POKER INFO - PROILE - Chris Moneymaker
 

Luckiest player on earth.

The kid never backed down. Agressive, Agressive, Agressive. You don't get lucky that many times. Look at all the great players he sent to the rail!

Decent amatuer, but very lucky. Just look how he played that infamous hand against Brenes!

Lucky...but very wealthy because of his stones.

Great job Moneymaker. You give the amatuer player hope. Best of luck to you.

brenes. enough said. he has to be a decent player to get this far, but he can never play my cash, ever.

Moneymaker???? Weatlthy yes fourtunate of course. Poker player No way. That week great for moneymaker yes. But shortly after he comes to ceasers glory of rome in southern indiana and drops a huge chunk of his bankroll in a 30-60 ring game he was awful I'll play with moneymaker any time anywhere see ya in ceasers soon again i hope HACK your a HACK

That call he made against Dutch Boyd with pocket threes with three overcards on the flop was awesome. He could've gone home had he lost that hand ...

Dont think hes good. He did not deserve the win. Luky little basterd!!!!!!

Poker king, learn who to talk and type. Good for moneymaker, because I didn't see poker king win the WSOP. Big Deal if lost to you and some of your backwards Indiana friends, everyone loses once in awhile, buy not everyone wins as big as he did. he took em all down one by one.

Dont Be Hating Chris Beacause He Won The Wsop. Sure He Got Lucky A Few Hands Who Doesn't? Its Poker For Christ Sake. But I Think For An Amaturer He Did Very Good. I Like His Poker Face Handled The Pressure Quite Well. Hes Allright In My Book.

he's good for a amaturer, but he had no business winning that. he got so lucky it was unreal. but poker is luck also . but wow did he get lucky ... but i will tip my hat to him .... he picked the right time to get lucky.lol wow ,,, poker king ... he won 2.5 million lol what could have lost in a 30-60 game 10k at the most .... wow do the math u .... u think he cares about the 10-20 k he lost. wow he got another 2.48 million

why do y'all play poker? to win money? I thought so....he won it...you didn't. Don't cry "luck"...no one believes your stupid story anyway PokerKing....it's easy to be a hotshot on the web.

A player with a TON of heart, a guy not afraid to push it all in with nothing...of course, this makes him tremendously tough to play, and if he can get some more good cards this year I predict he will go well on after the 1st day...unlike R. Varkoyni. Sure, Chris sucked out a couple of times but on those occasions only half or so of his stack was at risk, remember the call against Dutch? Great reader, underestimated I think.

Chris is a good tournament player. Look at some of the plays a few of the "greats" such as Chan and Ivey made vs him; I dont see anyone dissing them. Chan made a god-awful bluff at him, trying to outplay, and people like to say how "lucky" he was vs. Ivey. TOTAL BS. Ivey called 300K of his stack with a 2 outer, and hit, and you expect CM to fold top trips best kicker? Ivey hit a 22-1, Cm hit a 6.5-1, so lets not talk luck. On the brenes hand, yeah, he got lucky, but only because brenes played it that way. I GUARANTEE he doesn't call 88 if brenes goes all in, but brenes tried to get tricky, and got busted. ANY player who wins a tourney gets lucky, period. CM is a solid tourney player, and comparisons to Varkonyi are laughable. Varkonyi won when behind and with TERRIBLE cards at least 6 times in the late stages, and then got hit with the deck. The only reason the guy who finished 2nd,(who was a very good player, but his name escapes me at the time) couldn't beat him, is that he couldn't get a hand, and he knew Varkonyi wasn't good enough to fold anything. People who think CM sux at tourney poker just don't know how good tourney poker is played, plain and simple.

He Put All His Money In When He was behind several times..He made so many mistakes a typical internet player makes.. If he gets to final table again I will walk to Vegas....P.S. His dad was a total idiot as well!!!!

Yes All his MISTAKES PAID OFF..oh yeah nikki baby...I'm sure Ron will be seeing you at the $1-2 tables.

Luck skill whatever. He's the champ enough said. Go Vols!

Moneymaker is a good player but luck definately played a factor, should have definately been out with that call on Phil Ivey, and there were other incidences. But then again he also made some great calls later on in the tournament, like the one he made against Dutch Boyd, loved it.

pokerdali, second place at the wsop in 2002 was 23 year old julian gardner. a very solid player. cheers.

