Moneymaker effect

The Moneymaker effect is the name of the sudden growth in interest in poker after the 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event.[1][2]

History

The term was created after Chris Moneymaker, a 27-year-old accountant and amateur poker player from Tennessee, United States, outlasted 838 other players to win the 2003 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, thereby winning the US$2.5 million prize and the title of World Champion.[1] Moneymaker became the new poster boy for poker, inspiring potential players to believe that "staying at home in front of a computer screen could be more profitable than going to work."[1] His improbable win also started a new era in poker in which "a nobody could topple the feared pros."[3]

According to an article in the Las Vegas Sun, Moneymaker's victory has been credited with launching the "poker craze", along with assistance from televised tournaments with hole-card cameras and the increased popularity of online poker.[4]

Moneymaker gained entrance to the 2003 World Series of Poker by winning a $86 poker satellite tournament at the online poker card room PokerStars. This win gave him a seat at a table in a larger satellite tournament whose grand prize was a seat at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, Nevada, which costs $10,000. Moneymaker won that tournament and went on to compete in the 2003 WSOP event.

Now a member of Team PokerStars, Moneymaker's biography on the PokerStars website reads: "His story sparked a tidal wave of interest in poker, a phenomenon that’s been nicknamed the 'Moneymaker Effect' [...] he’ll always be remembered for that epic victory in 2003. It’s a legacy he is clearly proud of and one that’s given him the kind of life all poker players dream of."[5] Moneymaker's story of how an amateur beat some of the best poker players in the world and win a multimillion-dollar cash prize is believed to have inspired millions of people to begin playing poker, both online and in card rooms around the world.[5]

At the 2004 World Series of Poker the following year, a semi-professional player, Greg Raymer, also qualified online and went on to win that year's Main Event, along with its $5 million grand prize, against a much larger field of 2,576 players.[3]

See also

References
  1. Swains, Howard (March 18, 2006). "Moneymaker method can show the way to a fortune—Poker". The Times. Archived July 12, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Moneymaker method can show the way to a fortune". The Times. March 18, 2006.
  3. Goldman, Adam (May 31, 2004). "Internet Levels Playing Field for Poker Glory". South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
  4. Las Vegas Sun, The Biggest Stories in the World Series of Poker. December 18, 2009 .
  5. "Chris Moneymaker". PokerStars. Retrieved July 1, 2009.
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