Congratulations to the WSOP chmpion and to PokerStars.com

[Al Schoonmaker]

This post also appeared on the "Poker Psychology" forum because I'm at home there. I am ecstatic that my friends, Dan Goldman and Rich Korbin, Marketing VP and Director of PokerStars, "backed the right horse." I was rooting for him all the way, as were thousands of others.
Moneymaker's championship is wonderful for poker. It's a Cinderella story, the sort of thing we see in the movies. A man who had never won a live tournament defeats the best in the world to become an immortal.
The story itself is thrilling, and its effects upon our game are even better. Dan told me that PokerStars business tripled in one day after the NY Times story last week. Nobody knows how many more people will play online and in cardrooms now, but it is sure to be a large number. Let's make sure we welcome them properly so they keep coming back.
WTG guys.
Al

[Wildbill]

While we all agree with you, can you imagine what all the "authorities" in his city back in Tennessee are thinking??? I would wager they will investigate that he played online and raise a stink about it. I remember when some guy in Honolulu won a big online jackpot and the police chief and some others said they were trying to figure out who he was. Tennessee remains one of just three states to still not have legalized gaming so they obviously will take news like this quite seriously. As long as the backlash isn't too great and the guy isn't made a poster child for the religious right down there then its great, but if he gets into any level of hassle then it might not help out some things online. If he got into any legal trouble, Pokerstars would face a steep decline in their qualifiers next year as many people will say I don't want to be identified to the world and open myself up to that.

[Insp. Clue!So?]

To the contrary, this is exactly the sort of story that should be used to show these hypocritical clowns up for what they are.

Here's a man who, through the investment of $40 and the application of his skills, is now a multi-millionaire, the benefits of which will now acrue to his fellow Tennesseans as he spends and invests his earnings. He got his chance by playing his favorite passtime in the privacy of his own home, harming no one in the process.

How dare they...or anyone who claims to believe in personal freedom...even think about interfering with Moneymaker's or anyone else's personal freedom to engage in commerce or play in the safety of his home.

[Martin Aigner]

Is gambling online illegal in the US? I thought owning a casino would be illegal, didn´t know that playing would be too.

What if he simply states, that he won the satellite while being abroad, say in Austria, where online gambing is perfectly legal?

Regards

Martin Aigner

[Mason Malmuth]

Hi Everyone:

I think there's a more interesting sub-story to this story. When the Internet pokerrooms started, the B&M poker rooms weren't too thrilled because they saw the potential loss of business to the on-line operations. But while that may have happened at first, I believe the opposite is now actually happening.

That is these online rooms are now creating many new players and some of them are also venturing into the B&M poker rooms and thus everyone is "getting the best of it." My understanding is that Chris Moneymaker is brand new to live (B&M) poker play. So not only is his win an incredible story for him and his achievement, it's also an incredible story for the whole cardroom industry.

Best wishes,
Mason

[KrazyKanuck]

First and foremost I want to say CONGRATS to Chris. I played at his and Dan Harrington's table for the first 6 hours of play in the main event and they were the 2 people at the table who i watched out for. Chris was getting a kick out of the fact that I was attacking his blinds so often, even making comments like, did you even look at your cards that time. Chris was playing well and was looking good when they broke our table. The most interesting part of his winning the title was something that I had talked about the night before at the Pokerstars dinner. I had talked with a number of players from Pokerstars about the experiences I had had in the weeks leading up to the main event. I had met alot of pros in my weeks spent playing at Binions and was amazed at the lack of respect alot had for Online Players. It was amazing how often i heard people talking about being taken out by an online maniac and what a waste of time and space it was to send online players into the big show. Well, the night of the Pokerstars dinner, I told a number of players about this, and made the comment about how nice it would be for the credibility of online poker if someone did well in the main event. Well, presto, Chris Moneymaker amazes all with his victory. Let me be the first to say that I think Chris just may have opened alot of peoples eyes to the legitimacy of some online players and to the talent that is being trained on these sites. Keep in mind that online players play double the hands per hour at 1 table than B&M players, and triple that if they multi-table. The other thing is that you can play multiple tourneys a day online. you can't get that kind of live training playing in B&m's. Online play has done more to improve my game in the last 8 months than i had learned in 4 years in B&M play. Congrats again Chris, I thought you were a nice guy at the table, and i believe you played as well or better than anybody who entered that tourney. You deserved that win, enjoy it, and I hope you can repeat it sometime. Hope to see you back playing online sometime soon.
KrazyKanuck
/forums/images/icons/cool.gif /forums/images/icons/cool.gif /forums/images/icons/grin.gif <img src="/forums/images/icons/spade.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/icons/diamond.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/icons/heart.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/icons/club.gif" alt="" />

