Chris Moneymaker
What a Cinderella story! Chris Moneymaker puts $40.00 down in an online game which turns into a spot in the 2003 WSOP, which turns into a $2.5 million first place win. If that isn’t enough, since he doesn’t have the money to get to Las Vegas, he borrows it from his good friend, David Gamble. Since then, the 27-year-old former accountant from Tennessee has been busy.
After the unknown poker player from Tennessee won the 2003 WSOP, he realized it was the last time he would win anything as an unknown. In 2004, he came in 2nd at the Bay 101 Shooting Stars World Poker Tour event.
Even though he grew up playing cards, Chris Moneymaker isn’t the poker fanatic some other professional poker players are. While he seems to enjoy the game, money seems to be the motivation behind his success. Taking care of his family, however, is the reason he’s interested in that money. Inspired by the poker movie “Rounders,” after which Moneymaker started playing poker more seriously, he found it surreal to find himself playing poker next to Johnny Chan, who also played in the movie.
When Moneymaker became the first person to win the WSOP by qualifying on the Internet, it changed how some people viewed poker and the idea of gambling for a living. Many people realize now that you can keep your day job, which Chris Moneymaker highly advises, and play poker too. No longer do you have to pack your suitcases and struggle to get to Las Vegas, hoping to make enough money playing poker to play again. Since Moneymaker’s WSOP win, the number of poker sites on the Internet has increased dramatically. “If he can do it,” others say, “I can too.” And it’s true. Anyone can have a Cinderella story. It just doesn’t happen very often.
After his big win, Chris Moneymaker wrote his autobiography and hopes his experience will be turned into a movie. He has said Tobey Maguire would be good to play him. He tries to sound nonchalant when he talks of playing poker with Maguire, Ben Affleck, and other celebrities. He says he’s just one of the gang now. Even so, he still uses his alias “Money800” when he plays at his old haunt, Pokerstars.net, which is where he won his way into the WSOP. He says he likes to go in now, win a couple hundred dollars, and get out.
As for now, he’s still busy. He can be heard on Thursdays on Sirius Satellite radio on Playboy’s morning show. He also has a website where he sells poker supplies. He also endorses Canadian Club Whiskey. He became a spokesperson for Pokerstars.com, and in 2004 he filmed the poker video, “Poker for Dummies,” where he reads tips and basic strategies for the new poker player. In addition, he has a video game called “Chris Moneymaker’s World Poker Championship”.
Chris Moneymaker says Daniel Negreanu is his favorite poker player, and like Negreanu, Chris got married in 2005 in Las Vegas. Unlike Negreanu, however, he didn’t move to Las Vegas, preferring instead to stay in his hometown of Nashville. Shortly after he won the WSOP in 2003, Moneymaker stated that he was going through a divorce, but he has bounced back with wife Christina Wren. He also has a daughter that he’s crazy about.
Stating that he is a pretty simple guy, Chris Moneymaker said that the coolest thing he bought with his WSOP earnings was his house. He also donated $25,000 to cancer research and paid back his backers.
When asked if he’ll ever go back to mainstream work again, Chris Moneymaker answers “yes”, and then explains that he owns his own business now and that has become his mainstream work. He doesn’t plan to count on poker winnings to support him and his family forever. He is happy, though, that he got to play the leading role in this Cinderella story.