Jamie Gold, the controversial 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event champion who has already had to settle one lawsuit out of court over a deal made for part of his winnings, is once again facing legal action over an alleged broken promise.

This time around the plaintiff is Francis DellaVecchia, an event producer and promoter from Los Angeles who was apparently the man responsible for setting Gold up with Bodog prior to the beginning of the 2006 WSOP. In an interview with BLUFF Magazine last week, DellaVecchia told all about how he came to know Jamie Gold, how he ended up owning part of Gold’s action and how he ended up filing suit to recover the money he says he is owed despite taking measure after measure to avoid legal resolution. Editor’s Note: This story reflects the claims made by DellaVecchia and have yet to be substantiated by Gold or the courts.

Jamie Gold did not respond to requests for comment on the allegations. UPDATE (09/22/09): Gold, through his legal team, contacted Bluff earlier this week and denies the allegations levied by DellaVecchia and prefers to let the legal system handle the case before speaking publicly about any of the allegations. The legal team did however provide us with this statement:

“The claims made by Francis Dellavecchia are false-he has no agreement, written or otherwise, with Jamie Gold. Unfortunately, this lawsuit is just another petty attempt to leverage money from a public figure by threatening to cause him or her negative publicity. If Mr. Dellvecchia ever decides to legally serve it Mr. Gold, which he has not done yet, his false allegations will be contested vigorously and exposed for what they are.”

According to DellaVecchia, in June 2006 he was hired by Bodog’s media company, Riptown Media, to put together a Bodog celebrity poker team for the upcoming WSOP Main Event. He apparently landed some of Hollywood’s better-known poker aficionados, like comedian Brad Garrett and actor Mekhi Phifer, to wear Bodog gear and take a shot at conquering the biggest tournament in poker’s history. When a mutual friend introduced DellaVecchia to Gold and the future champ said he could help to bring some celebrities on board in exchange for his own seat in the tourney, DellaVecchia says that the quality of the names Gold claimed to be managing - talent like Charlie’s Angels star Lucy Liu and The Sopranos leading man James Gandolfini - was enough for him to accept Gold’s offer of assistance.

But to DellaVecchia it soon became apparent that the kind of talent Gold was landing - actors Matthew Lillard (Scooby Doo) and Dax Shepard (Punk’d), found with the help of one Bruce Crispin Leyser - wasn’t really what Bodog was looking for. DellaVecchia claims he then offered to act as an intermediary to get Gold a sponsorship for the Main Event based on what he had been able to provide for the celebrity poker team, with the agreement that Gold would pay 1% of any winnings as a fee for being hooked up with his seat in the tournament. Gold apparently agreed without mentioning his other agreement with Leyser, whom DellaVecchia didn’t meet until almost halfway through the Main Event.

Jamie Gold may have had just 49% of his own action in the Main Event. Not long after Gold’s win, with the winning still at the cashier’s cage at the Rio, Leyser quickly filed suit to lay claim to his half of the $12 million prize. When word of the lawsuit went public it was the first DellaVecchia had heard of the deal. According to DellaVecchia, as a result of Leyser’s lawsuit, Gold called him and requested a delay in paying the agreed one percent. Once a settlement was reached with Leyser in early 2007, Gold apparently again asked DellaVecchia for a delay until the financial arrangements of that settlement could be worked out. DellaVecchia says the requests for delays continued until communication finally stopped altogether.

After three years of seeking, and failing, to collect his debt outside of the court system, DellaVecchia says he had no choice but to file suit in order to collect the money he is owed. “This was a deal we had, and I would like him to fulfill his end of the bargain,” says DellaVecchia. “I would be very happy for this to be settled without it needing to go before a judge and take up everybody’s time, but this is the only option that seems to be left to me.“

With bonuses and other compensation included, DellaVecchia’s accounting of Gold’s total winning in the 2006 WSOP Main Event comes to $13,250,000. Whether he gets his one percent of that total will now be a matter for the court to decide - unless, of course, Gold is able to settle again outside of the court system.

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