As a mother and card player, woman poker pro Jane Gold understands it's not the hand you're dealt that matters.
It's how you play it.

That might be the best way to explain how she lasted longer in this year's World Series of Poker Main Event than her son, defending champion Jamie Gold.

"I love every minute of it," she said Monday.

That was hours before her son busted out of the tournament on his first day of play. She followed Tuesday, busting early in the second round of play.

Despite losing, this year's trip to Las Vegas has been special from the start. "Very bittersweet," she said.

"It's much more than I expected. This isn't real. I walk into the poker room, and there's a 20-foot picture of my son. You know what's really weird? I'm coming in and people are taking my picture, asking for my autograph. No, none of this is real.

"It's not real that my husband had ALS. It's not real that my son won the World Series of Poker."

But Jamie Gold did win last year, and Jane Gold describes that time last year as "the biggest highs and the biggest lows."

She was at home in New Jersey caring for her husband of 27 years, Robert Gold, who was suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease. As Jamie advanced through the main event, she said she couldn't resist joining him in Las Vegas.

"My husband said, 'Just go. This is something you don't want to miss,' " she said.

Father knows best, so she went. And as soon as Jamie won, mother and son called him. "There wasn't a dry eye in the place," she said. Play route 66 poker.

Robert Gold died in December. Jamie had taken off time from playing poker after his WSOP victory to spend time with his father and then with his mother. "He stayed with me a long time until I was ready to be alone," she said.

They were together again this month in Las Vegas after Jamie convinced her to enter the Main Event, despite the fact she never played Texas Hold'em. Jane Gold said her father was a "fabulous" gin player — he taught Jamie to count 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-jack-queen-king-ace — and learned poker and canasta from her mother.

"But this is a new game to me. At least I wasn't aware of this game," she said. "I just play friendly poker with a bunch of women, and I have an all men's game."

Jane Gold said it was all friendly Saturday, when she parlayed 20,000 chips into 42,100 by day's end and advanced in the largest live tournament in poker.

At one point she picked off a bluff by an opponent when an ace was on the board and she held pocket queens. She raked a pot worth about 5,000 in chips and then looked around for her son, who had been watching earlier. "Where's my baby to see this?" she said.

Oh, he was there, as at least one player noticed.

"One gentleman who was sitting next to me said, 'He's the mother, and you're child,' " Jane Gold said. "That's how he was supporting me and rooting for me."

Like mother, like son.

Missing in action

Jamie Gold is not the only big name bounced from this year's Main Event.

Others who have busted include former champions Greg Raymer (2004), Johnny Chan (1987-88), Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson (1976-77) and Phil Hellmuth (1989), the WSOP's all-time bracelet leader and the self-proclaimed world's greatest Texas Hold'em player. Play $500 match poker bonus.

Brunson and Chan are tied with 10 bracelets, trailing only Hellmuth's 11.

"It hurts, of course," Brunson said shortly after busting on the first day of play Friday, when his two pair of aces and queens was beaten by three queens. "It's the prestige of these tournaments, particularly this one, that everybody's concerned with. Everyone's trying to win bracelets a lot more than money."

The field remains filled with amateur players who took vacations to play against the game's biggest stars for a shot at overcoming staggering odds to win a staggering pot.

"When you play with this many people, you can't realistically think about winning," said Dave Fox of Coram, N.Y. "It's better odds than a lottery. Skill is involved, but there still is a tremendous amount of luck." Download poker wallpapers.

Table talk

Former NHL player Rick Tocchet, who awaits sentencing after pleading guilty to charges of conspiracy to promote gambling May 25, is one of the survivors from Sunday and Monday who will play in today's second round.

Poker News Source: USA TODAY