In 2003, Chris Moneymaker burst on the scene, winning over two million dollars as a World Series of Poker Main Event Champion. This little upstart from the online poker world had turned the sport on its ear. Nobody expected someone, for whom poker was something best played on a computer while wearing pajamas, to best the sport’s biggest names and take a Main Event bracelet home. Of course anyone with a name like “Moneymaker” is bound to either become a huge success or a living irony, Chris seemed to be on the trail of living up to his surname. That was then, now he is quickly falling into the “where are they now” category.
While Chris still probably still makes more money than beleaguered middle managers, union pipe-fitters, and the Senators who were bribed into voting for the new American economic “stimulus” package, the truth is that he is no longer one of the most visible and celebrated people in the sport. Moneymaker started off by becoming the hero for the common man. He was the first to display that someone from the Pajama Army of online poker players could stand toe to toe with the legends, and soundly beat them. The problem with this was that suddenly thousands of folks from the Pajama Army of online poker players actually decided it was time to step up and play with the big boys. Chris, amidst the clamor of thousands of new players all reaching for their place in the sun, simply got lost.
If you look at his record over the past few years, he has done very little to build on the success from his WSOP Main Event victory. While he is not quite the flash in the pan that a lot of bracelet winners seem to become, it has been a long time since Chris has been a threat in a major tournament. In 2009 he took second place at Event 19 of the 2009 WSOP Circuit Event - Harrah's Tunica. Perhaps this is the start of Chris becoming an elite player, and not just a guy who happened to win a bracelet. Only time will tell.
