Chris Moneymaker

Moneymaker was born in Atlanta, Georgia. He attended Farragut High School in Knoxville, Tennessee, and later earned a master's degree in accounting from the University of Tennessee. After receiving his master's degree, Moneymaker worked as a comptroller. He was also a part-time employee at a local restaurant, in Spring Hill, Tennessee.

Moneymaker said that his ancestors made silver and gold coins and chose the name "Moneymaker" as a modification of their German last name, "Nurmacher".{{Cite web |last=Riddell |first=Don |last2=Levy |first2=Glen |date=November 17, 2021 |title=The Moneymaker Effect: Meet the man who helped change the fortunes of poker overnight |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/17/sport/chris-moneymaker-wsop-poker-espn-fortunes-spt-intl/index.html |access-date=May 24, 2023 |website=CNN.com |language=en}}

Moneymaker was working as an accountant when he won a seat in the Main Event of the 2003 World Series of Poker through an $86 satellite tournament at the PokerStars online poker card room. Although largely unknown prior to the tournament, on day one of the tournament his skills caught the attention of professional sports handicapper Lou Diamond, who called Moneymaker his "dark horse to win the whole tournament."{{Cite book |last1=Moneymaker |first1=Chris |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KX_6UTuYuQoC&pg=PA100 |title=Moneymaker: How an Amateur Poker Player Turned $40 into $2.5 Million at the World Series of Poker, pg 99-101 |last2=Paisner |first2=Daniel |date=February 2005 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=9780060760014 |access-date=July 1, 2009}} Moneymaker went on to win the first prize of $2.5 million, instantly garnering poker superstar status. The 2003 WSOP Main Event was his first live poker tournament. One of Moneymaker's most memorable hands was heads-up against Sam Farha, when on the river he bluffed "all in" with King high. Farha folded a pair of nines, quickly changing the momentum of the match. Moneymaker eventually won the tournament when his {{cards|5♦|4♠}} beat Farha's {{cards|J♥|10♦}} on a board of {{cards|J♠|5♠|4♣|8♦|5♥}}, giving Moneymaker a full house ({{cards|5♦|5♠|5♥|4♣|4♠}}) to Farha's two pairs ({{cards|J♥|J♠|5♠|5♥|10♦}}). After winning the Main Event, he quit his job to serve as a celebrity spokesman for Series owner Harrah's Entertainment as well as PokerStars. He also started his own company, Moneymaker Gaming, and began traveling to play in more numerous and larger buy-in tournaments.

His autobiography, Moneymaker: How an Amateur Poker Player Turned $40 into $2.5 Million at the World Series of Poker was published in March 2005. Eric Raskin, editor of All In Magazine, compiled an oral history of the 2003 WSOP Main Event, which included input from three dozen top poker personalities who were involved, also titled The "Moneymaker Effect."{{Cite web |last=Raskin |first=Eric |date=August 3, 2014 |title=Interview with All In Magazine Editor and Moneymaker Effect |url=https://cardplayerlifestyle.com/interview-all-in-magazine-editor-moneymaker-effect-author-eric-raskin/ |access-date=August 3, 2021 |website=Cardplayer Lifestyle Poker |language=en-US}} As part of Moneymaker's success, it appears that Moneymaker misremembered the buy-in to the satellite that he won on PokerStars, leading to the error in the title of his autobiography, which refers to winning a $40 satellite, rather than the correct figure of $86.{{Cite news |last=Willis |first=Brad |date=February 16, 2016 |title=The Moneymaker Boom that almost wasn't |url=https://www.pokerstars.com/en/blog/2016/the-moneymaker-boom-that-almost-wasnt-160534.shtml |access-date=January 15, 2018 |work=PokerStars}}

On the World Poker Tour, Moneymaker finished second at the 2004 Shooting Stars event and won $200,000.{{Cite web |title=World Poker Tour - WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star, WPT No Limit Hold'em Championship Final Day: Hendon Mob Poker Database |url=https://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/event.php?a=r&n=6755 |access-date=2025-04-19 |website=The Hendon Mob Poker Database |language=en}}

During Event 5 of the 2008 World Championship of Online Poker, which was a $10,300 buy-in of No Limit Hold'em, Moneymaker finished in sixth place, taking home over $139,000. He also did well in Event 16, the $215 Pot Limit Omaha with Rebuys, where he finished fifth, earning over $28,000.

