Chris Moneymaker – The Single Biggest Reason for the Popularity of Poker

---

---

Every poker player in the world has heard of Chris Moneymaker, the World Series of Poker winner credited with lighting the fuse that led to the poker boom. Some people outside of the card game, such as football and other sports bettors may also be aware of his fame. This is because he brought about a whole new era in gambling, where there is now a heavier focus on skill and knowledge. It could be argued that Moneymaker is the biggest reason why poker is so popular today.

Who is Chris Moneymaker?

Prior to the 2003 WSOP, Moneymaker was unknown. He was just another name on a list of 839 entrants to that year’s Main Event. This list of players included a high number of professionals, many of whom were considered to be among the best Texas Hold’em players in the world at the time. These included five-time WSOP bracelet winner and 1998 champion Scotty Nguyen, and 15-time WSOP bracelet winner and 1989 champion Phil Helmuth. Other notable entries to the 2003 competition were Phil Ivey and Sam Farha who finished in 10th and 2nd place respectively – both were knocked out by Moneymaker.

When Moneymaker bagged the $2.5 million cash prize, winning the final hand with a 5/4 offsuit, he became one of the most famous players in the world. This is because, before the tournament, he had just been a regular guy. Moneymaker had qualified for the competition through an online poker site, and he made the most of his opportunity to play against the big guns. The ability of an amateur player to defeat the experts in the businesses has since been named the “Moneymaker Effect,” and it shows that any decent player in the world has a chance at hitting the big time in poker with enough perseverance.

Kick-started an Online Craze

The reason why Moneymaker is credited with kick-starting the online poker boom is that others realised that they had a chance to follow in his footsteps. The incredible effect of his victory was evident in the following year’s WSOP Main Event. The number of entrants shot up by nearly two thousand to 2,576. This figure also highlighted the sheer number of online poker sites that began to crop up that year, in order to deal with the demand.

Nowadays, there are millions of poker players all over the world, in almost every country. And this is all thanks to the online poker revolution. Prior to Moneymaker’s victory, poker was mainly played in the USA and the UK. But now, it is played in numerous countries, with growing markets like South Africa. There are so many options in the African nation that aggregator sites like casinos.co.za have been created to help players sift through them all. The site recommends the best places to play, and also provides useful information about the different types of poker. The ratings are based on numerous factors including safety and reliability, and the variety of poker games.

Ushered in a New Era of Tactical Thinking

Moneymaker’s victory shattered the myth that professional poker players were somehow endowed with superhuman abilities. It gave players the belief that with practice and dedication, they too could come out on top in the poker world’s paramount competition. This brought about a new era in online play, in which players began to utilise all the tools at their disposal to try to get to the higher levels of the game.

This level of detailed analysis isn’t only apparent in poker, it has been seen across all areas of betting. Bettors are moving away from the days of gut instinct and, instead, turning to stats and data when it comes to staking on markets. Just as a poker player will weigh up his outs and the probability that he will win a hand, football betting gurus  need to take into account things like form, fixture, and the potential key battles on the pitch.

Chris Moneymaker may not be the only factor behind the amazing rise of poker, but his WSOP win certainly played a massive part. Without it, amateur players may have continued to believe that they didn’t have a chance against the best in the business. Now, everyone knows that with practice and patience, anyone can at least attempt to take on the pros.