i came across this great list from a poster on the 2p2 forums earlier today and thought i would share it with my readers
i dont agree with alot of the items here , but nevertheless it makes for a good read
I really struggled with where to start this list. After compiling all the information I could find, and poring over it for hours on end, I finally decided to just talk to a bunch of my poker friends about what they think. My thought process was, "Well this is really an opinion article, and everyone has their thoughts on what should be on the list," so I set out to hear some of them.
I heard ideas like “Jamie Gold beating 8,772 other players to take home $12,000,000 in the 2006 World Series Main Event,” “$100,000 buy in tournament in Australia,” and “The beginning of rakeback.” It was clear that I had found myself in an even more uncertain position than I was in the first place. While many of the ideas I heard certainly deserved their place on some list somewhere and some wouldn’t even be possible without others, there just seemed to be too many to choose from, so I considered starting at #9.
Then, one night I was walking down Fremont on one of my infrequent trips to buy a Football Beer, and I stopped in at Binion’s to take a look at the “Great Wall of Poker” like I usually do when I’m on that end of town. While my senses and spirits were filled with the gambling lore of old, I realized that of all the great poker players and all the great poker tournaments, one man stands head and shoulder above the rest in the gambling world, Benny Binion.
While there isn’t enough room in this space to talk about all the things Benny did for the game of poker, we’ll kick this list off with a list of reasons Mr. Binion’s Life is number 10 on the list of the 10 Greatest Moments in Poker:
-Creator of Binion’s Horseshoe Casino (one of the most storied Casinos in Las Vegas)
-Gained a reputation as the Gambler’s Casino Host by catering to the wants and needs of the high limit player
-Set the standard for the highest betting limits in Las Vegas
-Founder of the World Series of Poker
Although many of Benny’s accomplishments dealt more with gambling in general than poker specifically, it’s safe to say that none of the following moments on the list would have been possible without him. And, even if they would have been possible, they most certainly wouldn’t have been as historic. So, enjoy the reading, and don’t forget that without Benny Binion, not even this list would have been possible.
9. Chip Reese Winning the Inaugural $50k Buy in H.O.R.S.E. Event
With all the things Chip Reese accomplished in the game of poker like writing a section in Super System, gaining a reputation as the greatest cash game player in history, and winning three W.S.O.P. bracelets, just to name a few, perhaps none were as deserved and inspiring as his first place finish in the first ever $50,000 buy in H.O.R.S.E. event at the 2006 World Series of Poker.
Having been primarily a cash game player for many years, only making occasional appearances on the tournament circuit, Chip was as excited as anyone when the announcement was made to introduce a mixed games event at the World Series with the largest buy in the Series had seen yet. As a constant member of the $4,000-$8,000 Big Game in the famous Bobby’s Room, he was considered a master of all forms of poker. With all the hours put into the side games, it required a pretty lucrative tournament to pull Reese away from his favorite form of poker at the cash tables. The $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. proved to be that tournament and after playing the longest heads up battle in World Series history, Chip’s AcQc held up against Andy Bloch’s 9c8s on a Jc7c7s4h4s board at the No Limit Hold ‘em final table.
With the $1,784,640 first prize in his hand and gold bracelet around his wrist, Reese won the newly coined “pro's tournament” and cemented his already solid place in poker history as one of the best, if not the, best player ever.
What made the tourney win ever more special was the decision to hand out the David “Chip” Reese Award trophy to winners of the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event starting in 2008, following his death in December of 2007. Now, even after his passing, Chip won’t only stay around in our memories, but there will be a little part of him at the World Series of Poker every year.
8. Scotty Nguyen Becoming the First Player to Win the World Series of Poker $10,000 Main Event and $50,000 Buy in H.O.R.S.E. Event
Basketball has Wilt Chamberlin and his 100 point game. Football has Brett Favre and his close to 300 consecutive regular season starts (maybe more depending on when you are reading this). And Baseball has Joe DiMaggio’s 56 consecutive game hit streak.
I’m not saying that Scotty Nguyen deserves to be held in such regard as three of the greatest athletes to ever play professional sports, but up until the 2008 World Series of Poker $50,000 buy in H.O.R.S.E. event, poker really had no ultra impressive records. Sure, Phil Hellmuth’s record of 11 bracelets is pretty good, but all of them coming in one form of one game, and with two players (Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson) nipping at his heels with 10, it’s a record that is definitely within reach. Jamie Gold’s record for the largest live tournament ever won ($12,000,000 first prize in the 8,773 person field) is huge, but both of those numbers are largely out of anyone’s control.
