How Chris Moneymaker Won the 2003 WSOP Main Event 

The Ace on the river against Ivey on the final table bubble feels like every tournament I've gone out of on Pokerstars.

A lot of people don't understand the significance of this win by Chris. He was the first to ever qualify for the WSOP via an online tournament. This win literally CATAPULTED poker into the mainstream. Online poker quickly went 10x, then 100x from where it was. Still gives me chills watching nearly 20 years later...What a win

I hope the man that had the camera that captured the shot at 3:54 got a raise, that's a nice looking shot right there

I remember watching this when it originally aired. This is how I learned to play Texas Holdem and this is also why I suck at poker.

Even though we've seen these clips numerous times, I still prefer these old school poker videos over todays stuff. Wish there were more 90's and 80's stuff out there.

That was a huge win for poker, a guy who won an online tournament then wins the world series of poker, almost like a Hollywood script.

that hand where Chris made the call with the 3s was incredible

That pocket 8s all in call was like online poker with russians and brazilians.

Chris did get lucky a few times, but he also showed a lot of heart with some great bets. And it's great to watch big hands play out in 2 minutes instead of 10.

22:33 look at that defeated smile after moneymaker breathes out and scratches his head. Farha immediately knew he just got bluffed. Brutal

The 27 year old... lmao. Chris literally always looked late 30s+ even in his 20s. Awesome time in poker

The poker gods were on Chris’s side this whole tournament

the game has changed so remarkably. tournament poker used to be filled with characters. now it's filled with gto robots. the game has evolved crazily in the last 20 years, all because of chris moneymaker.

Such a class player Sam is.

Running hotter than a freight train on fire, that AQ hand was sick

Some of Chris's plays were pretty bad (especially 88 vs Brenes AA) but he got it done and changed poker.

Not the best player by far. But every poker player owes him because he’s made players millions of dollars. Possibly the most important person in the history of poker.

The golden era.. looking at the top 30 finish in this main event it’s insane to see the players: Farha, Harrington, David Grey, Ivey, Freddy Deeb, Marcel Luske, Scotty Nguyen, Lederer and Helmuth amongst others. Insane!

The main event winner is always lucky to win, skill gets you there luck wins it all

Dan Harrington feels so forgotten, don't forget he also made the 2004 final table, crazy

I didn’t know Chris Moneymaker’s dad was J.R. from the WWE 😂😂

The tournament that made Poker mainstream. I remember being 12 and watching this over and over. This sucked me into poker

amount of luck moneymaker had is just unreal but that bluff was the greatest ever so definitely earned it

That pocket 3s call ... Ice Cold

You know you are the true legit Chris Money Maker when your dad is even questioning your own bluff.

the bluff hand with K7o was the one that won it for him, what a play against a great player

Never played a live tournament before this, this is what every poker player dreams of

That Phil Ivey hand is crazy

This tournament and Rounders put poker on the map.

The Call Against Boyd, and the Bluff against Farha, were the hands of the entire tournament. The Man had some serious Moxie

Remember watching this when it was first on. Always love Chris Moneymaker. It was a tough beat for Ivey, though. I remember ESPN repeating it over and over again. Never tire of watching this.

I've met Moneymaker in Vegas. Incredibly nice man.

“I know it's early in the century, but that's the bluff of the century." Well said!!!

Skills are 100% necessary but to win a tournament with that many people you need to dodge so many bullets and run like a god…Moneymaker changed the poker world with this win and helped the game as a whole. Just like Tiger Wood. So many pro golfers hated that he won so many tournaments but his fame ultimately made golf a much bigger sport and everyone is forever getting paid way more.

Looks like the ending of a movie where a humble accountant takes on the godfather. Sammy Farha just looks like a straight gangster.

Incredible luck and run of cards!!

Just look at the players field for every main event after his and the incredible jump of player and prizes. His 2.5 million for a few main events after would qualify at 7th place money for a while. He literally is the reason I started playing back then and to this day.

0:29. Sammy classy as always waiting to shake MM hand.

Take me back man... to when poker was great, had real personality in the game and the Main Event was the Main Event.

