Jamie Gold

Jamie Gold after winning the 2006 World Series of Poker main event.

At the 2006 WSOP, Gold maintained a significant chip lead from Day 4 onwards to win the World Series of Poker Main Event (No Limit Texas hold 'em, $10,000 buy-in), outlasting 8,772 other players. Excluding fourth-place finisher Allen Cunningham, Gold had more casino tournament final table finishes than the rest of his final table opponents combined. Gold eliminated seven of his eight opponents at the final table. Gold defeated Paul Wasicka heads-up, earning a record $12,000,000 when in the final hand his Q♠ 9♣ made a pair with the board of Q♣ 8♥ 5♥. Wasicka held 10♥ 10♠ and did not improve with the A♦ on the turn and 4♣ on the river. Gold won the event despite earlier saying that he would prefer to finish second, as he felt uncomfortable with the idea of being famous.[19] Gold ate blueberries during the play of the 2006 WSOP main event final table and joked in a post-tournament interview that the blueberries were "brain food" and the reason he won.[17] Gold's WSOP win was marked by an uncanny ability to goad his opponents into either calling his bets when he had an unbeatable hand or folding to him when he was weak. He consistently told his opponents that he was weak or strong, telling the truth sometimes, and sometimes lying, with the net result of successfully deceiving his opponents most of the time. Prior to the 2006 WSOP Main Event win, Gold had compiled a solid record in tournament competition, using lessons learned from poker legend and previous two-time WSOP main event winner and owner of 10 WSOP bracelets, Johnny Chan.

Gold's "table talk", though both an asset and a source of criticism for his tendency to tell opponents his actual hand during play, was contrary to WSOP rules.[20] In one case at the final table, Gold actually flashed one of his hole cards to an opponent (a face card), creating enough uncertainty that his opponent folded the better hand. However, Gold was never penalized for any rules infraction. Prior to his elimination in the 2007 WSOP, Gold was issued a warning for his tactics.[21]

As of the end of 2008, with just 13 in-the-money tournament finishes and only two wins, Gold's total live tournament winnings exceed a record $12,100,000, and he was the first person to eclipse the $10,000,000 mark in tournament poker.[22] Most of his tournament winnings have come at the WSOP, where he has amassed $12,067,292 in cashes.[23] Immediately after his WSOP win, Gold called his stepfather, Dr. Robert I. Gold, who could not attend as he was suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease. Gold pledged to use his winnings to make his stepfather more comfortable.[17] His stepfather died four months later on December 13, 2006.[24]

Just prior to the 2006 WSOP, Bodog.com Entertainment and Gold entered into a business relationship when Gold agreed to find celebrities willing to play in the main event under the Bodog banner in exchange for a paid entry into the main event. Gold partnered with Crispin Leyser to help with this task in exchange for half of Gold's winnings, according to Leyser. After Gold won, Leyser says that Gold reneged on the deal and had decided to keep the entire $12 million prize. Leyser sued Gold on August 22, 2006, which resulted in Chief U.S. District Court Judge Kathy Hardcastle issuing a restraining order which prevented Gold from collecting $6 million of his winnings from Rio Hotel and Casino before the first hearing of the lawsuit on December 1, 2006.[25] At the December court hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Roger L. Hunt rejected a motion by Gold's lawyers to lift the restraining order on the $6 million and ordered the frozen funds be moved into an interest-bearing account, saying that the "likelihood to prevail" lay with Leyser.[26] Gold did a radio interview on Rounders the Poker Show[27] following his Main Event win where he mentioned his deal with Leyser. It was later entered into evidence for the lawsuit. On February 6, 2007, Leyser and Gold released a joint statement stating they had settled the matter outside of court.[28] The amount of the settlement was not disclosed. On January 25, 2007, Bodog ended their business relationship with Gold, citing their decision to cease all offline marketing initiatives in the U.S., and instead refocus their efforts on growing their entertainment brand in Europe and Asia.

Following his success at the 2006 WSOP, Gold said he would split his time between business and poker pursuits.[29][30] In addition to television production deals in the hopper and Gold's frequent appearances on televised poker shows including episodes of NBC's Poker After Dark[31] and in season 3 and 4 of GSN’s High Stakes Poker,[32] Gold returned to defend his title at the 2007 WSOP, but was eliminated on the first day. He had more success in the 2007 WSOP Europe, where he finished 35th in the main event. Since then, he has been quiet on the poker scene playing mainly at the WSOP. Financial issues have plagued Gold in times since his main event victory and has resorted to playing smaller cash games at local casinos.[33] Since his Main Event victory in 2006, his greatest cash has come in the 2016 Los Angeles WSOP Circuit Main Event, where he finished runner-up and claimed $139,820.