When it all comes down to it, there is really only one poker accomplishment that will most likely stand for many, many years, and that belongs to the Scotty. Although a few players have won back to back Main Events, and similarly, other players have found themselves at multiple Main Event final tables, some of said players final tabled events with much smaller player pools.
With the $10,000 main event being the largest and most popular tournament in the world, in recent years many “name pros” have disregarded the credibility of its winner as being “the best in poker” because of the high luck factor involved in a tournament win with so many players. With the creation of the $50,000 buy in H.O.R.S.E. event, a lot of the same pros have declared it to be the new “real championship.”
So, it was no small feat, in fact, it was an incredibly remarkable feat when Scotty won the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. in 2008 to compliment his 1998 $10,000 main event bracelet. With the high level of competition in the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E., his $10,000 main event victory, and having both bracelets on his shelf, Nguyen has accomplished, thus far, one of the greatest accomplishments in poker history.
7. Rounders
If a survey was handed out to a random sample of poker players, hobbyists or professional, winning or losing, fat or skinny, asking what inspired them to play poker, I would wager a large chunk of my bankroll on the middle of the over/under of the number of words written down. One. Rounders.
Produced in 1998, the film chronicled the life of high stakes poker player and law student Mike McDermott (played by Matt Damon). When his lifelong friend and card shark turned card sharp and cheater, Les “Worm” Murphy (played by Edward Nortorn) is released from jail Mike McD joins him in trying to settle a large gambling debt Worm has accrued before and during his incarceration. I can’t imagine many Hold ‘Em Hub readers haven’t seen the movie so I won’t be spoiling anything when I say that Mike McD helps Worm get out of debt, plays the most memorable heads up NLHE match in poker history vs. Teddy KGB (an unforgettable Russian mob character played by John Malkovich) and eventually quits law school in hopes of World Series of Poker glory.
Despite coming out years after popular poker classic The Cincinnati Kid, and not enjoying the kind of box office success found by “poker movie” Lucky You, Rounders more realistically recreated poker scenes and lingo than any poker movie to date.
Even ten years after its release, any poker player will be hard pressed to play a session in any poker room or home game across the globe without hearing the phrases “chyeeeeck, chyeeeeck, chyeeeeeck,” “Allygateeer blood,” “don’t splash the pot,” “you know what, fuck you and your never ending string of boats,” and the cult classic, “In the poker game of life, women are the rake. They are the fucking rake!” This, in my book, puts it at number seven on the list of great poker moments.
6. Launch of Online Poker
Technically, the first online poker play was born in the Internet Relay Chat rooms where players could type in commands to play against each other in games managed and dealt by a computer program. While the games all consisted of play money “chips,” many players accumulated millions of chips (while only being able to reload for 1,000 chips per day if they went virtually busto) and would joke about selling their accounts for real money.
In 1998, many of those player’s dreams came true with the launch of the first online poker site where participants could play for real money, Planet Poker. In 1999, Planet Poker’s random number generator (the system used to ensure a random dealing of hole cards and flop, turn, and river distributions) was compromised resulting in an estimated $100,000 lost to hackers. Despite becoming one of the smallest sites on the Internet today, Planet Poker set the standard for almost every site to follow with its 5% rake with a maximum of $3.00, criteria still used by major sites.
Although online poker has gone through its ups and downs since its humble beginnings in Planet’s first nickel and dime games, the gambling industry today would no doubt be much smaller without it.
5. CBS Televising the World Series of Poker
In 1973, Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder provided commentary for Binion’s Horseshoe’s recording of the World Series of Poker’s main event. In 1978, legendary sportscaster Brent Musberger joined Jimmy “The Greek,” when popular U.S. television station CBS broadcast the first episodes of the tournament in a series of television specials. The coverage continued on and off for the next few years until ESPN finally picked up full coverage in 1988 where it has stayed ever since.
Since its inception, coverage of the World Series has gone though various stages of production. For many years, the only event covered for TV was the Main Event, until recently in 2004, when more and more events began being televised.
In 2006, ESPN offered pay-per-view broadcasting of the final table where, even though hole cards weren’t visible, thousands of viewers tuned in to see Jamie Gold take down the $12,000,000 first prize and coveted bracelet.
In November of 2008, ESPN and Harrah’s entertainment took a step in a new direction by broadcasting the final table live roughly four months after the final nine were decided. Whether the move will be a good one for World Series ratings and poker in general remains to be seen as 2009 will hardly be an objective indicator with superstar Phil Ivey at the final table, but if the delay is a fraction as successful as televising the tournaments in the first place, poker will be at least a little better off.
4. William E. Baxter Jr. vs. the United States
In the landmark case of William E. Baxter Jr. vs. the United States, legendary sports bettor and poker player Billy Baxter fought the federal government on the way gambling income is taxed. Before the case was settled in 1986, income tax for professional gamblers suffered deductions up to 70% due to being classified as “non-earned” income. Between 1978 and 1981, Billy claimed gambling earnings of $1.2 million dollars, and the difference between “earned” income and “non-earned” income for his $1.2 million totaled $178,000. After paying the taxes, he sued the government for a tax return and the case was tied up in the courts for years. In the end, the government conceded and the Nevada judge presiding over the case said “I find the government's argument to be ludicrous. I just wish you had some money and could sit down with Mr. Baxter and play some poker,” claiming once Billy’s bets (personal investment capital) had been placed, no income would have been produced without his skills.
Despite his seven World Series of Poker bracelets, Billy Baxter’s greatest poker accomplishment was saving professional gamblers untold millions in saved taxes and in the fight to repeal the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, a state’s judgment in “earned” versus “non-earned” income could prove to be a useful weapon in the “poker is a skill game” arsenal.
The implications of this case easily places it at the top of the list of greatest poker moments.
3. Super System Published in 1979
After winning the World Series of Poker Main Event in 1976 and 1977 poker legend Doyle Brunson put together a group of some of the greatest poker minds the game has ever seen to write the most comprehensive poker strategy book ever published. When Cardoza Publishing put out Super System (originally titled “How I Won Over $1,000,000 Playing Poker) the cost of each book was $100.00, possibly the most expensive book around at that time. With the following chapters and authors, it was no wonder people paid the price:
Draw Poker – Mike Caro
Seven Card Stud – Chip Reese
Lowball – Joey Hawthorne and Doyle Brunson
Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo (with no qualifier) – David Sklansky
Limit Hold ‘em – Bobby Baldwin
No Limit Hold ‘em – Doyle Brunson
When poker players got a chance to share in the secrets of the best in the world, every game around the world got a little tougher. Doyle Brunson himself has expressed regret for having written the book at all, saying he has needed to change up his game multiple times just to avoid having Super System readers inside his brain during every hand. Since its inception Super System has become known as the poker player’s bible and is a must have for any serious player. So despite your concerns Mr. Brunson, we thank you.
2. Invention of the Hole Card Camera
When a U.K. television network called British Channel 4 implemented their revolutionary hole card camera into the poker show Late Night Poker the game went from interesting for poker enthusiasts, boring for everyone else, to exciting for poker enthusiasts, and much more interesting for everyone else. Originally patented by Seven Card Stud bracelet winner Henry Ornstein, the camera was also used on the Poker Million before it was popularized during broadcasts of the 2002 World Series of Poker and then 2003 World Poker Tour events. Without the hole card camera, we would all still be sitting around watching old men smoke cigars with their cards face down and hidden from the world, interrupted occasionally by unintelligent commentary provided by sports analysts that have never played a hand of poker in an intelligent manner.
1. Moneymaker Winning 2003 Main Event
The decision to put Moneymaker's win at #1 on the list was really the only easy one. No other single event threw into motion as series of events like this one did.
In 2003 a phenomenon occurred which some poker enthusiasts have labeled “poker’s version of the perfect storm”. Poker was just starting to get bigger in mainstream America, and the airtime ESPN devoted to the World Series of Poker only helped to feed the beast. Hailing from Tennessee, an unknown accountant with the perfect last name invested $40 into a feeder satellite for the $10,000 buy in W.S.O.P. main event. When Chris Moneymaker took down the $2,500,000 first prize and coveted gold bracelet, the butterfly effect hit the gambling world full blast. The game has never and will never be the same.
-------------
10. The Life and Times of Benny Binion
I really struggled with where to start this list. After compiling all the information I could find, and poring over it for hours on end, I finally decided to just talk to a bunch of my poker friends about what they think. My thought process was, "Well this is really an opinion article, and everyone has their thoughts on what should be on the list," so I set out to hear some of them.
I heard ideas like “Jamie Gold beating 8,772 other players to take home $12,000,000 in the 2006 World Series Main Event,” “$100,000 buy in tournament in Australia,” and “The beginning of rakeback.” It was clear that I had found myself in an even more uncertain position than I was in the first place. While many of the ideas I heard certainly deserved their place on some list somewhere and some wouldn’t even be possible without others, there just seemed to be too many to choose from, so I considered starting at #9.
Then, one night I was walking down Fremont on one of my infrequent trips to buy a Football Beer, and I stopped in at Binion’s to take a look at the “Great Wall of Poker” like I usually do when I’m on that end of town. While my senses and spirits were filled with the gambling lore of old, I realized that of all the great poker players and all the great poker tournaments, one man stands head and shoulder above the rest in the gambling world, Benny Binion.
While there isn’t enough room in this space to talk about all the things Benny did for the game of poker, we’ll kick this list off with a list of reasons Mr. Binion’s Life is number 10 on the list of the 10 Greatest Moments in Poker:
-Creator of Binion’s Horseshoe Casino (one of the most storied Casinos in Las Vegas)
-Gained a reputation as the Gambler’s Casino Host by catering to the wants and needs of the high limit player
-Set the standard for the highest betting limits in Las Vegas
-Founder of the World Series of Poker
Although many of Benny’s accomplishments dealt more with gambling in general than poker specifically, it’s safe to say that none of the following moments on the list would have been possible without him. And, even if they would have been possible, they most certainly wouldn’t have been as historic. So, enjoy the reading, and don’t forget that without Benny Binion, not even this list would have been possible.
9. Chip Reese Winning the Inaugural $50k Buy in H.O.R.S.E. Event
With all the things Chip Reese accomplished in the game of poker like writing a section in Super System, gaining a reputation as the greatest cash game player in history, and winning three W.S.O.P. bracelets, just to name a few, perhaps none were as deserved and inspiring as his first place finish in the first ever $50,000 buy in H.O.R.S.E. event at the 2006 World Series of Poker.
Having been primarily a cash game player for many years, only making occasional appearances on the tournament circuit, Chip was as excited as anyone when the announcement was made to introduce a mixed games event at the World Series with the largest buy in the Series had seen yet. As a constant member of the $4,000-$8,000 Big Game in the famous Bobby’s Room, he was considered a master of all forms of poker. With all the hours put into the side games, it required a pretty lucrative tournament to pull Reese away from his favorite form of poker at the cash tables. The $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. proved to be that tournament and after playing the longest heads up battle in World Series history, Chip’s AcQc held up against Andy Bloch’s 9c8s on a Jc7c7s4h4s board at the No Limit Hold ‘em final table.
With the $1,784,640 first prize in his hand and gold bracelet around his wrist, Reese won the newly coined “pro's tournament” and cemented his already solid place in poker history as one of the best, if not the, best player ever.
What made the tourney win ever more special was the decision to hand out the David “Chip” Reese Award trophy to winners of the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event starting in 2008, following his death in December of 2007. Now, even after his passing, Chip won’t only stay around in our memories, but there will be a little part of him at the World Series of Poker every year.
8. Scotty Nguyen Becoming the First Player to Win the World Series of Poker $10,000 Main Event and $50,000 Buy in H.O.R.S.E. Event
Basketball has Wilt Chamberlin and his 100 point game. Football has Brett Favre and his close to 300 consecutive regular season starts (maybe more depending on when you are reading this). And Baseball has Joe DiMaggio’s 56 consecutive game hit streak.
I’m not saying that Scotty Nguyen deserves to be held in such regard as three of the greatest athletes to ever play professional sports, but up until the 2008 World Series of Poker $50,000 buy in H.O.R.S.E. event, poker really had no ultra impressive records. Sure, Phil Hellmuth’s record of 11 bracelets is pretty good, but all of them coming in one form of one game, and with two players (Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson) nipping at his heels with 10, it’s a record that is definitely within reach. Jamie Gold’s record for the largest live tournament ever won ($12,000,000 first prize in the 8,773 person field) is huge, but both of those numbers are largely out of anyone’s control.
When it all comes down to it, there is really only one poker accomplishment that will most likely stand for many, many years, and that belongs to the Scotty. Although a few players have won back to back Main Events, and similarly, other players have found themselves at multiple Main Event final tables, some of said players final tabled events with much smaller player pools.
With the $10,000 main event being the largest and most popular tournament in the world, in recent years many “name pros” have disregarded the credibility of its winner as being “the best in poker” because of the high luck factor involved in a tournament win with so many players. With the creation of the $50,000 buy in H.O.R.S.E. event, a lot of the same pros have declared it to be the new “real championship.”
So, it was no small feat, in fact, it was an incredibly remarkable feat when Scotty won the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. in 2008 to compliment his 1998 $10,000 main event bracelet. With the high level of competition in the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E., his $10,000 main event victory, and having both bracelets on his shelf, Nguyen has accomplished, thus far, one of the greatest accomplishments in poker history.
7. Rounders
If a survey was handed out to a random sample of poker players, hobbyists or professional, winning or losing, fat or skinny, asking what inspired them to play poker, I would wager a large chunk of my bankroll on the middle of the over/under of the number of words written down. One. Rounders.
Produced in 1998, the film chronicled the life of high stakes poker player and law student Mike McDermott (played by Matt Damon). When his lifelong friend and card shark turned card sharp and cheater, Les “Worm” Murphy (played by Edward Nortorn) is released from jail Mike McD joins him in trying to settle a large gambling debt Worm has accrued before and during his incarceration. I can’t imagine many Hold ‘Em Hub readers haven’t seen the movie so I won’t be spoiling anything when I say that Mike McD helps Worm get out of debt, plays the most memorable heads up NLHE match in poker history vs. Teddy KGB (an unforgettable Russian mob character played by John Malkovich) and eventually quits law school in hopes of World Series of Poker glory.
Despite coming out years after popular poker classic The Cincinnati Kid, and not enjoying the kind of box office success found by “poker movie” Lucky You, Rounders more realistically recreated poker scenes and lingo than any poker movie to date.
Even ten years after its release, any poker player will be hard pressed to play a session in any poker room or home game across the globe without hearing the phrases “chyeeeeck, chyeeeeck, chyeeeeeck,” “Allygateeer blood,” “don’t splash the pot,” “you know what, fuck you and your never ending string of boats,” and the cult classic, “In the poker game of life, women are the rake. They are the fucking rake!” This, in my book, puts it at number seven on the list of great poker moments.
6. Launch of Online Poker
Technically, the first online poker play was born in the Internet Relay Chat rooms where players could type in commands to play against each other in games managed and dealt by a computer program. While the games all consisted of play money “chips,” many players accumulated millions of chips (while only being able to reload for 1,000 chips per day if they went virtually busto) and would joke about selling their accounts for real money.
In 1998, many of those player’s dreams came true with the launch of the first online poker site where participants could play for real money, Planet Poker. In 1999, Planet Poker’s random number generator (the system used to ensure a random dealing of hole cards and flop, turn, and river distributions) was compromised resulting in an estimated $100,000 lost to hackers. Despite becoming one of the smallest sites on the Internet today, Planet Poker set the standard for almost every site to follow with its 5% rake with a maximum of $3.00, criteria still used by major sites.
Although online poker has gone through its ups and downs since its humble beginnings in Planet’s first nickel and dime games, the gambling industry today would no doubt be much smaller without it.
5. CBS Televising the World Series of Poker
In 1973, Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder provided commentary for Binion’s Horseshoe’s recording of the World Series of Poker’s main event. In 1978, legendary sportscaster Brent Musberger joined Jimmy “The Greek,” when popular U.S. television station CBS broadcast the first episodes of the tournament in a series of television specials. The coverage continued on and off for the next few years until ESPN finally picked up full coverage in 1988 where it has stayed ever since.
Since its inception, coverage of the World Series has gone though various stages of production. For many years, the only event covered for TV was the Main Event, until recently in 2004, when more and more events began being televised.
In 2006, ESPN offered pay-per-view broadcasting of the final table where, even though hole cards weren’t visible, thousands of viewers tuned in to see Jamie Gold take down the $12,000,000 first prize and coveted bracelet.
In November of 2008, ESPN and Harrah’s entertainment took a step in a new direction by broadcasting the final table live roughly four months after the final nine were decided. Whether the move will be a good one for World Series ratings and poker in general remains to be seen as 2009 will hardly be an objective indicator with superstar Phil Ivey at the final table, but if the delay is a fraction as successful as televising the tournaments in the first place, poker will be at least a little better off.
4. William E. Baxter Jr. vs. the United States
In the landmark case of William E. Baxter Jr. vs. the United States, legendary sports bettor and poker player Billy Baxter fought the federal government on the way gambling income is taxed. Before the case was settled in 1986, income tax for professional gamblers suffered deductions up to 70% due to being classified as “non-earned” income. Between 1978 and 1981, Billy claimed gambling earnings of $1.2 million dollars, and the difference between “earned” income and “non-earned” income for his $1.2 million totaled $178,000. After paying the taxes, he sued the government for a tax return and the case was tied up in the courts for years. In the end, the government conceded and the Nevada judge presiding over the case said “I find the government's argument to be ludicrous. I just wish you had some money and could sit down with Mr. Baxter and play some poker,” claiming once Billy’s bets (personal investment capital) had been placed, no income would have been produced without his skills.
Despite his seven World Series of Poker bracelets, Billy Baxter’s greatest poker accomplishment was saving professional gamblers untold millions in saved taxes and in the fight to repeal the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, a state’s judgment in “earned” versus “non-earned” income could prove to be a useful weapon in the “poker is a skill game” arsenal.
The implications of this case easily places it at the top of the list of greatest poker moments.
3. Super System Published in 1979
After winning the World Series of Poker Main Event in 1976 and 1977 poker legend Doyle Brunson put together a group of some of the greatest poker minds the game has ever seen to write the most comprehensive poker strategy book ever published. When Cardoza Publishing put out Super System (originally titled “How I Won Over $1,000,000 Playing Poker) the cost of each book was $100.00, possibly the most expensive book around at that time. With the following chapters and authors, it was no wonder people paid the price:
Draw Poker – Mike Caro
Seven Card Stud – Chip Reese
Lowball – Joey Hawthorne and Doyle Brunson
Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo (with no qualifier) – David Sklansky
Limit Hold ‘em – Bobby Baldwin
No Limit Hold ‘em – Doyle Brunson
When poker players got a chance to share in the secrets of the best in the world, every game around the world got a little tougher. Doyle Brunson himself has expressed regret for having written the book at all, saying he has needed to change up his game multiple times just to avoid having Super System readers inside his brain during every hand. Since its inception Super System has become known as the poker player’s bible and is a must have for any serious player. So despite your concerns Mr. Brunson, we thank you.
2. Invention of the Hole Card Camera
When a U.K. television network called British Channel 4 implemented their revolutionary hole card camera into the poker show Late Night Poker the game went from interesting for poker enthusiasts, boring for everyone else, to exciting for poker enthusiasts, and much more interesting for everyone else. Originally patented by Seven Card Stud bracelet winner Henry Ornstein, the camera was also used on the Poker Million before it was popularized during broadcasts of the 2002 World Series of Poker and then 2003 World Poker Tour events. Without the hole card camera, we would all still be sitting around watching old men smoke cigars with their cards face down and hidden from the world, interrupted occasionally by unintelligent commentary provided by sports analysts that have never played a hand of poker in an intelligent manner.
1. Moneymaker Winning 2003 Main Event
The decision to put Moneymaker's win at #1 on the list was really the only easy one. No other single event threw into motion as series of events like this one did.
In 2003 a phenomenon occurred which some poker enthusiasts have labeled “poker’s version of the perfect storm”. Poker was just starting to get bigger in mainstream America, and the airtime ESPN devoted to the World Series of Poker only helped to feed the beast. Hailing from Tennessee, an unknown accountant with the perfect last name invested $40 into a feeder satellite for the $10,000 buy in W.S.O.P. main event. When Chris Moneymaker took down the $2,500,000 first prize and coveted gold bracelet, the butterfly effect hit the gambling world full blast. The game has never and will never be the same.