While CM DEFINITELY got lucky, I agree with pokerdali that he made some great plays that everyone doesn't realize. I agree that his won over Ivey was not ridiculous, what was redicilous was Ivey hitting the 9 on 4th street. But most of all, CM went all in when he was heads up against Farha, after he missed the flush and straight draw, and got Farha to fold top pair (jacks) when CM was holding absolute garbage. That was a championship play. Luck is a huge part in poker, even when you have a lot of skill.

Farha folded a pair of 9's that hand...CM was so amped by that pot that he couldn't even REMEMBER what was on the board. (He thought the high card was a 10 by the way)

Ive been playing and watching poker for over 20 years and CM played as well as any pro in that tournament. He got lucky just like every person who has every won has but to all of you who think he has no skill how many of you could have bluffed out a man with top pair or called with poket 33 againts someone who tried to buy the pot. I dont know if he will ever be at the final table again but i do know with out the great calls and bluffs he did make all the luck he got wouldnt have got him the title. Great job moneymaker

I agree with billye , moneymaker is a bafoon..

Just a message to everyone talking about how Chris Moneymaker is horribly lucky and everything:Talk all you want, but the fact is, you wish you had won the WSOP. One guy gets lucky and wins 2.5 million dollars, and everyone hates him.Would you hate someone who won the lottery?

The simple facts are that he made some giant mistakes. The odds of him winning with these type of mistakes were slim. He will never make it past the first day again.. MM will be making a $10000 donation every year for the rest of his life!!!

Does everyone remeber the final hand i played against money maker?Kh-5h against A nut flush draw only 7 hearts were left in the deck!!I put the position into my computer,I had a 72%of winning he just got lucky.

I was unsure what to think of Moneymaker until he took down that pot against Farha heads up. One of the best bluffs I've ever seen. Anyone can win a pot when they have a hand, but only the pros can take down a pot with rags. Maybe he's not a pro, but that was a pro move.

rebuttals, in order;Billye: Name the SEVERAL times he put all his $$ i when behind. I can think of 2,(other than a bluff), 88 vs AA, and AQ vs 99. what are the others? name me a player who played better overall. Tll me "all the other mistakes the typical internet player makes" he made. allin vs aggression with a draw only? Calling 25% of his stack with a likely 2 outer? Oh, no, those were moves made by Johnny CHan and Phil Ivey, 2 of the best players on the planet.smallstakes sammy;Again, what HUGE mistakes? 88 was the only one, and it was an aggression mistake. If he CALLS 88, then thats a HUGE mistake, but he didn't. Maybe you just don't know the difference."Johnny CHan" (yeah, right) Actually, he had top pair/mid kicker and njut flush draw, so CM was about a 97% favorite.

When CM won the WSOP, he played a couple of days later a 200$ buy in on sunday at PokerStars. I noticed that i had make a note on his picture "money800". I made this note before he played the wsop ..And you know what my note was : you guess i will posted it in a couple of days

Call it what you want, but Chris is laughing the whole way to the bank. He played very well. In poker you need to have the skill and make the right calls to get in an oppertunity to get a little lucky. And you do need some lucky catches to win a tournament of that size. He made some great calls to put himself in position to catch some luck. Alot of players would not have made some of the great plays he did to put himself in a position to get some luck and win the whole thing! Good Job Chris and I hope you do well next year!

Hey pokerdali,your as dumb as MM. After tomer reraised to about 500,000. The nitwit called with A2 suited .That might be the worse play of them all. The blinds were 15,000-30,000..His job is to not let this guy double up..A2 is a Internet Players dream hand.. Pros know how much of a dog he could of been and would of threw away that hand..You look at the end results instead of reality.......

CM called A2s because A; HE had a stack. B. He Knew guys were getting aggressive substandard. HE was right, plain and siple. Just like when people say he got lucky and was dumb vs BOyd w/ the 33 hand. HE CALLED FOR LOW CARDS B4 BOYD EVEN SHOWED! If you dont understand this level of play, don't talk crap to someone who does. From your commentary, it's obvious i've FORGOTTEN more about tourney poker than you'll ever know, and make more in a average day of poker than you do in a year, thus SMALLSTAKES SAMMY! His play at the final table was as solid as anyones, and any PRO (emphasis obviously necessary) would understand that. AMir Vahdei is one of the best players in the world in tourneys, yet hwe looked like a idiot. ANy comments on him; of course not. High level poker at times looks bad. CM played solid aggressive poker, and was rewarded. Stick to the small stakes.

