Chris Moneymaker had a lackluster run after winning the World Series of Poker in 2003, but now he’s poised to make a comeback in the 2021 series. Chris Moneymaker has dusted off his wraparound shades and is making a run at a second World Series of Poker Main Event championship.
He first turned poker on its head in 2003: coming from out of nowhere, winning the WSOP, earning $2.5 million, and inspiring legions of kids — including reigning superstars such as Tom “durrr” Dwan and Andrew Roble — to quit college and take up cards. Now, after a streak of bad years in which he was all but written off, Moneymaker ranks 12 th out of 1,000 remaining players (the Series started with 6,650 entrants).
It’s particularly stunning because since Moneymaker’s 2003 victory , his poker tournament career has been lackluster. So much so that PokerStars, the online gambling sight that signed him to a sponsorship deal before he had even won the 2003 tournament, dropped him in December 2020.
“They finally realized that the Moneymaker ship didn’t sail,” Peter Alson, a player and author of “ Take Me to the River: A Wayward and Perilous Journey to the World Series of Poker ,” told The Post. “Moneymaker was never the greatest poker player and he would be the first to admit it. He is a good poker player who hit on all cylinders during his 2003 run. But that is what it takes to win the World Series.” Chris Moneymaker celebrates winning the World Series of Poker in 2003. Moneymaker, now 45, earned his way into the 2003 Series after finishing first in a $40 satellite tournament — the prize was a $10,000 tournament seat — on the then-nascent PokerStars. He was in debt at the time and came close to selling off his entry. Instead, at 27, went to Las Vegas and became a legend.
But, even then, as he heralded in a new age of poker, Moneymaker did not exactly engender respect from big name guys like Doyle Brunson and Sammy Farha — who finished second to Moneymaker in 2003 […]
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