Event #39 of the World Series of Poker came to a close shortly before 4:00am PST when Jamie Gold coaxed Paul Wasicka to call his all in bet on a flop of Qc 8h 5h.
During the previous 12 hours Gold showed a propensity to talk to his opponents, encouraging them to call or fold, practically telling them his hand strength. It appeared that he was telling the truth each time. His opponenents just refused to believe him, even causing one to abandon the best hand on the river. There was even a controversial angle Gold shot when he briefly exposed one of his cards. This should have resulted in a time penalty for Gold, but either the Tournament Director didn't see it, or it was intentionally overlooked.
We won't know just how many "best" hands went down to a Gold bluff until we see some of those hands on the network broadcast, but the last hand, Wasicka believed him and called with his pocket tens. Gold flipped over Q9, punched the air with a pre-victory shout then walked over to his mentor Johnny Chan, keeping his back to the table while the turn and the river came out. The hand held up and Jamie Gold won the platinum and diamond bracelet along with $12,000,000 and the 2006 WSOP No-Limit Championship.
Gold had everything going for him last night. He managed his monster stack well, even though there was concern in the first round that he was involving himself in too many pots. However, his opponents wouldn't play back, allowing Gold to run over the table and scoop up a lot of small pots. He wasn't intimidated by Allen Cunningham, the sole pro of note at the table, either, pushing him of several hands with fearless ease.
Time will tell whether Gold has the staying power as a top player or whether he'll be relegated to the "once was" ranks of those who conquered but then faded to the background. Whatever his future, he earned some respect and was a gracious winner last night. At the very least, he'll no doubt be able to land a sweet deal for himself as the spokesman for the blueberry industry.
