It is now a decade since an unknown amateur with the perfect surname kick-started the global poker boom. Chris Moneymaker was a 27-year-old accountant from Tennessee when he won a $39 satellite into the World Series of Poker Main Event then went all the way to win the tournament and its US$2.5 million first prize.
Chris Moneymaker did wonders for poker after winning the WSOP Main Event in 2003
His story received widespread publicity and in the ensuing years the number of players at the WSOP swelled as thousands tried to replicate Moneymaker’s rags to riches story. But how times have changed. These days, tournament organizers the world over pray for a big name to win their event rather than one of the many faceless internet kids or random rookies that tend to dominate the fields.
Without taking anything away from their achievements, the likes of 2007 WSOP champ Jerry Yang or 2009 winner Joe Cada hardly created the same buzz as Moneymaker did a few years earlier.
The WSOP would be thrilled by Daniel Negreanu’s feats in 2013
With such big fields these days, it’s tough for one of the “big names” to go all the way, but there have been some exceptions – last year, Phil Hellmuth won his 13th bracelet in the WSOP Europe Main Event and Daniel Negreanu completed a dream few months for the WSOP when he won the inaugural WSOP Asia-Pacific Main Event in March.
So what to make of the latest instalment of WSOPE which finished over the weekend? Well, there was no big name winning the Main Event with young Spaniard Adrian Mateos collecting the €1 million top prize. At just 19, he won’t even be allowed to play in Las Vegas for another two years so don’t expect to see his name again for a while.
However, the WSOP still enjoyed a small “victory” with the ever-popular Daniel Negreanu winning the High Rollers event to not only claim his sixth bracelet but sneak in late and steal the WSOP Player of the Year title. We expect to see his familiar face in spades when it comes to promoting the WSOP in 2014.
