Chris Moneymaker
Chris Moneymaker
1,765 global poker index
0 world poker tour index
$6,202,623 total poker live earnings
Chris Moneymaker poker player profile. Get latest information, winnings and gallery.
Profile
- name
- Chris Moneymaker
- Nationality
United States- GPI Rank
- 1,765
- WPT Wins
- 0
- total poker live earnings
- $6,202,623
Biography
“This is beyond fairy tale. Its inconceivable!” Norman Chad
Chris Moneymaker is an American poker player who won the 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event. He was the first Main Event winner to qualify through online poker. His victory, coupled with the rise in popularity of televised poker, gave rise to the early 2000s poker boom. This is sometimes dubbed ‘The Moneymaker Effect’.
In 2019, Moneymaker was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.
Biography
Moneymaker was born in Georgia and went on to earn a master’s degree in accounting from the University of Tennessee.
In 2003, he won a seat to the WSOP Main Event in an $86 satellite on PokerStars. Coming into the Main Event, no one knew who Moneymaker was, but he battled his way to the top and defeated a final table that included Sam Farha and Phil Ivey.
He took home $2,500,000 for his efforts, defeating a field of 839 entries. The impact of his victory cannot be understated. In the space of three years, the Main Event field would increase to 8,773 as online satellites, televised poker and a boom in interest in the game saw players take their shot at following in Moneymaker’s footsteps.
“I went back to work, because I didn’t realize I could be making enough money to retire or quit doing what I was doing,” Moneymaker told PokerNews in 2016. “It wasn’t really until it started airing on TV. They had it on a loop and I guess that really woke me up to the fact there was something to it. Poker was not just a passing fad. It looked like it was going to be around more than just a few years and somehow I was part of the driving factor behind all that.”
He also was a member of PokerStars Team Pro for 17 years, before leaving in 2020.
Related: Chris Moneymaker’s WSOP Memories## Other Poker Achievements
A year after his WSOP victory, Moneymaker placed second at the 2004 Shooting Star WPT event for $200,000.
WSOP Main Event Winners 1994-2003
| YEAR | ENTRIES | CHAMPION | COUNTRY | PRIZE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 839 | Chris Moneymaker | United States | $2,500,000 |
| 2002 | 631 | Robert Varkonyi | United States | $2,000,000 |
| 2001 | 613 | Carlos Mortensen | Spain | $1,500,000 |
| 2000 | 512 | Chris Ferguson | United States | $1,500,000 |
| 1999 | 393 | Noel Furlong | Ireland | $1,000,000 |
| 1998 | 350 | Scotty Nguyen | Vietnam | $1,000,000 |
| 1997 | 312 | Stu Ungar | United States | $1,000,000 |
| 1996 | 295 | Huck Seed | United States | $1,000,000 |
| 1995 | 273 | Dan Harrington | United States | $1,000,000 |
| 1994 | 268 | Russ Hamilton | United States | $1,000,000 |
Kentucky Poker Room Purchase and Forced Closure
Prior to the pandemic, Moneymaker, who resides in Mississippi, had planned to open a poker room in Dallas, Texas. Due to COVID-19, he decided against that move.
Instead, in September 2022, he opened a card room in Paducah, Kentucky, a small town in the northwest corner of the state, four hours from his home. The room, called Moneymaker Social Club, operated similarly to a Texas poker room in that, due to gambling being illegal in both states, he didn’t take rake out of the pots. The money was made via selling memberships to the club and charging seat fees.
All was fine until February 2023 when the county attorney, Cade Foster, reversed course and determined that his business was operating illegally. Facing criminal charges, including a felony, Moneymaker was forced to remove the poker tables from his social club. He is continuing to operate the business for the time being and still hopes to one day be able to legally bring poker back to Moneymaker Social Club.
PokerNews Covered Events
| Event | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 RGPS TunicaRGPS Main Event | 4th | $24,455 |
| 2023 World Series of PokerEvent #76: $10,000 WSOP Main Event World Championship | 403rd | $40,000 |
| 2023 PokerStars Players No-Limit Hold’em Championship2023 PokerStars Players No-Limit Hold’em Championship | 139th | $40,300 |
| 2022 World Series of PokerEvent #70: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event World Championship | 1198th | $15,000 |
| 2022 World Series of PokerEvent #71: $1,111 One More for One Drop | 167th | $4,341 |
| 2021 World Series of PokerEvent #67: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event World Championship | 260th | $38,600 |
| Lone Star Poker Series Champions Social$1,300 Texas State $1M GTD Main Event | 148th | $2,825 |
| Stars CALL For Action powered by PokerStars - Charity TournamentStars CALL For Action powered by PokerStars - Charity Tournament | 5th | $20,000 |
| Moneymaker’s Road to PSPC 2020 - Seminole Hard Rock$360 Main Event | 32nd | $765 |
| Moneymaker’s Road to PSPC 2020 - Dublin175 Main Event - Road to PSPC | 7th | €3,260 |
| Moneymaker’s Road to PSPC 2020 - London140 Main Event - Road to PSPC | 15th | £940 |
| Moneymaker’s Road to PSPC 2020 - Newcastle140 Main Event - Road to PSPC | 50th | £267 |
| Moneymaker’s Road to PSPC 2020 - Hippodome London140 Main Event - Road to PSPC | 15th | £588 |
| 2019 PokerStars EPT Open Sochi133,000 EPT Open Main Event | 119th | 227,500 RUB |
| 2019 World Series of PokerEvent #73: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em MAIN EVENT - World Championship | 687th | $20,200 |
| 2019 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Vegas @ Aria$10,300 Main Event | 9th | $80,000 |
| 2019 World Series of PokerEvent #61: COLOSSUS - $400 No-Limit Hold’em | 1354th | $689 |
| 2017 WinStar River Poker SeriesMain Event | 105th | $4,089 |
| 2017 PokerStars Championship SochiMain Event | 15th | 1,815,000 RUB |
| 2016 PokerStars Festival - New Jersey$300 NL Hold’em PokerStars Cup | 11th | $720 |
| Hollywood Poker Open Season 4 Charles Town Regional Main Event$1,115 Regional Main Event | 4th | $10,080 |
| Hollywood Poker Open Season 4 Toledo Regional Main Event$1,115 Regional Main Event | 23rd | $2,746 |
| Hollywood Poker Open Season 3 Grantville Regional Main EventRegional Main Event | 7th | $4,402 |
| 2014 Hollywood Poker Open St. Louis Regional EventHPO St. Louis Regional Championship | 1st | $36,259 |
| 2014 Hollywood Poker Open Tunica Regional EventHPO Tunica Regional Championship | 3rd | $6,016 |
| 2012 PokerStars.com EPT SanremoMain Event | 116th | €8,000 |
| 2012 WinStar River Poker SeriesMain Event | 86th | $4,517 |
| 2011 NBC National Heads-Up Poker ChampionshipNBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship | 2nd | $300,000 |
| 2011 PokerStars Caribbean AdventureMain Event | 11th | $130,000 |
| 2010 PokerStars.com EPT Grand Final - Monte CarloMain Event | 69th | €25,000 |
| 2010 NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship$20,000 Heads-up Championship | 15th | $25,000 |
| 2007 EPT - LondonEPT London - Main Event | 17th | £12,230 |
| 2007 World Series of PokerEvent 3 - $1,500 No Limit Holdem | 233rd | $3,888 |
