Jamie Gold Gets Sued for Half His Winnings
Three hours before this year's WSOP final table got underway, Jamie Gold allegedly left a message on the cell phone of Crispin Leyser (seen at left), a Brit-born/Hollywood-based TV producer who some may know from the WPT Boot Camp, where he and his hot wife, Jules, are instructors.
"I promise you - you can keep this recording on my word - there's no possible way you're not going to get half after taxes," Jamie reportedly said about the $12 million he would go on to win. "I can't imagine you're going to have a problem with it. I just don't want any stress about any money or any of that shit going on today, or even after the end of the day."
Gold continued, "But please just trust me. You've trusted me the whole way, you can trust me a little bit more. I promise you there's no way anybody will go anywhere with your money. It's your money."
Gold's word, as captured in this message, is now a crucial part of a lawsuit Leyser filed yesterday in the District Court in Clark County, claiming that he is entitled to half of Gold's $12 million because of an informal arrangement the pair had made after Bodog enlisted Gold to recruit celebrity players in exchange for his $10k buy-in. It seems Leyser had more ins with the in-crowd than Gold, and therefore, Leyser agreed to help Gold recruit celebs (like Matthew Lillard and Dax Shepard) in exchange for half of any Gold's WSOP winnings.
So basically it was like the Steve Dannenmann-Jerry Ditzell deal at last year's WSOP, where the two Maryland-ers each put up $5k and agreed to split the winnings, but completely different--because Gold and Leyser are from Hollywood and rich folks from La La land don't pay for measly shit like buy-ins to the WSOP. Not when you got Shaggy's and Dax's digits, baby. Those are worth their weight in gold, which in this case, may be worth $6 million (by the way, both went out early Day 1, for what that's worth...again, maybe $6 million).
For the record, it's worth noting that the Gold-Leyser arrangement was pretty much public knowledge among the non-public types like the media and pros over the last few days of the main event, and we even personally witnessed a bit of a panic from some because Leyser wasn't alongside Gold when he was going through the payout procedures after his win; you know like Dannenmann did with Ditzell, but again, that was completely different, because Dannenmann proved to be a man of his word, whereas here, according to a source close to Leyser, Gold stopped being such a man sometime last week, which led to Leyser filing his suit on Monday.
So where do things go from here? South, figuratively speaking, which seems to be the direction things are going in for Gold ever since his famous win (well actually since after his photo opp with the Bodog girls after his win...then things went South).
Judicially speaking, Chief District Judge Kathy Hardcastle has already signed a temporary restraining order preventing Gold from collecting his winnings from Harrahs. And according to the court records over at the Distric Court's website, a hearing on the matter will be held on September 1, 2006.
Until then we're waiting on comments from both camps, and we'll keep you posted as the story develops.
For more on the lawsuit and back story of Leyser and Gold, check out an article that ran today in the Las Vegas Sun and the piece HollywoodInterrupted.com did almost ten days ago.
But don't check out any of the erroneous pieces written by Norm Clarke at the Las Vegas Review Journal (here and here), which unfortunately our friend FlipChip at Las Vegas Vegas relied upon for his post on the subject. Somehow Norm misread the HollywoodInterrupted.com story as saying that the winnings split deal was between Bodog and Gold rather than Leyser and Gold. Truth is that Bodog never had a deal to get a piece of Gold's winnings for staking him and they're not claiming any piece of his winnings now. They're probably just content with the "world champ" return they got on a $10k investment, taking away bragging rights from PokerStars for the first time since Moneymaker captured the title. But considering the mess Gold has been making since his win, one has to wonder if PokerStars would even want a piece of Gold now. Or even if Bodog still does.
While you wonder that, below is a pic of Jules Leyser followed by a video of Dax Shepard getting a pillow thrashing from some Bodog babes.
Thank you for giving wealthy information
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Posted by: detta | May 21, 2008 at 12:04 AM
From the Las Vegas Sun March 6th 2007
Defending World Series of Poker main event champion Jamie Gold recently settled a lawsuit that challenged his refusal to split his $12 million winner's check with Bruce Crispin Leyser after Gold reportedly promised Leyser half of his winnings.
