The Perfect Name
Moneymaker: That was what Amir Vahedi did the whole tournament. I mean, he moved all-in with a Q-8 against Olof Thorson’s A-K on Day 4, and said, “You gotta have balls, baby!” and stands up and starts cheering. That’s what he did the whole time. It’s how he got his chips, and ultimately how he lost them.
Savage: His collapse happened quickly. In real time — about two or three hours — he went from chip leader to busted.
Christenson: The charm of the World Series of Poker was you played until somebody won. You play overnight, you play until the sun comes up, you play until somebody caves and somebody wins.
Savage: We played longer days than we planned because we had more players than we expected. So exhaustion was definitely part of it.
Chad: As the final table wore on, we heard so many stories about how Sammy Farha had played all night — and he had. As these semidegenerate poker players do, they can’t get away from a good cash game. So he played the tournament the night before until 3 or 4 in the morning, then he played in a cash game all morning, and then he’s playing for the world championship the next day.
Farha: For five days, I had no sleep. None. I did not sleep. And the last day, the reason I lasted, I drank 20 Red Bulls, about 20 cups of coffee. I could not function.
Harrington: I’ve played a lot of different games, chess, backgammon, whatever, where you had to put in long, grueling hours. If you get down near the end, where victory depends on you being alert, I could dig down and get something out of myself to give that final push. Well, at that final table, I dug down, and there was nothing there. I hit the wall. Here’s how bad it was: When it got down to me, Sammy, and Chris, I wanted to bet 75,000, which was the right bet for that situation. I sat there and I couldn’t calculate how to make the bet. I had a whole bunch of 25,000 chips in front of me, and I could not figure out how to get to 75,000. It was an insurmountable problem.
Moneymaker: For the first part of the final table, my plan was to sit back and let other people eliminate each other until it gets short-handed. Then, honestly, I don’t know what happened when we got three-handed. I just started raising every single hand. I was destroying both of them with aggression, to the point where Sammy’s like, “Let’s just go home, I’m done, this is really not fun anymore.” I turned into mini Stu Ungar. I was just crushing them. I felt like I was on steroids.
Harrington: I couldn’t come up with a coherent strategy. When it was just the three of us left, Sam Farha was sleeping at the table, I was dead on my feet, and there’s Chris Moneymaker over there bouncing around like this was the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Moneymaker: I was in the zone and in one of those special moments you don’t get in poker very often.
Koppelman: Isn’t that what’s magical about poker? That if you are somehow in the matrix, if you’re able to lock in, and you can see that clearly for a short period of time, you can have streaks of brilliance.
Harrington: After I busted in third place, ESPN asked me for a prediction, and I told them, “No one over 40 is ever going to win this tournament again.” It’s become an endurance contest. The next year, I was at the final table again. I was sitting next to a younger player. He nudged me and said: “I know you tell everyone how brutal it is on you to get down to this point in the tournament, you don’t have the energy. Well I’m 28, and it’s brutal on me, too.”
Heads-Up
Moneymaker: That was what Amir Vahedi did the whole tournament. I mean, he moved all-in with a Q-8 against Olof Thorson’s A-K on Day 4, and said, “You gotta have balls, baby!” and stands up and starts cheering. That’s what he did the whole time. It’s how he got his chips, and ultimately how he lost them.
Savage: His collapse happened quickly. In real time — about two or three hours — he went from chip leader to busted.
Christenson: The charm of the World Series of Poker was you played until somebody won. You play overnight, you play until the sun comes up, you play until somebody caves and somebody wins.
Savage: We played longer days than we planned because we had more players than we expected. So exhaustion was definitely part of it.
Chad: As the final table wore on, we heard so many stories about how Sammy Farha had played all night — and he had. As these semidegenerate poker players do, they can’t get away from a good cash game. So he played the tournament the night before until 3 or 4 in the morning, then he played in a cash game all morning, and then he’s playing for the world championship the next day.
Farha: For five days, I had no sleep. None. I did not sleep. And the last day, the reason I lasted, I drank 20 Red Bulls, about 20 cups of coffee. I could not function.
Harrington: I’ve played a lot of different games, chess, backgammon, whatever, where you had to put in long, grueling hours. If you get down near the end, where victory depends on you being alert, I could dig down and get something out of myself to give that final push. Well, at that final table, I dug down, and there was nothing there. I hit the wall. Here’s how bad it was: When it got down to me, Sammy, and Chris, I wanted to bet 75,000, which was the right bet for that situation. I sat there and I couldn’t calculate how to make the bet. I had a whole bunch of 25,000 chips in front of me, and I could not figure out how to get to 75,000. It was an insurmountable problem.
Moneymaker: For the first part of the final table, my plan was to sit back and let other people eliminate each other until it gets short-handed. Then, honestly, I don’t know what happened when we got three-handed. I just started raising every single hand. I was destroying both of them with aggression, to the point where Sammy’s like, “Let’s just go home, I’m done, this is really not fun anymore.” I turned into mini Stu Ungar. I was just crushing them. I felt like I was on steroids.
Harrington: I couldn’t come up with a coherent strategy. When it was just the three of us left, Sam Farha was sleeping at the table, I was dead on my feet, and there’s Chris Moneymaker over there bouncing around like this was the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Moneymaker: I was in the zone and in one of those special moments you don’t get in poker very often.
Koppelman: Isn’t that what’s magical about poker? That if you are somehow in the matrix, if you’re able to lock in, and you can see that clearly for a short period of time, you can have streaks of brilliance.
Harrington: After I busted in third place, ESPN asked me for a prediction, and I told them, “No one over 40 is ever going to win this tournament again.” It’s become an endurance contest. The next year, I was at the final table again. I was sitting next to a younger player. He nudged me and said: “I know you tell everyone how brutal it is on you to get down to this point in the tournament, you don’t have the energy. Well I’m 28, and it’s brutal on me, too.”
Heads-Up
Moneymaker: That was what Amir Vahedi did the whole tournament. I mean, he moved all-in with a Q-8 against Olof Thorson’s A-K on Day 4, and said, “You gotta have balls, baby!” and stands up and starts cheering. That’s what he did the whole time. It’s how he got his chips, and ultimately how he lost them.
Savage: His collapse happened quickly. In real time — about two or three hours — he went from chip leader to busted.
Christenson: The charm of the World Series of Poker was you played until somebody won. You play overnight, you play until the sun comes up, you play until somebody caves and somebody wins.
Savage: We played longer days than we planned because we had more players than we expected. So exhaustion was definitely part of it.
Chad: As the final table wore on, we heard so many stories about how Sammy Farha had played all night — and he had. As these semidegenerate poker players do, they can’t get away from a good cash game. So he played the tournament the night before until 3 or 4 in the morning, then he played in a cash game all morning, and then he’s playing for the world championship the next day.
Farha: For five days, I had no sleep. None. I did not sleep. And the last day, the reason I lasted, I drank 20 Red Bulls, about 20 cups of coffee. I could not function.
Harrington: I’ve played a lot of different games, chess, backgammon, whatever, where you had to put in long, grueling hours. If you get down near the end, where victory depends on you being alert, I could dig down and get something out of myself to give that final push. Well, at that final table, I dug down, and there was nothing there. I hit the wall. Here’s how bad it was: When it got down to me, Sammy, and Chris, I wanted to bet 75,000, which was the right bet for that situation. I sat there and I couldn’t calculate how to make the bet. I had a whole bunch of 25,000 chips in front of me, and I could not figure out how to get to 75,000. It was an insurmountable problem.
Moneymaker: For the first part of the final table, my plan was to sit back and let other people eliminate each other until it gets short-handed. Then, honestly, I don’t know what happened when we got three-handed. I just started raising every single ha
Moneymaker: That was what Amir Vahedi did the whole tournament. I mean, he moved all-in with a Q-8 against Olof Thorson’s A-K on Day 4, and said, “You gotta have balls, baby!” and stands up and starts cheering. That’s what he did the whole time. It’s how he got his chips, and ultimately how he lost them.
Savage: His collapse happened quickly. In real time — about two or three hours — he went from chip leader to busted.
Christenson: The charm of the World Series of Poker was you played until somebody won. You play overnight, you play until the sun comes up, you play until somebody caves and somebody wins.
Savage: We played longer days than we planned because we had more players than we expected. So exhaustion was definitely part of it.
