Digital Cowboy

Chris Moneymaker won the main event at the World Series of Poker in 2003. I’ve posted about him before and I’d like to follow up.

It was a fluke. He doesn’t even understand the game. He’s a home game player that got lucky.

I made the same initial assessment of Greg Raymer, the 2004 winner, and he has proved me wrong. But that hasn’t changed my opinion of Chris. I’m sure he’s a nice guy. I have nothing personal against him. But he sucks at poker. I would love to sit at a table with him.

There’s a commercial running for a poker web site where Chris Moneymaker says, “I didn’t learn poker from readin’ books or anything. I learned by playing.”

Yeah. It shows, Chris. You’ll be back to your accounting job in less than two years. I hope you didn’t extend your credit too far.

(He finished dead last in the “Poker Superstars Invitational” last time. I’m not sure why they invited him again, but he’s not doing any better. Maybe he should read a book.)

Winning the main event at the WSOP is almost meaningless these days. For that you can thank Chris.

But I’m not vilifying him. He is also the reason that poker has exploded and become profitable for everyone. Prior to Moneymaker’s win you had to be an actual “pro” to make money at the game. Now anyone can.