No penalties for WSOP Champion Jamie Gold

The World Series of Poker has said it will not penalize the reigning WSOP World Champion Jamie Gold for two rules infractions that occurred during the 2006 WSOP Main Event.

In a recent interview with The New York Times, Gold admitted that in one incident he exposed a hole card to an opponent. He said that in the other incident he told an opponent he held top pair and top kicker after the opponent had bet. While common in cash games, such actions are violations of WSOP tournament rules.

Under the 2006 WSOP rules, Gold should have been subject to a penalty requiring him to sit out 10 minutes of play, as defined by the WSOP 2006 rules, and the penalty would have been imposed if WSOP officials had seen either of those incidents when they occurred. The rules for the 2007 WSOP have changed, in that they call for a 10-hand penalty for such an infraction of the rules, rather than a10 minute penalty.

After The New York Times interview was published, senior WSOP officials reviewed video footage and interviewed Gold on two occasions about the incidents. Gold freely acknowledged and expressed contrition for the rules infractions, attributing them to his exuberance and excitement at participating in his first-ever WSOP Main Event.

The WSOP officials decided after the video review, as well as 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.

Jeffrey Pollack, commissioner of the World Series of Poker stated “Not only were we impressed with Jamie’s candor and contrition, but we also recognised 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.”

“I do want to stress, however,” he added, “that we do not condone any violations of the rules and will make every effort to enforce them in every WSOP event.”

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