quotes:

"I played the best poker of my life. I feel real fortunate that the cards came my way."

"If I was going to lose, people were going to have to get really lucky on me. When I had all these chips, I knew that people would have to get lucky to take me out."

"I figured out everyone except the last player, Paul Wasicka. Paul was awesome. I was fortunate to get the hand to take him out. I play the players. I don't play my cards. I get in there with pretty crappy cards most of the time."

"I got lucky."

"This never would have happened without these amazing people who love for me and care for me. I have the greatest group of people around me. There's no question that this would not have happened without them. I'm very needy. I needed massages, water, blueberries, and food. They kept me sane, happy, and focused. I feel like the luckiest guy in the world. Not because of winning the championship, but because of them. These people believed in me for a very long time."

"Blueberries are brain food. I love to eat them. They make me feel good. Blueberries were probably the reason why I won."

"I left a message on my dad's answering machine. I hope he wakes up to find out that I made him really proud."

Flipchip posted winner's photos post over at Las Vegas and Poker Blog. I'll have a recap soon for here and my newest client... a Swedish newspaper!

Take a peek at some things that have already been published:

Jamie Gold Wins 2006 WSOP Championship (LasVegasVegas.com)
Golden Moment: WSOP Championship Timeline (Fox Sports)
Day 8 Final Table Recap (Fox Sports)

Congrats to Jamie Gold. He played much better than people will give him credit for.

That's it for now. Thanks to everyone for the support and putting up with my madness for the past two months. Special thanks to the bloggers who linked up my coverage. There are too many of you to name right now. Thanks again to Paradise Poker, Poker Prof, Flipchip, Otis and PokerStars, ESPN, Fox Sports, and even Harrah's for not kicking me out. Thanks to April for the milkshake on Thursday which kept me off of mega-tilt.

Las Vegas nearly killed me for a second year in a row, but I survived the 2006 WSOP without losing any limbs, going to prison, or getting my badge revoked. I'm going to go to sleep for a couple of hours.

Now, go read my live blogging updates of the final table and feel free to re-read the last two months of WSOP coverage.