Chris
Moneymaker
Is the
real
name of
the
twenty-seven
year old
who won
the 2003
World
Series
of Poker
No Limit Hold'em
Championship.
His
story is
fit for
a
Hollywood
movie,
beginning
with
winning
his
entry
into the
Series
via the
PokerStars
online
card
room.
His
total
investment
was
forty
dollars,
and he
won
$2,500,000.
After
winning
his way
into the
event,
he
realized
it would
be
difficult
to
scrape
together
airfare
and
hotel
costs.
His
father,
Mike and
a
friend,
David
Gamble
(also
his real
name)
put up
some
money to
cover
the cost
for the
trip in
exchange
for a
portion
of his
winnings.
He also
donated
$25,000
of his
prize to
cancer
research.
Christopher
Brian
Moneymaker
took the
World
Series
of Poker
2003 by
storm.
There
are many
people
who
insist
that it
was the
luck of
the
cards
that
earned
Chris
his
victory.
Although,
luck
played a
part in
his
victory
(it
plays a
part in
every
victory),
he
showed
that he
has the
skill to
play
with the
big
boys. He
had been
playing
three
years
before
he won
the
Series,
but had
never
played a
live
tournament.
The
first
day he
had
Johnny
Chan
sitting
on his
right
and Phil
Ivey on
his
left. He
said
that he
got
outplayed
and that
night
decided
to not
be
afraid
anymore.
If he
got
beat, he
got
beat,
but he
was
going to
play his
game.
Indeed
he did.
He mixed
it up
beautifully
and made
some
great
plays
along
the way.
The one
hand
that
sticks
in a lot
of
people's
minds is
when he
went all
in with
his
pocket
8s
against
Humberto
Brenes's
pocket
A's. He
caught
the 8
giving
him a
set and
sent
Humberto
to the
rail.
Yes, he
got
extremely
lucky,
but don't
consider
what he
did to
be a bad
play. If
he had
known
that Humberto
was
holding
the
pocket
aces,
then yes
that
would
have
been a
terrible
mistake,
but he
didn't
know.
The play
that
Chris
made
that I
loved
was
against
Russ
"Dutch"
Boyd.
Moneymaker
was
holding
pocket
threes
while
Dutch
held KQ.
The flop
came
down 925
and
Chris
bet
$100,000
into the
pot.
Dutch
Boyd
thought,
and then
moved
all-in.
After
thinking
for
awhile,
Chris
called
the bet.
Before
the two
of them
flip
their
cards
over,
Chris
asked
for low
cards
proving
that he
read
Dutch
correctly
in
having
high
cards,
no
pair.
This key
move
crippled
Dutch
and
helped
give
Chris
the
chips he
needed
to win
the
tournament.
He still
uses his
screen
name of
Money800
when he
plays at PokerStars
and
tries to
answer
questions
when
people
direct
them at
him.
Once in
awhile,
he has
to turn
his chat
off, but
that is
rare.
Chris
won the
final
hand
with a
full
house,
fives
full of
fours,
defeating
veteran
ring
game
player
Sam
Farha's
top
pair.
Sammy
Farha
got 1.3
million
for his
second
place
finish.
Chris
was an
accountant
at the
time of
his win.
He now
travels
the
world as
a
spokesman
for
various
poker
related
products
and
plays
tournaments
when he
can. The
one
thing
Chris
will
never be
able to
do is
use what
he did
to help
him
achieve
his
victory
in
2003...
being an
unknown.
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