Moneymaker won the Deep Stack Pot Limit Omaha event of the World Poker Open tournament in July 2009 and won $15,889.{{Cite web |title=2009 Gold Strike World Poker Open, Pot Limit Omaha |url=https://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/event.php?a=r&n=37236 |access-date=April 2, 2024 |website=The Hendon Mob |language=en}}

Moneymaker placed 11th in the 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event, earning $130,000.{{cite web | title=2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure | website=PokerNews | date=2011-01-08 | url=https://www.pokernews.com/tours/pca/2011-pokerstars-caribbean-adventure/main-event/payouts.htm | access-date=2024-12-11}}

In 2011 Moneymaker placed second at the National Heads-Up Poker Championship against Erik Seidel, earning $300,000.{{Cite web |title=NBC National Heads-Up Championship 2011, No Limit Hold'em |url=https://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/event.php?a=r&n=53909 |access-date=2025-04-18 |website=The Hendon Mob Poker Database |language=en}}

As of 2022, his total live tournament winnings exceed $3,950,000, over $2,550,000 of which has come from the World Series of Poker.

In 2019, Moneymaker was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.{{cite web | last=Glatzer | first=Jason | title=Chris Moneymaker and David Oppenheim Inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame | website=PokerNews | date=2019-07-16 | url=https://www.pokernews.com/news/2019/07/chris-moneymaker-and-david-oppenheim-inducted-into-the-poker-34876.htm | access-date=2024-12-02}}

Moneymaker has been married twice. He and his first wife divorced in 2004; in an interview for a 10-year retrospective on the 2003 WSOP Main Event, he said "The main reason was me wanting to be a traveling poker pro. She didn't sign up for that life. She was married to a stay-at-home accountant who was not traveling the world, gone all the time, and gambling a lot of money. And it was a choice I had to make. I tried to be good, stay at my job, and be that accountant, but in all honesty I didn't want to."{{Cite web |last=Raskin |first=Eric |date=May 22, 2013 |title=When We Held Kings |url=http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9286395/view/full/the-oral-history-2003-world-series-poker-which-chris-moneymaker-turned-39-25-million |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130608002808/http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9286395/view/full/the-oral-history-2003-world-series-poker-which-chris-moneymaker-turned-39-25-million |archive-date=June 8, 2013 |access-date=May 24, 2013 |publisher=Grantland.com}} With his first wife, Moneymaker has a daughter. He married again in 2005.{{cn|date=May 2023}} {{As of|2021}}, they live just outside of Memphis, Tennessee.{{Cite web |last=Somach |first=Tom |date=July 4, 2021 |title=Whatever Happened to Chris Moneymaker? |url=https://www.gambling911.com/Whatever-Happened-to-Chris-Moneymaker.html |access-date=2024-10-16 |website=Gambling911.com}}

• Moneymaker: How an Amateur Poker Player Turned $40 into $2.5 Million at the World Series of Poker (2005) {{ISBN|0-06-076001-X}}
• Chris Moneymaker: A True Story, [http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/en/blog/2015/the-chris-moneymaker-story-157259.shtml Graphic Novel (2015)]

{{reflist}}

• [https://cardplayerlifestyle.com/interview-with-2003-wsop-main-event-champion-chris-moneymaker/ Chris Moneymaker Interview (audio + transcript)]
• [https://www.cardplayer.com/poker-players/1691-chris-moneymaker Card Player profile]
• [http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=18826 Hendon Mob profile]
• [https://www.pokernews.com/poker-players/chris-moneymaker/ PokerNews profile]
• [https://www.worldpokertour.com/player/chris-moneymaker/ WPT profile]
• [http://www.wsop.com/players/profile/?playerID=129 WSOP profile]

{{Team PokerStars}}

{{WSOP Main Event champions}}

{{2000s WSOP Bracelet Winners}}

{{Poker Hall of Fame}}

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Category:1975 births

Category:Living people

Category:World Series of Poker Main Event winners

Category:World Series of Poker bracelet winners

Category:American gambling writers

Category:American male non-fiction writers

Category:American poker players

Category:People from Atlanta

Category:People from Nashville, Tennessee

Category:University of Tennessee alumni

Category:Farragut High School alumni

Category:Poker Hall of Fame inductees