From Moneymaker to Money Maker
The story of the man who showed the world how to Make poker Money.
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Chris Moneymaker: "The man who lit the fuse for the poker boom"
"When you play the WSOP, you don’t really think of winning it and having to become a spokesman for the poker community. When you do win that thing, it’s more or less understood that’s what you’re going to do," WSOP 2003 World Champion Chris Moneymaker said in one of his interviews.
Chris Moneymaker was born on November 21, 1975 in Atlanta, Georgia. He grew up in Tennessee, married his high school sweetheart Kelly Weaver, and graduated from the University of Tennessee with a master's degree in accounting. In April 2003, just a couple of months before he made poker history, his first daughter Ashley was born. At the moment the Moneymakers were pretty much in a financial hole, and that was one of the main reasons why one fine day Chris registered into a $39 satellite at PokerStars.
Moneymaker won that 18-person tournamen and advanced to a $600 satellite on Saturday, April 26, 2003, which had 68 runners and awarded WSOP Main Event seats to the top three spots and $8,000 to the fourth-place finisher. Surprisingly, Moneymaker initially had his sights set on the cash.
The truth is that Chris didn't intend to got to Las Vegas. In his post-victory memoir, "Moneymaker: How an Amateur Poker Player Turned $40 into $2,5 Million at the World Series of Poker", Chris later explained: "... a seat at the World Series of Poker would likely get me nowhere past the first day of play. No sense coveting a souvenir-type memory when there was a good chunk of cash at stake".
Moneymaker managed to become one of the chip leaders in that satellite, and everything was going according to his plan. Fortunately, one of his friends convinced him to win one of the seats, and the rest, as they say, is history.
We all know what happened a couple months later. His personality and, of course, his last name played a great role in the popularity of his achievement. "I’m one of those guys that’s going to come to your Saturday home game, have a beer, and hang out. I think a lot of people sort of related to me and could see themselves in me," said Moneymaker.
So, what happened next? For many of us the story of Chris Moneymaker sort of ends right at the time of his win. Prior to it he was an ordinary shy person and then all of a sudden became a worldwide celebrity. It's a dream come true, but everything comes at a price. Chris divorced and married again. His first daughter Ashley was adopted by a new dad. Chris doesn't see her anymore. With his new wife Christy Wren he had three kids, two daughters and a boy.
Moneymaker was immediately given a sponsorship by PokerStars and began traveling the world. He is the only World Champion who is still part of Team PokerStars today. Concerning his poker game Chris regrets one thing: "That win gave me a false sense of security. I thought I was a better player than what I was, and I didn’t take the time to learn the game as it changed. As the game evolved I didn’t really evolve with it for many years. But for the most part I’m happy with the poker side of things."
