Except for a diamond bracelet of linked horseshoes, there were no signs the man signing autographs at Boomtown Casino and Hotel was a millionaire.

Dressed in a blue shirt, khakis and cream vest, Chris Moneymaker, 28, looked more like an office manager than a poker celebrity.

The accountant from Spring Hill, Tenn., surprised many when he beat professional Ihsan Farha with a full house and won $2.5 million and the bracelet at last year’s World Series of Poker Champions in Las Vegas.

advertisement
Party Poker
The biggest online poker room with thousands of players.
Choose one of the following games:
Texas Holdem Poker, Omaha Poker, Omaha Hi,
Seven Card Stud, Stud 8 or Better.
Receive a 20% bonus of your first deposit up to a $100!!!
Party Poker

Moneymaker started playing poker three years ago on the Internet. He had to borrow money from his father and a friend to go to Las Vegas so he could get comfortable playing on a table.

“It was the greatest ‘Cinderella’ story of the decade,” said Joseph Bennett, poker manager for eight years at Boomtown.

Moneymaker was at the Texas Hold’em Tournament on Friday night. It continues today at the Boomtown Casino and Hotel and gives poker players a chance to play against the champion.

Dozens of fans who had watched him play patiently lined up Friday afternoon at the Cancan Theatre to take photos with Moneymaker and get his autograph.

Felix Martinez brought four hand-rolled cigars he’d made for his “hero.”

Sandy Barnes, 32, of Reno brought a poker chip, two photos and a T-shirt she’d made with a photo of Moneymaker so he could sign it. “This is so awesome. I can’t believe it,” repeated Barnes, shaking from meeting the man she calls her idol.

She was so nervous about meeting Moneymaker, she made her mother, Andrea Brothwell, drive her to Boomtown.

“I’m here just in case she passes out,” Brothwell joked.

A total of 120 people put their names in a drawing for a chance to play against Moneymaker. They paid $20 for the entry fee and $100 for $500 in tournament chips.

“I gotta beat you,” Dwaine “Lucky” Lehr said to the 2003 champion as he shook his hand.

Lehr’s wife, Judy, said her husband had spent hours watching him on television to learn Moneymaker’s style.

“I’m better than he is,” Dwaine Lehr said.

Sixty players were chosen. Each table had 10 players, and Moneymaker played at each table.Bruce Peck’s name was the first name drawn.

The Reno resident wanted to win first place, which would make him $3,500 richer. But it was not all about the money for the 63-year-old grandfather of eight.

“If I make the top five, it’ll be all right,” Peck said. “And if I don’t, I guess I’ll just go home and call it an enjoyable evening.”

Dave Osborne, whose name also was drawn, said an amateur game was going to be tougher than a professional game for Moneymaker.

“The amateurs want to kill the giant,” said the Carson City resident. “We’re willing to go all out.”

Moneymaker shrugged off the friendly threats he received from fans who promised to beat him and offered a genuine “good luck” to each one.

But he said it will take more than luck for anyone to win.

At every table, he tries to figure out who is willing to bluff, who is capable of bluffing, who is willing to pay off a bluff and who is calling a big bet with a bad hand.

“It’s difficult sitting across the table from someone pretending you have a good hand,” said Moneymaker, who is known for having an emotionless face, regardless of the cards he holds.

He doesn’t get nervous much anymore, having sweat through the first eight to 10 hours of last year’s World Series.

“Of course I’d like to win,” Moneymaker said. “But the pressure to win was greater before because there was a lot more money involved.”

The winnings have not changed his lifestyle much. He still works as an accountant for Pan Asia, a restaurant group.

Other than a new house that is closer to work, a BMW for himself, a Land Cruiser for wife, Kelly, and a college fund for their 1-year-old daughter, Ashley, Moneymaker said he still takes out the trash, changes diapers and helps clean up after the dog.

“It was so wild, I never dreamed of winning,” he said.

“It’s never fully hit me how big it was. That’s the part of poker that is so great. Anybody can win.”

Source: Beryl Chong, RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL