All That's Gold Does Not Glitter

[shipitfish]

Paul Phillips (aka extempore) doesn't post much in his LiveJournal about poker anymore, because Tournament Scrabble appears to be his preferred game these days. However, he did this week post about something I had queued to post about myself, so now, I'll just reference his article to start and add my own thoughts.

Like Paul, I was late to listen to the Jamie Gold interview on the Rounders Canadian poker radio show. I was, like Paul, appalled by what I heard. I actually only disagree with Paul on one point: I think Jaime is particularly bad as far as champions go and much more arrogant and self-obsessed than most new champions.

Sure, some of the very young (under 23) WPT winners have been that way, but that's what you expect from a kid like that. But, Jaime is in his 30's and should be old enough and mature enough not to act this way. But, he's a Hollywood agent by trade, and obviously has taken that life attitude to heart. Unabashed self-promotion, often accompanied with nasty denigration of rivals, is considered a virtue in that world, and his interview shows he thinks the same in the poker world.

The worst of his self-indulgences were his claims that his amazing play had Allen Cunningham literally shaking with fear. I don't dispute that Alan was shaking, of course, I noticed it during the live broadcast. But, it was probably either nerves at playing the final table of the biggest poker tournament ever held, or some really smart reverse tell. Jamie is unforgivably conceited to think that Allen's fear of Jamie made Allen shake.

There's more such disgusting stuff in the interview, including a heads-up challenge to Hellmuth for a one million cash game. This guy is intolerable.

That said, I don't think this fellow has an obligation to be a “good champion” or “great ambassador for poker”. We as the poker community would prefer that, but it's not part of some contractual obligation for winning the Big One. I think what Mr. Gold is going to do for us is make us realize how good we've had it for a few years running now. Hachem was a kind gentleman who loved talking about poker and sharing himself as poker's representative. I think Raymer was in some ways the quintessential champion that one would want. Moneymaker, while he wasn't as good as he could be, tried hard and did pretty well. Indeed, all three of them carried themselves with just the right mix of pride and humility (it takes luck as well as skill to win tournaments). Jamie is another type all together.

I wonder some if the press people at PokerStars actually are to thank for this. All three of our other recent champions signed deals ahead of time or almost on the spot with that site, and therefore their public image was surely influenced by their contracts. Gold has no contract yet, although there is some indication that he has an affiliation of some sort with Bodog (which is also a point of fact in the pending law suit). I don't think the cause of poker popularity is going to be advanced by our champion this year as it was in previous years. Oh well, we'll just have to survive the year and keep poker's popularity moving with other means, and hope for a better champion next year.

In the meantime, I actually hope that Gold keeps to his other (actually conflicting) statements that he doesn't want the limelight. We'd be better off if he is a strange recluse than a public conceited jerk.

Comments

Why does it matter?

[(Anonymous)]

Partly to plays devils advocate, why does it matter? So what if he is an idiotic, arrogant jerk? (I'm not claiming that he is, I'm just asking, so what if he is?) He won a poker tournament. He didn't run for public office. He also doesn't weild any power.

I suppose your argument would be obvious if he were doing things like going on David Letterman and saying really offensive things like he won because he was a man, and a woman would never be able to do the same thing.

But he gave his self-aggrandizing interview on a Canadian poker show for poker nerds. Clearly could make a person could hear it and think "I don't like him," but does it matter beyond that? There are many offensive personalities in poker, football, baseball, politics, the media, etc.

Also, is he saying anything that's proveably wrong? It might be improbable that AC was shaking with fear, but it doesn't seem out of line to say that. Not much more than it would be to say things like "I was the best player" or "nobody could beat me."

Humburto Brenes bothers me much more than Jamie Gold. I can't stand that guy.

Re: Why does it matter?

[shipitfish.livejournal.com]

The annoying thing about it was how it just didn't stop, and he was again and again, in every single answer, self-aggrandizing more than most people in the media, which is really saying something because most media celebrities are pretty self-aggrandizing types.

To your first point, I absolutely agree with you, and I said so in the post itself: he has no obligation to be a good champion. I also agree with you that it doesn't matter much right now since his media exposure has been limited.

I have a sick feeling though, that he's too much of a self-promoter to stay silent for long, and I'd be willing to make a big prop bet that once his lawsuit about the $6 million is resolved, he's a favorite to be jumping in the media limelight at the first opportunity. In fact, I have a gut feeling that his quotes in the press about not wanting to be famous for this and such were actually a carefully planned setup so he can play the “reluctant celebrity” role later on.

Re: Why does it matter?

[(Anonymous)]

I think Gold is probably a little bit wacky in the coconut. I also think he likes to stay things that cause a stir. Combined, I think that he's aware that some of his comments have been a bit wacky, but that he also doesn't have a cohesive plan on how to manage his image. He probably thinks one thing one day, and another thing the next.

Also, in defense of his self-aggrandizing, he doesn't really have anything in his brain to offset those statements. In his mind, he just rolled over 7k+ players and won the biggest tourny in poker. People like Johnny Chan told him things like "you're doing great."

So his brain is sitting there thinking, well, damn, I'm the greatest! Prove me wrong. I'm the champ, I'm the greatest. Screw you all.

Also, (and this is not on topic, all though it might seem so) I do think that he played incredibly. I've realized that winning poker is about matching a style to the run of cards. So, for the run of cards that he happened to have, I think he applied a very good style to it. Many other players would not have capitalized on his run as effectively as he did, I think.

Re: Why does it matter?

[shipitfish.livejournal.com]

I am not that impressed with his play. He played reasonably well, but not near the level to which he's ballyhooed. Like most poker players, he relied on the fact that his opponents were making serious mistakes, and his wins are related more to that than his own expert strategy. He did well, though, exploiting the mistakes; on that part, I agree.

Re: Why does it matter?

[shipitfish.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I forgot to mention, I agree with you about Brenes. He's gone too far at this point. He used to be cute, now he's just pointlessly annoying.

Re: Why does it matter?

[(Anonymous)]

Oh I think Humberto Brenes does it in fun, not to be a jerk.
And nothing wrong with some trash talking to get people to bet the way you want.
But did you hear Gold after he won and hugged Wasicka? I can't remember exactly what he said, but it was clear he was rubbing his win in Wasicka's face.
Now that was just plain wrong. I hope he pisses all his money away.

[patty-bush.livejournal.com]

I'd love to seem him lay down $13M on GSN's High Stakes Poker. My mouth is just watering thinking about it. How much do you think he'd have to lose before he quit. Do you think he's aggrogent enough to think that no matter how much he's lost he still was good enough to make a comeback resulting in him losing it all?

Would he lose to the other mega-fish on there?

[(Anonymous)]

The other top pros on HSP often play like donkies so maybe he'd do just fine. He'd just have to get in one big pot with Daniel the River Payoff Wizzard to look like a hero on national TV.

Re: Would he lose to the other mega-fish on there?

[shipitfish.livejournal.com]

I have to agree. Many of the pros on HSP are playing poorly. I don't think Jamie would be too bad off.