Respect to Farha🙏🏼

The Ace of spades on the river against Ivey. First thing in my mind Motorhead - ace of spades "the only card i need is the ace of spades the ace of spades"

the last wsop at binions, history! chris moneymaker was literally yugi muto catching all these cards 🤣🔥

Funny how much Poker has changed from then till now. Norman Chad saying on the QQ board with Moneymaker having AQ that “you’d generally want to chase people out and bet big, and that with his small bet you’re almost begging for a call”. Uhh, yes of course you want a call! But Poker as I said was different back then. It was A LOT different in fact. Also, Moneymaker of course got lucky in some spots, but he also played pretty damn good. People might not understand the gravity of the situation. This was before Poker blew up, in fact, this very tournament and Moneymaker winning is WHY the Poker boom happened. Aka the “Moneymaker effect”. So back then, the idea of an amateur going up against a pro and not being destroyed was almost unheard of. My point is, here Moneymaker is, making these insane calls and bluffs against some of the greatest Poker players of that time period and not being afraid to do it. No matter how you want to look at it, he played great. And yes he got lucky, you HAVE to get lucky to win ANY poker tournament, let alone the main event! Anyway, man I miss the old days of Poker. Smh

Im not a pro but Chris made some extremely ridiculous plays and ran extremely lucky. I cant think he would have done the same things now days

This is why we’re all here

Man...When poker was fun to watch!

Ivey leaves him hanging at 13:00 hahahah

i remember watching this when i was 10 years old. i fell in love with poker after this

And Chris cool af. Legit a cool dude.

I never thought about it, but we can thank Chan for where poker is today. I never thought he would go with King high flush draw, and wheel draw. What happens to poker if he folds??

Lesson learned to become a pro poker player. Go all in when you have third pair.... hit a 2 outer when behind and holdup when I’m ahead.. awesome strategy

I forgot how many top level pros he had to go through incredible!

The call against J10 when he had A2 Great read and gutsy call 😎😎👌

7:00 says it all that's how you win a poker tournament catch card after card

I remember this on ESPN. Everyone around where I lived all the sudden started playing poker all the time

I remember watching this "live" at the time. How fun and exciting it was at that time.

Man I love watching these old clips and remembering all the weird characters from the old days. Brenes is straight out of a movie

I dont think anyone will be this lucky after this guy

Yes, luck is a part of poker, but in fairness to Moneymaker, he actually made some great calls, bluffs, and value bets too.

This is the best of the best of all wsop honestly

He was crazy lucky more than once.

What a run, but it’s not surprising he never came close to winning main event again or winning another bracelet.

I was a kid in high school when this came out. It started a love of poker and lost me a fuck ton of money......

I remember watching this on TV as it played out from start to finish.

Best poker tournament of all time, it’s like a movie.

Love watching when I know the outcome

The beat he put on humberto brenes with the pair of 8's was brutal. Such an awful play that got stupid lucky

this was awesome -

21:22 I read about the big bluff hand in Harrington on Holdem and Farha's decision was about as close as it gets

Players are far better nowadays, but I'm afraid we'll never see characters quite like this again.

Funny how insane the bluff seemed at the time. Totally standard now.

That call with Pocket 3’s wildin

this was the year i got into poker i was 13.. poker exploded after this!!

Without Moneymaker we wouldn’t all be watching poker video’s in 2021

Man 20 years ago already. Was fun to watch on TV

If Moneymaker doesn't win the main event I don't think the Poker boom would have ever happened.

He makes Jamie Gold look like a genius.

Legend has it that Brenes is STILL hurting to this day. What a HORRIBLE beat in such a big spot.

This was a great year for wsop

Damn i hate when Farha folded on that bluff from Chris but at the same time Chris winning was a boom for the game

0:41 that’s probably the funniest hand of poker I’ve ever seen in my life 😂🤣

Played aggro and got super lucky. Next question.

This was my first world series that I watched

That Phil Ivey hand at 9:30 is exactly like mizrachi and Jarvis but played almost on every street instead of preflop

"You did it!" Cool moment.

Back in the days I was very happy to see him win… almost 20 years later and with a lot more knowledge off a lot of these pros I would have love to see Sammy win….

Phil Ivey even bring so young, had great sportsmanship

The tournament director says Chris needs a A or Q on the river vs Ivey to win but he also could of won with 6 aswell

If u noticed Ivey wouldnt shake Chris' hand. He shook Dan Harringtons hand but blew off Chris. On tilt

All Sammy had to do to win is call. Toughest test in poker. A close second is the mighty fold.

In an alternate universe the ace didn’t come on the river, Ivey won the hand and went on to win his first main event

I think people are bit unfair to Moneymaker, the last 20 years have seen so many entrants to the World Series that it's impossible to win the big one without luck and great cards, skill alone wont get you through 9,000 opponents.

Greatest bluff of all time

Very happy for him

1:34. Johnny tosses away kJ, to lederers AQ, nice.

The footage was so much better back then

When I was watching this video I was Feeling very lucky 😂♥️

boyd just shipped 400k more on the flop with K high . He got what he deserved

20:41 the way same checked. he gave up. how can chris not bluff at that

This is the best thing that ever happened to the game of poker. The best thing to ever happen for poker pros too. We need another 1 or 2 of these to boost the game again. It's starting to look an awful lot like chess...so enjoy your smaller prize pools, guys!