[Wildbill]

You are missing the point. I agree it is great for the online world to get the recognition, but I mean here is a real name and face and even hometown. When the story is everywhere that he won a satellite there easily could be some pastor in a local church that is just mollified by the thought of this, how terrible an example this guy sets for his congregation (his thoughts, not ours) and go talk to the sheriff about it. He could go say hey I thought gambling was illegal in Tennessee and now you are letting someone in town go off and play on the internet and turn it into millions. What is that going to do to our work ethic and the message the church is trying to set?

I wish it wouldn't happen, I wish the town and state could be proud that one of their own could be a world champ. It says even though there aren't legal cardrooms or tournaments here someone has the ability and desire to go out and get something that isn't easy for us to get, especially someone that isn't from Memphis with its easy drive to Tunica. But we all know the reality is different for these anti-gaming people and a majority of them could be traced to the southern baptist church of which the state is a hotbed. I don't know what will happen, I don't know what exactly are the laws of the state. Online gaming isn't a federal crime, but in some states it can be considered a crime. Who would have thought being a rapper talking about sex in your music would be illegal, yet all it took was one sheriff harrassing one DA and next thing you know they are trying to put a band in jail for rapping their music, which is sold worldwide, to a crowd of people all over 21. Just don't say it couldn't happen because in this type of story, the bigger the media story the more likely you draw out some local politician trying to make a name for himself. That is the worry for me. Sure its great on the surface for online rooms, but what happens if our champ even has to go to court to defend himself. There are a ton of people out there that even if they felt certain they weren't breaking a law, they might have to watch themselves from even getting the story out. Just ask Mike Price, no one proved a damn thing he did was illegal, yet he got fired out of a multi-million dollar job. There are a lot of intelligent people who would do great in a poker game and probably would love the competition, but have too much reputation at stake to even have the chance of being found out. That is why this is such an important situation, lets all hope for the best.

[Billy LTL]

I too think it's wonderful an online player, a novice to B&M cardrooms, won the event. A great boost for all in the poker world.

I play online a lot now, after years of home and card room games. There are a lot of good players on the internet, and more and more will develope over the years.

I am looking forward to reading Phil H's next Whine of the Week. Anybody want to bet whether Mr. Moneymaker's name appears in the text?

[Insp. Clue!So?]

And you are missing the point, that a reasonably good lawyer would make them look like utter fools.

"Today's news at 11:

-Terror alert elevated to 'Severe', White House has no comment on reports president lately heard quoting the Koran and greating guests with words "salaam aleikum"
-Earthquake kills 20,000 in NW China; government notes most 'already infected with SARS anyway, so no worries'
-Mad Cow disease discovered in test of McDonald's Big Macs
-'Cereal' slasher claims 18th victim, chooses box of Corn Flakes as latest disposal bin

and

-Local man indicted for paying $40, employing unique skills and talents and winning $2.5 million. 'Possibly some kid might've seen him doing it on the computer, had he not been in his own home, and gone on to do something similar. Of course we can't allow that' said the county DA as SWAT team members invaded his home and confiscated his computer and printer."

[lorinda]

They should confiscate the $40 and call it quits.

Lori

(Good to see you posting again Insp.)

[MS Sunshine]

If they go after him, it will be for the money. In illegal games when there is a raid, the money on the table is confiscated. Money used in the commision of a crime or some crap like that is forfeit Now they just have to prove a crime was committed by him winning the seat online and the later winnings may be forfeit to the state.

