The affable Moneymaker beat hardened grinder Sammy Farha heads-up and gave hope to amateur poker players everywhere.
It’s been an interesting ride for Moneymaker ever since. He's been the face of PokerStars, made significant scores in the WPT and NBC Heads-Up Championship and reivented his game.
The 2003 Main Event remains the crowning achievement of his poker career, however.
Although he’ll forever be viewed as the amateur who beat the pro, Moneymaker has now been playing longer than numerous pros these days. He took a moment while on break of the 2013 WSOP Main Event Day 1c to reflect on his big win.
“Some days it feels like it was yesterday, while other days it feels like it was 20 years ago,” he said.
Moneymaker Reinvents his Game With Help From Cal42688
Despite his significant scores on the poker circuit, Moneymaker maintains that he’s most proud of reinventing his game over the last couple years.
“I think my personal highlight was getting better at the game after becoming complacent,” he said.
Moneymaker received coaching from online whiz Calvin “cal42688” Anderson and says it vastly improved his poker skills.
Poker seems to have gone full circle since Moneymaker’s historic win in 2003 as legal online poker rooms are starting to pop up in New Jersey and Nevada.
Moneymaker is understandably excited, as he never would have won the 2003 Main Event if he hadn’t qualified on PokerStars.
“Right now I can’t play when I’m at home. The reason for that is that we don’t have online poker. Online poker opening back up is a great thing.”
One of the most venerable players in the game – Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson – gave the shuffle up and deal in the Main Event today.
When asked if Moneymaker would play the game for as long as Brunson, he couldn’t really say.
“I’ll play the WSOP for as long as I enjoy it,” he said.
“You can play this game at any age. As long as I’m enjoying myself and getting some results then I’ll continue playing. I still love the game.”
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