- Team PokerStars Pro
- Chris Moneymaker
- Greg Raymer
- Joe Hachem
- Barry Greenstein
- Isabelle Mercier
- Daniel Negreanu
- John Duthie
- Tom McEvoy
- Steve Paul Ambrose
- Vanessa Rousso
- Luca Pagano
- Victor Ramdin
- Lee Nelson
- Bertrand Grospellier
- Humberto Brenes
- Bill Chen
- Katja Thater
- Noah Boeken
- Andre Akkari
- Dario Minieri
- Hevad Khan
- Raymond Rahme
- Tuan Lam
- Gavin Griffin
- Chad Brown
- Victoria Coren
Team PokerStars Pro - Chris Moneymaker
Chris Moneymaker
Chris Moneymaker probably had more to do with the poker explosion that all players have enjoyed than any other single person. His story was just too amazing not to be inspirational.
Chris, an accountant who had never played a live tournament before, parlayed a $39 PokerStars satellite into the biggest prize poker had ever seen. In the course of battling his way through the largest field ever seen until that point in the World Series of Poker, Chris encountered a few crucial junctures, not least of which was a hand between Chris and Russ "Dutch" Boyd. Moneymaker had pocket threes and Dutch Boyd had KQ. The flop was 925, Chris opted to come out firing and Dutch Boyd either thought he was bluffing or decided to pull a bluff of his own and went all-in. After a lengthy pause, Chris made what turned out to be an inspired call. His pocket threes held up, and this major pot put him in a strong position to go on and make the final table. On the final table, Chris eventually found himself with only Sammy Farha standing between him and poker immortality. After first executing a well-timed bluff, Chris then flopped bottom two pair, a fine hand for heads-up poker, against Sammy's top pair, Chris check-raised Farha and Farha went all-in. The turn brought an innocuous eight; the river brought a four, making an unneeded full house for Chris, and of course the start of his celebrations as the 2003 World Champion.
Chris took on all comers and triumphed, earning himself $2.5 million dollars, and in the process started a poker revolution. Chris played fearlessly and with heart and life has never been the same for him, or any other person who loves the game of poker. How can one not be impressed with this everyday guy's story? And to top it all off, his name is Moneymaker! Hollywood writers could not have scripted it any better.
Life after the WSOP
Life has changed dramatically since his big win for this former accountant from Tennessee. Chris proved he was more than lucky in his World Series of Poker victory by following it up with a 2nd place at the 2004 Bay 101 Shooting Stars Tournament. This 2nd place further padded his bankroll with another $200,000 and proved that he was more than a one hit wonder.
He now spends his time travelling the world, promoting a variety of poker related products and playing in big buy-in tournaments like the WPT Invitational, the World Poker Finals at Foxwoods, the PokerStars Caribbean Poker Adventure when he can afford the time.
For more information on what Moneymaker is doing these days, visit www.chrismoneymaker.com. Chris Moneymaker is proud to play for PokerStars using the screen name Money800.
