TN's Chris Moneymaker - The Moneymaker Effect

You know you have left your mark on Internet poker and the legendary World Series of Poker when the amazing explosion of online poker in the US and of course also Tennessee online poker is described with a term which bears your name. Truth is often stranger than fiction, and so it is that the man named Moneymaker did just that for himself, also creating hundreds of millions of dollars for the online poker industry over the last 10 years. In 2003, Chris Moneymaker was a quiet 27-year-old accountant from Tennessee who had to borrow half of the $39 entry fee for a World Series of Poker satellite qualifier from his father to have a shot at history.

That $39 investment on PokerStars turned into a $2.5 million championship payday when Moneymaker took down the 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event. Called by industry analysts and poker historians as possibly the most significant win in poker history, it gave legitimacy to Moneymaker's name, and fueled the rags to riches Internet poker dream in many Tennessee, US and international amateur poker players. In 2003, there were a total of 839 hopefuls, both amateurs and professionals, in the World Series of Poker Texas Hold 'Em main event.

After the Moneymaker win, the field tripled to more than 2,500 entries in 2004, continuing to grow to a record 8,773 entrants in 2006. How big was Chris Moneymaker's impact on the Internet poker industry? Industry analysts in 2004 gave full credit to the improbable achievement that the amateur Chris Moneymaker pulled off, as well as the influence it had on Internet poker players around the world, naming the incredible impact after him. And the Moneymaker Effect is still going strong a decade later, as the World Series of poker has never seen less than 6,300 entrants or a grand prize of less than $8.25 million since 2006.

Borrowing $20 from your dad to play in a World Series of Poker satellite, winning that satellite that only earned you entry into a second satellite qualifier, then winning that tournament as well and an entry into the physical WSOP Main Event, and then beating more than 800 amateurs and professionals to win a grand prize of $2.5 million sounds like the invention of a Hollywood script writer. But this is reality, and 10 years later Moneymaker, who earned a Masters degree in accounting at the University of Tennessee, has a big admission to make. The top three finishes in that qualifier earned WSOP Main Event seats, with the fourth-place finisher being awarded $8,000. Moneymaker, a young husband and father at the time, had his eyes set on the fourth place finish and the money that he so desperately needed at the time.

History and fate had different ideas for Mister Moneymaker. Chris admits that his historical impact on the online poker industry in the United States and abroad was probably stronger than it may have been if someone else had won. He is an admitted good old Southern boy, who is likely to "come to your Saturday home game, have a beer, and hang out." He believes that the average amateur player with dreams of WSOP glory and riches can look at him and say, "He's just a regular guy. If he can do it, I can do it." And having the self-described country bumpkin from Tennessee beating the polished and perfectly attired Vegas Pro Sammy Farha just made the story better. No doubt there are still Internet poker players from Tennessee and around the United States who are playing online right now because of the amazing effect this quiet young Tennessee native had on the world of poker.