Daniel Negreanu is an ambassador of poker and for many the best player of the game in history. Doyle Brunson, in turn, is considered the Godfather of Poker. However, none of them have done more to promote the game than Chris Moneymaker, who is one of the nominees for the Poker Hall of Fame. This is despite the fact that the portfolio of achievements of the man who has the word money in his name is nowhere near as large as that of the first two.
It's all due to events that happened in 2003. First, a previously "insignificant" accountant and amateur poker player from Tennessee forked out $39 in an online satellite for a seat to the WSOP Main Event. In a showdown with poker's best players, he unexpectedly succeeded, winning the title of World Champion, changing the course of poker history forever.
Poker was until then seen as a game for the pros. People who were born to gamble. But when an ordinary man in the crowd managed to win the biggest tournament in the world, everyone wanted to be like Moneymaker. The poker boom was on!
For a long time, Chris himself didn't realise what he had achieved. "After the tournament I went back to work and continued to work as an accountant. I didn't realise at the time that I could make so much money that I didn't need to do anything else. It wasn't until poker started being televised. I suddenly realized that it wasn't just a short-term thing. I saw poker as a phenomenon that was going to be around for a long time. I wanted to be part of that machine," he recalled.
Shortly after his WSOP Main Event triumph, Moneymaker signed with PokerStars. However, it wasn't for any staggering amount. "They didn't even know how much to offer me and I didn't know how much to accept. I didn't see it as something that was going to change my life. It didn't change until the next year."
Twenty years ago, Poker was like a toddler and a mature man compared to today. Despite earning $2.5 million, Chris still viewed it as more of a hobby than an occupation. "I was quite comfortable with it that way. But one day my boss came to me and told me I could either quit on my own or get fired. Because my job is already somewhere else." That place was casinos and poker tables.
"I've never been a person who travels the world looking for tournaments from week to week. Rather, I wanted to help the game as an ambassador for it. I love poker and I still love to play it. Not when I have to, but when I want to." admitted Moneymaker.
The impact of his triumph on the poker world came almost immediately. In 2003, when he defeated Sammy Farha in heads-up play, 839 players entered the Main Event. The prize pool was nearly eight million dollars. A year later, it was more than triple that. The winning Greg Raymer took home five million, with 2,576 players playing the tournament. The next year, the field doubled again, with Joe Hachem taking home $7.5 million in his triumph.
The mega boom was capped in 2006. Jamie Gold then outlasted 8,772 players, taking the prize pool to $82.5 million. The film producer and other amateur won a record 12 million back then! It was all due to the Moneymaker effect.
However, Chris hasn't just had moments of praise and accolades in his career. Many people attributed his success to chance, not his poker prowess. "My character helped me quite a bit at that point. I'm the kind of person who doesn't talk around. I didn't care what they were saying. Finally, I'll be the first to admit that I was very lucky. But I ask you, which WSOP Main Event winner hasn't had it? I played for seven days, during which time I had to do more than just get lucky. I believed in my game and I still do. And I don't care who says what," Moneymaker said firmly.
Chris won $2.5 million in 2003. In the twenty years that followed, he won nearly 5 million more. His contribution to the game has been enormous and his legacy will remain eternal. "Players rarely do enough things before the development of the game. They are part of the game that is here. I realize that I helped to grow the player base and popularized poker. It's nice to hear from people that poker is at the level it is today because of me." Chris Moneymaker concluded.
Source - Wikipedia, YouTube, PokerNews, HendonMob