Chris Moneymaker to skip the WSOP this year

The man who lit the fuse for the poker boom will not be at the World Series this year due to rising COVID cases in America.

Apologies for all the doom and gloom stories about the poor prospects for a normal World Series of Poker but one of the biggest icons of the series won't be going amid rising COVID cases in the US.

The man who sparked the poker boom, Chris Moneymaker, will not be attending the series this year. Other than Phil Hellmuth, the 2003 WSOP Main Event champion is perhaps the player most associated with the series, at least for all the plucky amateurs vying for their shot at poker glory. 

Chris's son has asthma and is unable to get vaccinated, so Moneymaker is skipping the series ahead of rising cases in Las Vegas. 

REALLY hate it but canceled my trip to El Paso and Vegas for the @WSOP. My 9 year old cant be vaccinated and I do not want to bring the virus home to him. @ACR_POKER #nextyearihope

— Chris Moneymaker â­• (@CMONEYMAKER) August 6, 2021

Several tournaments in the US have been cancelled recently and Las Vegas has reinstated social distancing measures including masks inside casinos, as well as talk of a dealer shortage and severe travel disruption for overseas players. There is now serious talk in the poker community about whether the series will be cancelled. 

The current situation in the United States is that while vaccines are freely available to all, not everyone is taking them. As such there are record COVID cases and hospitalisations in some States amongst the unvaccinated. 

The series is set to start at the end of next month until the end of November. 

Will the WSOP get cancelled? Let us know in the comments: