RE-VISITING MONEYMAKER

I saw Moneymaker being interviewed by Matt Savage on TV recently followed by a replay of the 2003 World Series a few days later. My impression of Moneymaker was that of an overly aggressive online player that hit some lucky cards that propelled him to victory. For instance, he was all-in with 3 Queens against Phil Ivey's fullboat and hit a lucky card to knock Phil out.

But there was an ESPN interview with Moneymaker when about 40 guys were left that was interesting. Chris said that he was so nervous playing with Johnny Chan and company the day before that he decided that he was going to stop worrying and play aggressive poker. It was very humanizing. It reminded me of how nobody John Daly came out of nowhere to win the U.S. Open. With Moneymaker's new mojo, he would knock the scary Chan out going all-in with Top pair and nut flush draw v Chan's second nut flush draw. It was a weak call by Chan, showing that Chris's luck was more than just hitting cards.

Another lucky hand happened at the final table that had nothing to do with Moneymaker's play. Chris has T9o and he flopped top pair, but Sammy Farha flopped a set of 9s. Knowing the way Chris had been playing, those 9s would have normally cost him a ton, but Tomer Benvenisti did Chris a big favor by trying to bluff at the pot with nothing. It allowed Moneymaker to escape unharmed.

Sammy later folded a pair of 2s with a raise and re-raise in front of him. He would have flopped a set and no doubt knocked out Harrington's KK. How the tourney could have been different in that scenario.

The famous hand will always be Moneymaker's busted draw all-in bluff on the river that made Farha drop top pair. Although it seemed reckless at the time, it was a gutsy move and probably the only way a rookie like Moneymaker could have beaten a Sammy Farha.

2003 tourney is interesting because it was a transition between the relatively small main event fields and super crazy fields we see today. A lot of the main guys were still in contention late into the 2003 event. Lederrer, Ivey, Harrington, Deeb, Scotty Nguyen, Men Nguyen, Lüske, and Hellmuth all finished in the top 20.

How things have changed.