The 2023 WSOP Main Event is Underway: Jamie Gold Ready for Record to Be Broken

July 03, 2023

Jon Sofen Senior Editor U.S.

Record-Breaking Year?
Jamie Gold Talks 2006 World Series of Poker

The 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event is underway, and it was fitting that Jamie Gold was on-site at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas to announce "shuffle up and deal" at noon on Monday.

Gold famously won the 2006 world championship event for a record $12 million, beating out 8,773 players, another record that still holds to this day, although it might not in a few days.

Throughout the entirety of the Main Event, PokerNews will provide regular live updates from the floor, with hand histories, interviews, player reactions, and reports on all the top stories.

Record-Breaking Year?

Many expect this year's prestigious $10,000 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament to surpass the 2006 mark, if not smash it. Some have predicted upwards of 10,000 entries, and although that might seem like a lofty goal, it certainly isn't out of the realm of possibility.

Gold, who still remains passionate about poker 17 years later, entered Monday's Day 1a session. He told PokerNews he not only wants the record to be broken, but is "confident" that it will. The former champ said he anticipates a massive crowd, even larger than last year's 8,663 players.

"I think a lot of people were still kind of concerned with COVID last year," Gold said. "So, say 1,000 players stayed away because of COVID, if just half of them return to play the Main Event this year, that will break the record."

The 2006 winner also mentioned the influx of satellite winners this year helping to spike attendance. Much like last year when Espen Jorstad took down poker's most prestigious tournament, the 2023 Main Event will have four Day 1 sessions, one more than traditionally to accommodate demand.

Jamie Gold Talks 2006 World Series of Poker

Gold's victory is still talked about in poker circles as it was one of the most memorable Main Event runs in history. The champ famously used speech play to talk his opponents into folding when he had junk, or to call when he was nutted. As he acknowledged, some ESPN viewers didn't like him because of that speech play, but it certainly worked out quite well for him.

"People still think I play the way I did on television 17 years ago," he said.

These days, Gold explained, he's tighter but can still get paid off when he has a monster because of that memorable Main Event run. The long-time poker player said he's enjoyed being able to say he won the largest Main Event ever, but he was more focused on winning a world championship and life-changing money at the time. Thus, he is rooting for the record to be broken this week.

One of the most memorable moments from that 2006 ESPN coverage wasn't Gold hoisting the bracelet. It was a heated argument he had with a young and rude poker player Eric Molina (see video below).

Gold said that the TV coverage didn't show the entire situation that led up to his contentious battle with Molina as WSOP shows were condensed and edited to fit into one-hour episodes at the time.

"It wasn’t a simple argument between Molina and I," Gold explained. "This was going on for at least a full day before he ended up at my table. He was already known for berating players and being rude. So, when he finally landed at our table, there were some older players who were very kind. We were all being friendly. And these older players especially were excited to be there. And (Molina) just started berating them and really getting out of line."

"After a while, he felt that he could get away with being as rude as he wanted to be, and I had had it. I made it my mission to take him out. I wasn’t the one who busted him, but I would use my massive chip stack to take advantage of him and everyone would cheer me on."

Gold ended up with the last laugh as Molina busted in 31st place for $329,865, his only World Series of Poker cash still to this day. Outside of about a dozen small scores over the years since, he hasn't produced any live tournament results, according to Hendon Mob.

The reigning world champion, Jorstad, said he will be entering Main Event Day 1c on Wednesday where he will begin his title defense.

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