Chris Moneymaker

Biography

Chris Moneymaker made a splash on to the poker scene in 2003 when he won the 2.5 million prize at the main event of the World Series of Poker. A master’s graduate in accounting and a comptroller by profession, Chris played poker as an amateur during his spare time. Unemployment post 2001 gave him extra free time which turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it provided him greater opportunities to explore poker and its nuances. He entered the $39 online satellite event in 2003 and went on all the way to stun the top rankers at Vegas. A subsequent second position at the World Poker Tournament shooting star event in 2004 convinced him to quit his nine month old day time accounting job and enter the world of poker full-time. Ever since, Chris has had 4 money finishes at WSOP and is a regular at the European Poker Tour and even has two money finishes there as well to his name.

After his 2003 victory, Chris has not been able to replicate his success with as much authority, although he has come very close to winning the WSOP and WPT in 2004. However, he was the first person to have won a WSOP title having qualified through an online satellite tournament and is said to have revolutionised the game quite dramatically. His overnight celebrity status and rags to riches story brought a lot of attention to poker and gave rise to the belief that the high stakes were not the prerogative of the games’ stalwarts. His rise to fame made him a sought after celebrity and he has travelled extensively as a spokesperson for Poker tournaments like Pokerstars. He also runs his own business, Moneymaker Gaming and has even written an autobiography ‘How an Amateur Poker Player Turned $40 into $2.5 Million at the World Series of Poker’.

Chris considers No Limit Hold’em as his personal strong point with regards to the variant of poker he is most comfortable with. However, he enjoys all forms of the game and is consistently studying the game to seek out improvements. He holds the WSOP achievement as his largest professional achievement but does however claim that his best personal achievement was graduating from college and getting himself into a master’s programme. Chris has a current Net worth estimated to be around $3.2 million. When he isn’t at the poker table, he spends his time with family, his various business interests and travelling around as a celebrity spokesperson for the game.

Poker Career Highlights