My Dead grandmother Knew he was up against overcards at minimum..... He was a slight favorite or a huge dog...Thanks for pointing out another mistake he made...If you call with threes in this situation you have no clue... How many tournaments have you won, you moron? Keep praising your idol and maybe some day you'll get blown out with small pairs against huge raises....THIS OBSERVATION BY YOU EXPOSES YOU AS A TOTAL FRAUD.. VAHEDI MADE THE AGGRESSIVE MOVE, HE DIDN'T CALL IT.. CALLING WITH BAD HANDS IS WAY WORSE THAN BLUFFING WITH THEM.......YES POCKET THREES ARE A HORRIBLE CALL, POKER 101.......

Uhh...What? His call was on the F-L-O-P, Dutch only had two more cards to outdraw him. I actually think the percentile meter said MM was about a 70% favorite. So it was a great call. In that situation the only potential bad factor is that is it for ALL his chips...but again, he is a big favorite. It's the equivalent of him calling with AK over A10 or something. Yes, if MM called and Dutch had A9, heck yes it would be a bad call, but the word IF is huge here. How can you honestly say it's THAT bad of a call? He basically won the tournament because of it, he was playing to win--he knew he needed the big stack to do so. I just think you REALLY REALLY hate MM.

Nevermind,stop looking at tv percentages and think .....

Funny, your dead grandmother was WRONG, just like you. Must be genetic. And vahedi CALLED preflop twice with absolute trash, which BOTH chipped away at his huge stack.As someone else staed, the 33 play was on the flop, and he KNEW BOyd was on a play. by the way, I've won about 35k in tournaments the last year, and i dont even play them that much. Keep playing those low limit games, and if you ever wanna step up, come find me playing 200+15 10 person sit n go's on party 4 at a time, 150 tourneys a week......

People who think he's an absolute hack obviously know nothing about Tournament Poker at that level. I had the unfortunate experience of being busted by this guy last week at the Bay 101. Believe me he is for real. Impossible to read, and very difficult to bluff. He called me down with an underpair with 2 overcards on the board (which I missed). I can't think of too many pros that would have had the guts to make that play. In the WSOP, I think he made 1 mistake, calling Tomer's all in. To be honest, it wasn't that bad of a call. Chris had Tomer outchipped 4/1 and those of us who have played with Tomer know he could have made the bet with nothing. The play against Humberto was not a bad play. He did not "call" with pocket 8's. He raised, and for those of you who don't understand poker, this is called a bluff, or semibluff if you will. Running into pocket Aces can make anyone look foolish. Humberto put in a modest preflop raise so Chris did not suspect Aces. Humberto had lost a decent portion of his stack to Chris in the past several hands and I really think Chris thought Humberto was tilting, therefore trying to make a play at him. Humberto missplayed his hand. Instead of winning the pot, he was looking to double up. Slowplaying will kill you in high $$$ NL games, especially against the big stack. Look at the Lederer vs. Moneymaker in their AA vs. AK hand, flop came Kxx, Howard led and Moneymaker committed all his chips to the pot, forcing Howard to fold. That's the way it's supposed to be done in NL. When you have the best hand, you make it impossible for your opponent to draw. This is difficult for internet players to understand, because the play is vastly different. For the record, Chris NEVER put his tournament at risk with the worst hand after day 2. Chris had Humberto outchipped 4/1, Ivey 4/1, and Benvenisti 4/1. The read against Dutch Boyd was great, but I don't know if I'd have the stones to make that play.And don't confuse limit games with NL tourneys, that's like comparing the NFL to Australian Rules football. They are two different games completely. Just because you aren't great at Limit (and I'm not judging his limit play, I've never witnessed it), doesn't mean you are a poor No Limit Tourney player.BTW, he finished 2nd at the Bay 101, which will be televised on the Travel Channel in June. So if we combine WPT and WSOP events, he's had a better showing in the last year than most pros in the game. This guy is for real!

I do not know if SSS is him, or if by nevermind, quit looking at TV percentages he thought I was wrong he can go to cardplayer--the poker calculator and see that MM was a substantial favorite at 70%! Would you call with a 70% to become the chip leader and almost ensure a spot at the final table? Yep, the calculator also shows that AK has a 72% chance of winning over A5...Put yourself in both situations, in both situations you have a great chance to win the pot. Would you put all of your chips in, with this lead and try and WIN this tourny! You are already in the money--I'm pretty sure. It was a great call man.

sounds like a lot of sour grapes here..don't forget that he bluffed Farha heads-up with NOTHING....with the tournament on the line...That takes cojones...luck is a great thing to have...I always say "the harder I work, the luckier I get"..Nice job Chris.