(Distributed August 15, 2006)
PRO VS. AMATEUR: MAIN EVENT EMBRACES ALL
Only a handful of big-name pros made it to the final three days of the record-smashing 2006 World Series of Poker main event last week in Las Vegas, again raising the question: Will a pro ever win The Big One again?
My question is: Does it matter?
With 8,773 entries this year and even more projected in 2007, the odds are against the pros. A couple hundred of them going up against 8,500 amateurs is a mismatch, but that’s exactly what makes this event different than any other championship competition.
The little guy, or gal, has a chance to beat the best and achieve fame and fortune!
Some argue that tournament poker’s explosive popularity dilutes the game at its highest levels and diminishes the prestige of the championship bracelet. That’s probably true if you’re just interested in seeing your favorite pro out-duel other pros for a title.
That’s also probably the reason the 37th annual WSOP added a $50,000 buy-in event this year, which assured a smallish field of a few hundred pros and priced out the wannabes. The Professional Poker Tour on television uses the same concept — only the best are invited to play.
But the WSOP main event is now a monolithic event that captures the imagination of all serious and amateur players. Unless online poker — the qualifying vehicle for more than half of this year’s field — is legislated out of existence, the main event will continue to grow and feed the dreams of millions of players who want to be the next Moneymaker-Raymer-Hachem.
Or, now, the next Jamie Gold.
Gold, a 36-year-old Hollywood agent turned television show producer, dominated the championship event like none before him. He surged to the chip lead on Saturday, with four full days of tough poker still left to play, and never let go.
Gold should be a terrific ambassador for poker. He absolutely loves the game, logging 40 hours a week in Los Angeles card rooms near his Malibu home. He will talk poker anytime, anywhere, which is good because he’ll be doing a lot more talking about poker than playing it in the coming year.
He’s disarmingly personable, bright and eloquent — traits which fueled his career success and helped make him a poker world champion. His bit of acting on the last hand, enticing runner-up Paul Wasicka of Colorado to commit all of his chips to the pot as a big underdog, deserves an Oscar.
Sitting next to $12 million in bundled $100 bills, Gold made it through a thousand photos and a dozen interviews during Friday morning’s wee hours. He smiled and said the right thing every time, even though he clearly was exhausted from a grueling two weeks of poker and a 14-hour final table.
At one point he apologized to a reporter because he was afraid he wasn’t making any sense. He could recall almost nothing that happened during the tournament, and he said winning the most coveted prize in the game hadn’t sunk in.
Still, he praised his family, his co-workers and his friends for supporting him. A dozen of them crowded around him to pose for a photo with the money. He attracted tons of vocal new friends who cheered long and hard during his unbelievable run.
Missing from the picture was his dad, a victim of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) who can’t move his body and breathes with a machine’s help. Before the cards were in the air two weeks ago, Gold dedicated his tournament to his father.
Gold’s first phone call after the victory at 4 a.m. was to his dad. He got voice mail, instead. That meant his dad might be sleeping through the night, and that would be a blessing, Gold said.
Functioning with a sleep deficit himself, Gold somehow maintained better focus than any other player. He said he played nearly perfect poker the entire tournament. He used his huge chip advantage flawlessly — bullying the table when he could, yet never putting his chip lead in jeopardy.
He also was the perfect sportsman at the table. Nobody gave more hugs to busted-out opponents than Gold, but then, nobody knocked out more players, either. He vanquished seven of his eight opponents at the final table himself.
Some opponents spoke later of Gold’s luck, but in the same breath they said he was a very good player. There are many more amateurs out there who think they are just as good and can’t wait until next year for the chance to prove it.
E-mail your poker questions and comments to russ@luckydogpoker.com for use in future columns. To find out more about Russ Scott and read previous LuckyDog Poker columns, visit www.creators.com or www.luckydogpoker.com.
COPYRIGHT 2006 RUSS SCOTT
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