The poker community was tough on Gold, and rightfully so.
If reports suggesting that Leyser agreed to take $4 million in order to drop the lawsuit are correct, poker players can revise their opinions of Gold.
Now they'll know he's a man of two-thirds of his word.
Jeff Simpson is business editor of the Las Vegas Sun and executive editor of sister publication In Business Las Vegas. He can be reached at 259-4083 or at [email protected].
Posted by: Chris | March 14, 2007 at 08:46 PM
It seems this story is just about dead. I didn't even know about it until it was referenced in a story at Fullcontactpoker.com. The whole story doesn't surprise me tho. As I watched the 2006 WSOP I really got the impression that Jamie Gold was a big jerk. It was pretty obvious that he thinks a lot of himself. Too bad he doesn't have a personality to match his poker skill. He certainly has an ego that dwarfs his jackpot.
Posted by: Terry | February 17, 2007 at 10:12 AM
in short yes this wasn't a 12 million dollar contract ...more like a 5k one and the consideration he got was helping Gold land the celeb clients he apparently wasn't capable of landing himself. this probably should be easy to prove either way if he offered his help here and i certainly see affidavits and testimony coming from Dax and Shaggy here to help support the case. If Leyser did bring these guys in why was he doing it when the seat was for Gold and not him...because he got consideration in return...the prospect of winning nothing or up to 12 mil....at the time the value he received for his consideration was very little ...that it panned out to be 12 mil is of no consequence if the deal indeed was made. Also the fact that it wasn't in writing doesn't surprise me...most split deals aren't in writing.
Posted by: snake | August 30, 2006 at 08:25 AM
I don't have any deep insight into this, other than everyone I know who claims to know, backs Leyser. But I want to know why the hell he didn't get something in writing? Who makes a potentially $12 million deal with a guy he met a couple weeks ago, and doesn't ask for anything written? Okay, he didn't expect it to be $12 million, but he must of thought there was some chance of a few hundred thousand. And as the tournament progressed and Gold took the lead, why not get it then?
I think this will cost Leyser in court. Gold's lawyers will argue that it was a casual promise, not legally binding because there was no consideration. Leyser's claim that getting Shaggy and Dax to wear Bodog was the consideration will be pretty thin unless he can get testimony from both Bodog ("we paid for Gold's seat because he got those two endorsements") and the "stars" ("we wore the stuff because Leyser asked us to"). My guess is both third parties will stay out of it. Added to the argument that if it were a real $12 million contract Leyser would have insisted on something written, it makes Gold the clear favorite.
Why would a guy smart enough to play good poker do something like this?
Posted by: Aaron Brown | August 30, 2006 at 06:05 AM
we haven't seen all accounts yet so we'll see how it goes.
Posted by: Wicked Chops Poker | August 22, 2006 at 02:18 PM
"...because Dannenmann proved to be a man of his word, whereas here, according to a source close to Leyser, Gold stopped being such a man sometime last week, which led to Leyser filing his suit on Monday."
Oh, I daresay Gold stopped being a man of his word long before last week, judging by all accounts.
Poker encompasses all types, good and bad. Just so happens that this year we get a real hyena for a world champ.
Posted by: Haley | August 22, 2006 at 01:54 PM
Yeh that link isn't apparently working either, or at least not when we last tried. In case it works for someone else, you can click to it here. Or go to the link we have and just type in the case # 06-A-526845 or do a search by "Party" and search for Jamie Gold.
or better yet, just watch the video of Dax.
Posted by: Wicked Chops Poker | August 22, 2006 at 01:52 PM
Your link to the lawsuit doesn't seem to be right. Give this a shot:
http://courtgate.coca.co.clark.nv.us/DistrictCourt/asp/CaseNoEdit.asp?CaseNo=06A526845
Posted by: Matt | August 22, 2006 at 01:23 PM