March 28, 2007
WSOP Rules on Gold's Cheating
by Luckbox
Anyone who watched Jamie Gold's disgusting behavior during the 2006 WSOP knows that on at least two occasions, he violated sacred tournament poker rules.
On one occasion, Gold told an opponent whom he was friends with that he had "top-top" while the action was still open. You can watch that video here. On another occasion, while at the final table, Gold flipped one of his hole cards while the action was still open. Both are rules violations that should have resulted in at least a 10-minute penalty had anyone complained. Unfortunately, no one did.
Today, the World Series of Poker released a statement which says, in part, "The WSOP officials determined from the video review and the discussions with Gold that he did not deliberately attempt to violate the rules and that no penalties would be invoked retroactively for the incidents."
Gold's action was embarrassing, but there's not a whole lot they can do about that now. WSOP commissioner Jeffrey Pollack said, "Not only were we impressed with Jamie’s candor and contrition, but we also recognized that tournament officials didn’t witness the incidents or take appropriate action at the time of the rules infractions. We share culpability in this case and are satisfied that the actions in question were inadvertent mistakes. We look forward to Jamie’s participation in the 2007 WSOP."
He's right. Someone with the tournament should have stepped in immediately. To this day, I'm not sure why that didn't happen. The infractions were obvious, and the rules do not require an opponent to lodge a complaint.
Pollack also said, “I do want to stress, however, that we do not condone any violations of the rules and will make every effort to enforce them in every WSOP event."
We can only hope. The poker world doesn't need another Jamie Gold. One is more than enough.
Photo by FlipChip at the fabulous LasVegasVegas.com... is there a better poker photog out there?
Of course the WSOP would say that. That is why they have held somebody very accountable for the extra chips.
Espn did not help matters much either. They seem to like the players being pukes. There was one episode dedicated to Lesiandro and another dude fighting over an ante.
ESPN is recruiting grounds for poker. They have the entertainment value and seem to do a good job of making an intresting episode. I actually felt sick about poker to come after this years WSOP main event.
There are definately high points about the WSOP. The main event on ESPN was not one of them. I am glad to see all the people and poker grow. I like the personalities. We could do without the cheating and fighting.
The players at the table probably stayed silent knowing they had a fish at their table. They hoped for their chance to make his chips their own. Remember, do not tap the glass.
Sorry but I don't see which rule he violated in the video. He was in the hand, he talked after the other went all-in. I guess I don't see anything offensive since nothing could change the other guy's play, he was all in anyway.
Maybe I don't see the obvious (apart from JG being an a$$hole). Could someone please educate me on this.
It's simple... players are NOT allowed to reveal what is in their hand until all action is complete, even if you are the only one left to act. Revealing the actual contents of your hand can be used to illicit some kind of reaction from your opponent. Although common in some cash games, it is forbidden during most tournaments including the WSOP.
Gold was free to say, "I have a really big hand," or, "I'm not on a draw here," or, "What if I flopped a set?"
More to the point... after making the call and seeing his opponent's hand, he said he wouldn't have called if he had known he could beat his opponent. If that doesn't scream of collusion, nothing does.
Unfortunately, I have not had an opportunity to watch the 2007 WSOP, so I'm always interested in the Jamie Gold hate. I hate him just from what I've heard. But I don't Jamie Gold did those things on purpose, in terms of he probably wasn't aware of the etiquette in the first place, and he probably would've stopped if asked, but no one did. He got lucky and he admits it.
Thanks Luckbox, I get it now.
About the flagrant collusion, I rewatched the video a couple of times and his signaling no-no to the other player is blatant.
P.S. Can someone remove my email from the previous post before the damn bots get it. Thanks.
Wayne, that was Prahlad Friedman (he plays as "Spirit Rock" on FT.
CJ...yeah, he wasn't being very profesional about the way he was playin, nor talking. I posted a bit ago about showing or not showing your hand after showdown online and got repramanded by some people since I said I do it on occassion early on with big hands, so I could bluff later on.
But I do remember watching that episode where he flashed his one hole card during the hand. Now that, that's bad.
I also agree with Wayne in that, why the hell would they even air that? Seems like a "Oh, we'll pick up some controversy with this" and hoping for veiwer's responses like, "Oh, I gotta watch the next one and tell all my frieds to watch too 'cause something else juicy might happen in the next episode."