Gives me the willies just thinking about it.

Note to self:

If I win a multi-million tournamernt online, burn the computer, grab the cats and flee the state. Ah, screw the cats I'll buy new ones when the money is safe.



MS Sunshine

[Wildbill]

You are still not addressing the fact that a lot of successful people in this world would worry about being "tarred" by even a public airing of such a thing. I mean the very wealthiest aren't going to do it because the stakes are meaningless to them, but a guy that say runs a high-tech company in Dallas or Nashville and loves to compete and use his mind. He would be a natural for online poker and probably would crave the chance to win a B&M tournament like the WSOP, just he would absolutely hate the chance that word got out that he got there by playing online. Its a huge risk for him, so he will avoid it. Once again just think of Mike Price and the standards he was held to.

[Martin Aigner]

Sorry, but for somebody, who doesn´t live in the free country called USA this hardly to understand. /forums/images/icons/wink.gif (sorry, I couldn´t resist to write this) E.g.: what about the PPM? There are tons of players trying to qualifie via the Internet, most of them residents of the USA. Is this just a problem of TN (or whereever Chris lives) or a problem in every single state? If it´s a possible problem all over the USA, how can the PPM even exist?

And as I already asked in another post (got no response): Wouldn´t it be enough for Chris to state that he played the satellite while being in a state where online gambling was allowed?

Best regards

Martin Aigner

[Jimbo]

"Wouldn´t it be enough for Chris to state that he played the satellite while being in a state where online gambling was allowed?"

Don't get your shorts all tangled up worrying about this Martin. I believe I am correct in stating that no law was broken by Mr. Momeymaker or anyone else in the US except perhaps those in Nevada who are playing online poker.

[GrannyMae]

Ah, screw the cats I'll buy new ones when the money is safe.


*SIGH*

http://users.telenet.be/eforum/emoticons4u/violent/sterb016.gif

[beernutz]

FYI, Scopes was found guilty at his trial. The Supreme Court of TN reversed the decision a few years later on technical grounds.

[$ilver$urfer]

I have lurked here for many months but seldom post anything, but I just wanted to reiterate what Alan and others have said...this win by an online player will be a boon to online rooms AND to the B&M's. Many kudos to Dan and Rich, they have done a wonderful job at PokerStars and I can only hope that Mr Moneymaker's foray into the casinos will continue and that he continues to have success in all he does.
Now, if I can just do the same thing on the PPM next March, I will be HAPPY! /forums/images/icons/grin.gif

Steve

[MS Sunshine]

Welcome Steve

MS Sunshine

[HavanaBanana]

Takes more than burning hard-disk to erase it MS, saw a program about recovering burned hard-disks on Tv yesterday, and it was amazing how they could bring back data from the dead.

350 players in the 200+15 NL at pokerstars yesterday, am sure it was a Wsop related phenomenon.

I had 214.50 on my account when I decided to play 1 minute before it started, I ran to a NL table wanting to steal a blind, won the pot and registered.

Could have been a Sunshine story, but went out JJ vs Akoff in 115th or so.
Was fun playing for the almost 20k first prize though /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

[Hung]

I don't know if you usual play those tournaments.
But yesterday I almost tried something crazy too. I wanted to try the $15-$30 limit game at empire. Average pot was $400!! full table, almost every called preflop. I wanted to give it a [censored]. Take a seat with $500 and win one pot. Hit and run. But I didn't do it. I looked so easy. After awhile, average pot went down to $200 and the table got tougher... Pity, I lost my chance.

[lorinda]

Hi there Steve,

I'm afraid this just won't do /forums/images/icons/shocked.gif

Your first post is supposed to be spam, or a pot-shot at Granny, or downright rude, otherwise you might get labelled as intelligent and kicked off the forum.

Good to see you posting, hope to see more of you /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

Lori

(Let us know how your PPM quest goes)

[MS Sunshine]

I saw that also, big number, but lets see how far above 300 it stays in a few weeks after the WSOP feeling wears off, to see how much it really helped online long term.

MS Sunshine