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Gold's Poker Stack Continues to Balloon

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: August 8, 2006
Filed at 11:38 p.m. ET

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Jamie Gold used to make a living by putting Hollywood actors on the big screen. On Tuesday, he got away with a remarkably bad acting job in a bluff that helped increase his dominant lead in the World Series of Poker.

Gold bet 750,000 in chips at a pot worth 1.3 million while holding a king and 10 that had no help from a board of ace, four, three and a pair of twos. Prahlad Friedman had the best hand with pocket sevens.

Friedman, a 28-year-old poker player from Los Angeles, peered through his reflective sunglasses at a confident-looking Gold and told the former talent agent he thought Gold had only a king.

''He had made that play earlier in the tournament,'' Friedman said afterward. ''My ESP was clicking in.''

Gold stood up and plainly confessed. ''I went into this big overdramatic act and I said, 'You got me, that's it,''' said Gold, 36, of Malibu, Calif. ''And I got up from the table and I said, 'I can't even watch, I can't believe I lost all that money.'''

Despite Gold's bad acting job, Friedman said he couldn't keep his hand from grabbing his cards and tossing them into the muck.

''I thought he was doing like reverse-reverse bad acting. So I got all screwed up,'' Friedman said. ''My hand just basically grabbed the cards and folded. And I just wanted to call the whole time.''

Friedman, his stack reduced to 2.2 million, later busted out in 20th place for a payday of $494,797.

By late in the afternoon, Gold's lead increased, with 22.6 million in chips. His nearest competitor, four-time World Series bracelet winner Allen Cunningham, had 12.9 million.

Together, the two players had more than a third of all the chips in circulation, with only 14 players left in the hunt for the top prize of $12 million. Play was scheduled to continue Tuesday at the Rio hotel-casino until nine players remained for the final table showdown on Thursday.
The 10th- through 12th-place finishers go home millionaires.

[NOTE - chips counts at the dinner break: Gold $31MM, Allen $15MM]