The World Series of Poker's Main Event winner will use the $12 million prize to help his friends and his father.

Last week, Jamie Gold went from a mostly unknown poker player to the card game's ultimate champion in less than two weeks. The former Hollywood agent and 15-year Malibu resident Jamie Gold beat out nearly 9,000 competitors to win the World Series of Poker's No-Limit Texas Holdem Main Event at the Rio hotel in Las Vegas.

Jamie's $12 million prize was the most amount of money ever received in a single poker tournament. Gold , who heads a marketing company, said he would use the prize money to support his friends and his father, a New Jersey resident suffering from the final stages of Lou Gehrig's disease who requires round-the-clock care.

"They won't tell me when they need money," Gold said. "But now they finally have realized that it's OK for me to help them. I am happy to help them and do whatever it takes to make my father comfortable and give him what he needs". "I just wanted him to know I love him and I made him proud," Gold said.

Gold, who entered the tournament as part of the celebrity team sponsored by an Internet gambling site, said he was not prepared to win the competition, but had a feeling he could do well.