Chris Moneymaker on bubbling the Main Event

We chat to the ACR pro and 2003 World Champion about the Main Event sponsorship, the Hall of Fame, and the World Cup.

There's something very poetic about a man who lit the fuse for the Poker Boom, bubbling the Main Event. Did you see it that way, or did it just hurt like any other bubble? 

Chris Moneymaker: I didn't find anything to be poetic or anything like that. It was just a painful experience. Anytime you bust the main event, it's going to hurt. Busting on the bubble doesn't make it hurt less or more, to be honest. I'm there to win the tournament, or I'm there to make a super deep run. Anytime those two things don't happen, I'm going to be disappointed.

I'll probably be another trivia question: who's the only main event winner to both win the tournament and bubble the tournament? I got a lot of good publicity for ACR, which is a side note positive. I guess if you can look at a silver lining, that would be it.

How do you think the first year of the WSOP being broadcast for free on YouTube has gone?

Chris Moneymaker: Having as many formats as possible, showing the World Series of Poker, is a great thing. I think having a main broadcast is really big for poker. Also, having it on YouTube is really massive as well. I think, with how people consume media today, there's such a wide variety of choices. Covering more and more of the different avenues of how people consume media is the best thing. Having a platform like ESPN is going to do very, very big things for poker, but I also believe that YouTube and even something like Prime Video would be great candidates to continue to make poker thrive and be more successful.

"We just paid people to wear a patch back in the day"

Do you think we'll see the 20-day final table break again?

Chris Moneymaker: Initially, I thought it was because of the World Cup, but I actually think now that it's because of the coverage, because they're going to lead this coverage up into the final table. It might be a common thing going forward.

I've always hated breaks going into a final table. It takes away your momentum if you're playing well and doing well. You've got reads on people. It also gives people a chance to go and basically come back a different player.

I think you have a beginner right now that's a chip leader: a 22-year-old new guy who doesn't have a ton of experience. He's going to come back a lot different player than what he was leading up to the tournament.

I don't know. I just feel like if you start the tournament, you should play it all the way through and be the player you were when you started, as the same as you were when you ended. Going out and getting a bunch of coaching and learning different tactics is going to make the final table less exciting because people are going to go learn how to play GTO and play ICM and things they may not have done. I just think it takes away a little bit of the excitement of the final table.

You've been a sponsored ambassador for the whole of the modern era. It used to be that famous players just had to wear a patch, but now they have to be fully fledged content creators. What do you think of this new paradigm of poker sponsorship?

Chris Moneymaker: Yeah, it's kind of wild to think that back in the day we were just paying people to wear a patch. You would get $10,000 to $40,000 just for wearing a patch on a final table. Now you actually got to do some work. You have to put in time. You have to do a bunch of stuff.

I will say, for me, a lot of it was doing a ton of interviews. That was really my big role back in the day, and that's transformed. There are not as many interview opportunities in today's game and today's world. It's definitely transitioned more into a content creator role where you're either streaming or doing YouTube.

I like it because it just presents different challenges. The world's changing, and you got to change with it. Being able to do YouTube or get on Twitch and play, I think, is kind of a vital tool to keep with the times and to keep relevant. I don't mind doing it, and it's kind of exciting learning different things.

"I voted for Shaun Deeb"

What do you think of the new scoring system for the Poker Hall of Fame?

Chris Moneymaker: Well, I will say it's a lot better than the old system. Allowing one person in each year is kind of ridiculous. There are so many deserving players that could be in the Hall of Fame that will never get the opportunity if you do one person per year. The new system, I don't think you allow too many people to get in. I think a good number is probably anywhere between two and four. I don't think you should probably do more than four a year, but I think one is just too little. It's all subjective.

I think Isai was one of my big picks to get in, and what he did with PokerStars and how he kind of revolutionised the game was a good footprint for how online poker should be. There's no reason why he shouldn't be in the Poker Hall of Fame. I voted for Shaun Deeb to get in. His accomplishments and the fact that he's been around for so long, I think, warrant entry into the Hall of Fame.

What were your views on the Main Event adding a shot clock on day seven?

Chris Moneymaker: I think the decision needs to be made before the tournament starts. You can't add something to a tournament midway through and change the dynamic. The problem is that it really does mess with people that have never played with a shot clock before. When the dealer starts counting down 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, it puts a lot of extra stress on you. It makes you want to make decisions faster.

Obviously, something needs to change, and they should have seen it last year with William Kassouf and how he talked about how they need to hurry the play up. I don't think shot clocks were the answer this year. I would have implemented them next year.

Shot clocks, I think, favour people that play online because you act faster. You generally play a lot of tables, and you act faster. That doesn't have to be professional or recreational. It's just someone that is used to playing at a fast speed, someone that multi-tables. The other one that it would favour would be someone that has played with shot clocks before, and that's generally going to be professionals. There are a lot of recs that have also played in tournaments that have shot clocks as well. I think people that play online and also people that have had experience are the ones that it's going to favour.

Variance is still going to do its thing, and it's one tournament, so anything can happen. I think the decision to add them this year was a mistake.

"I'm looking forward to the Venom"

It looks like you were really enjoying the World Cup. Do you think it might have helped the popularity of soccer in the USA?

Chris Moneymaker: I've enjoyed the World Cup since I can remember. I played soccer growing up, so I've always loved watching the World Cup. This year, being in the USA, was fantastic for soccer, and I think it's gonna regenerate a lot of fans.

I don't think it really changes the landscape of the USA when it comes to soccer. Soccer's grown tremendously over the last two decades. The USA was pretty decent two decades ago, and it created a little bit of a boom. College football, the NFL, everything's starting back up here at the end of the next month, and soccer will be an afterthought. I don't foresee people starting to follow MLS or really getting into soccer more than they already are. I think it's a novelty that comes around every four years. Everybody in America pays attention to it, and then it just kind of dies off. It's been that way for about 20 years now.

Now that the WSOP is in the rear view mirror, what are you looking forward to at ACR?

Chris Moneymaker: Yeah, with the World Series in the rear view mirror, I get to pick up on ACR and am super excited about the Venom coming up right around the corner. Phil's Thrill every single week is obviously very insane to play. Mini Phil's Thrill is obviously very cool, and we've got a lot of good promotions coming up. The OSS is coming up. We just got that new trophy that I definitely want to win next year. A lot of good series. We're going to have satellites going to the Bahamas. So many things going on at ACR right now that it is just super exciting to be a part of, and looking forward to this fall and into the winter!