Chris (Christopher) Moneymaker was born November 21, 1975 in Atlanta, Georgia. Chris Moneymaker has become famous after winning the main event at the 2003 World Series of Poker main event at the age of 28, and the story of his rapid success has sparked interest in many new players. He started playing cards at a young age, but put aside his love of gambling in favor of a Master's degree in accounting. A few years after graduation, Chris Moneymaker and his friends were inspired by the movie "Rounders" to start playing Texas Holde'm. After becoming proficient enough to beat his friends, He went on to discover the world of online poker sites, where he challenged himself one day to enter a $39 satellite tournament against 18 other players out of sheer curiosity. To his amazement, he won the online tournament and also won the next satellite against 60 players, securing a $10,000 Buy-in to the World Series of Poker. The odds against Chris Moneymaker were very strong – His experience was based mostly on online poker, so he had no real casino experience. Most people expected him to give away tells that are easy to hide when you are behind the computer screen at home. Sitting around in his hotel room he realized he had no way of telling which tells he would give away, So to combat his weakness he covered his eyes with sunglasses and wore a hat. Moreover, the intimidation factor of many experienced poker players sitting around the same table with him should have reduced his abilities. But Chris Moneymaker convinced himself he's only there to survive through the first day, and not win the WSOP tournament, and that helped him relax. He finally won the tournament after beating well-known professionals like Paul Darden, Howard Lederer and Johnny Chan, which was actually in the movie "Rounders" that got Chris Moneymaker into poker, netting Chris $2.5 million. Moneymaker has since played on the World Poker Tour, finishing second at the 2004 Shooting Stars event, and earning $200,000. He has since then participated in few WSOP events, finishing 10th, 28th and 233rd in '04, '06 and '07 respectively, cashing $32,000. Other small takings are mainly from promotion tournaments. The name Chris Moneymaker seems fake to many, but is actually his real last name, derived from the German "Nurmacher". After his WSOP win, Chris went on to quit his day job, found his own business (for poker accessories) and wrote and published a book detailing his success story named "Moneymaker: How an Amateur Poker Player Turned $40 into $2.5 Million at the World Series of Poker". Chris Moneymaker has a wife and a daughter born 3 months before his big win. He also plans to make a movie based on his story. His strongest advice to ambitious poker players around the world is to have a steady job and not trust in gambling for their livelihood.
