Updated on 23 Feb 26 by
Barry Carter
Poker Expert

Chris Moneymaker wins opening Triton High Roller

Is it boom time again? 21 years after his Main Event win the icon of poker takes down a star studded High Roller in Montenegro.





Poker
Chris Moneymaker

In 2003 Chris Moneymaker pulled off the ultimate underdog victory to win the WSOP Main Event and start the poker boom. Last night in Montenegro he did something very similar. 

He just defeated a field of 163 of the best players in the world to take down the $25 GG Million$ Live event for $903,000. He bested Brian Kim heads-up for the opening title in the two week Triton High Roller Series. 

It could have all gone very differently, as he sneaked into the money with just 1BB, only to spin it up later for six figures.

Moneymaker said: “I hit a three-outer, a six outer. I thought to myself, ‘You know what, this is going to be 2003. I’m not going to lose any more hands today.'”

Moneymaker is in good form at the moment as he final tabled the Venom just over a week ago, good for another $382,007. 

Rank Player Country Prize
1 Chris Moneymaker USA $903,000
2 Brian Kim USA $609,000
3 Igor Yaroshevskyy Ukraine $419,000
4 Ding Biao China $341,000
5 Danilo Velasevic Serbia $272,000
6 Adrian Mateos Spain $209,500
7 Lewis Spencer UK $153,000
8 Morten Klein Norway $110,500
9 Isaac Haxton USA $91,300

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Poker Expert

Barry Carter is the editor of PokerStrategy.com and the co-author of The Mental Game of Poker 1 & 2, Poker Satellite Strategy, PKO Poker Strategy, Endgame Poker Strategy, GTO Poker Simplified, Mystery Bounty Poker Strategy and Beyond GTO. In 2025, he won the Global Poker Awards for Best Book and Twitter Personality of the Year.