Chad: As the final table wore on, we heard so many stories about how Sammy Farha had played all night — and he had. As these semidegenerate poker players do, they can’t get away from a good cash game. So he played the tournament the night before until 3 or 4 in the morning, then he played in a cash game all morning, and then he’s playing for the world championship the next day.
Farha: For five days, I had no sleep. None. I did not sleep. And the last day, the reason I lasted, I drank 20 Red Bulls, about 20 cups of coffee. I could not function.
Harrington: I’ve played a lot of different games, chess, backgammon, whatever, where you had to put in long, grueling hours. If you get down near the end, where victory depends on you being alert, I could dig down and get something out of myself to give that final push. Well, at that final table, I dug down, and there was nothing there. I hit the wall. Here’s how bad it was: When it got down to me, Sammy, and Chris, I wanted to bet 75,000, which was the right bet for that situation. I sat there and I couldn’t calculate how to make the bet. I had a whole bunch of 25,000 chips in front of me, and I could not figure out how to get to 75,000. It was an insurmountable problem.
Moneymaker: For the first part of the final table, my plan was to sit back and let other people eliminate each other until it gets short-handed. Then, honestly, I don’t know what happened when we got three-handed. I just started raising every single hand. I was destroying both of them with aggression, to the point where Sammy’s like, “Let’s just go home, I’m done, this is really not fun anymore.” I turned into mini Stu Ungar. I was just crushing them. I felt like I was on steroids.
Harrington: I couldn’t come up with a coherent strategy. When it was just the three of us left, Sam Farha was sleeping at the table, I was dead on my feet, and there’s Chris Moneymaker over there bouncing around like this was the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Moneymaker: I was in the zone and in one of those special moments you don’t get in poker very often.
Koppelman: Isn’t that what’s magical about poker? That if you are somehow in the matrix, if you’re able to lock in, and you can see that clearly for a short period of time, you can have streaks of brilliance.
Harrington: After I busted in third place, ESPN asked me for a prediction, and I told them, “No one over 40 is ever going to win this tournament again.” It’s become an endurance contest. The next year, I was at the final table again. I was sitting next to a younger player. He nudged me and said: “I know you tell everyone how brutal it is on you to get down to this point in the tournament, you don’t have the energy. Well I’m 28, and it’s brutal on me, too.”
Heads-Up
nd. I was destroying both of them with aggression, to the point where Sammy’s like, “Let’s just go home, I’m done, this is really not fun anymore.” I turned into mini Stu Ungar. I was just crushing them. I felt like I was on steroids.
Harrington: I couldn’t come up with a coherent strategy. When it was just the three of us left, Sam Farha was sleeping at the table, I was dead on my feet, and there’s Chris Moneymaker over there bouncing around like this was the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Moneymaker: I was in the zone and in one of those special moments you don’t get in poker very often.
Koppelman: Isn’t that what’s magical about poker? That if you are somehow in the matrix, if you’re able to lock in, and you can see that clearly for a short period of time, you can have streaks of brilliance.
Harrington: After I busted in third place, ESPN asked me for a prediction, and I told them, “No one over 40 is ever going to win this tournament again.” It’s become an endurance contest. The next year, I was at the final table again. I was sitting next to a younger player. He nudged me and said: “I know you tell everyone how brutal it is on you to get down to this point in the tournament, you don’t have the energy. Well I’m 28, and it’s brutal on me, too.”
Heads-Up
. There is this huge stack of slides, and I’ve reached kind up the chip matters, one at a time. You had write, “Doyle Brunson, Las Las vega, Nevada, 23,300.” I needed to do that for all 385 gamers that made it through the day. And I come throughout this slide — for his name, it said, “Chris Moneymaker.” So I’m thinking Chris is his given name and Moneymaker is his nickname. Chris “Moneymaker” Jones. My first response was, “That is this joker?” If you return and appearance at the official end-of-Day 1 chip matters, I put “Chris Unidentified” or something. I would certainly not also recognize the guy by writing “Moneymaker.” So the next day comes and I find Chris Moneymaker. And I said, “Are you Chris? What’s your real surname?” He said, “Moneymaker.” And I’m such as, “No, no, what’s your real surname?” And of course, this guy has listened to this his whole life. So he handed me his driver’s license. And I appearance at it and all I could do was say, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know that.”
Day 3
Lederer: I think we were probably waiting on 2 or 3 mins. He simply had no idea. I imply, he was an Internet gamer. In his mind, he’d clicked “fold to any wager.” Moneymaker was purposeful. He wasn’t a fast gamer, so the first 30 secs was no big deal. But after that it obtained a bit out of control. I have no idea when I would certainly have said something. But Chan just had K-J — he was probably nervous to filth his hand. So finally he said something.
Moneymaker: I remember after I folded up, I’m embarrassed. I can’t think I simply did that on TV. So Johnny relied on me and said, “Do not worry, youngster. That’ll never ever make it on TV — unless you win.” So I’m such as, OK, great, that’ll never ever show up on TV.
Koppelman: Johnny Chan was poker’s Joe Frazier or Muhammad Ali. That man won 2 years straight, back-to-back. If you wanted to say that Moneymaker’s run touched right into the home online texas hold’em player’s dream, certainly the home gamer that watched Rounders and currently sees some accountant knock Johnny Chan from the competition is reaching live vicariously through this man.
Moneymaker: It was the last hand before a damage. It was an ace-high flop with 2 hearts, and I had A-8 of hearts. I wager, he increased, I put him all-in, and Johnny called. He had K-5 of hearts. I was 100 percent shocked that he made that call keeping that hand, because I was still thinking that the pros constantly have beast hands. When he called, I thought I had to capture a heart. I thought I lagged, I thought he had A-K or better. When he turned his hand up, I was shocked. He simply ran right into the one hand he didn’t want to see.
Matt Savage (WSOP competition director): As a participant of the staff, you are thinking, Boy, this would certainly be truly great if Johnny Chan could reach the last table, and win the competition, and make background by winning his 3rd centerpiece arm band. Moneymaker was a no one — this youngster that won his method online — so we didn’t know how that would certainly be perceived. I imply, if an amateur victories, is that bad for online texas hold’em because it recommends the video game is all good luck? I remember thinking, It is bad for the Globe Collection that Chan is out. But as it ends up, it was the best point that could have happened.
Maranz: Our coverage, we began with such as 40 gamers we were monitoring from the start. It didn’t dawn on us that none of these gamers are mosting likely to be about at completion. After that as men obtained knocked senseless, we’d get various other gamers to follow. Then, of course, you have no idea that Moneymaker is, and Johnny Chan is Johnny Chan. So you begin mosting likely to Plan B.
Lon McEachern (ESPN play-by-play announcer): You go find a hero that individuals want to see, and if he obtains knocked senseless, after that the individual that knocks him out becomes the hero and you can follow him. It is a great, fantastic progression that Matt made. Every step was perfectly put such as a jigsaw challenge throughout.
Moneymaker: That was the hand that won me the competition, because of the self-confidence factor. Chan was literally among 3 online texas hold’em gamers I understood, so for me to knock him out, my self-confidence degree underwent the roofing system and I began having fun with more flexibility, recognizing that if the best gamer places his money because bad, perhaps the ability space isn’t that big. When I busted Chan, that resembled beating Mike Tyson.
Gamble: I had a company journey that conflicted with the begin of the competition. When I obtained there on Wednesday, he had simply knocked senseless Johnny Chan. It was Chris, Bruce, and I. We remained with each other in the same room the remainder of the week. The room didn’t have air conditioning! It was a dispose, and after that as Chris was winning they were mosting likely to update us, but he was superstitious: “We’re not changing anything.” He didn’t want anyone being available in the room, didn’t want them production the beds. We took the same course to the online texas hold’em room daily, we used the same t-tee t shirts and hats.
Mike Moneymaker: I headed out there with Chris for the weekend break prominent up to the competition, after that I got home on Day 1. He’d been having fun a pair hrs when I left. I said, “Hang tough, boy, if you do great I’ll be back.” Bruce called me right after he knocked Johnny Chan out. And about a half-hour later on, Chris called and said, “I knocked Chan out. Can you obtain back?” I said, “I currently reserved a trip.”
Farha: The very first time they revealed me on TV, they explained me as an investor from Houston. I was a full time online texas hold’em gamer. I was never ever an investor. But I gave that picture to a great deal of gamers. I claim such as I’m an investor from from community simply to obtain the video game going. At that time, before online texas hold’em got on TV, they didn’t know that I was, they want to bet me. And I’m breaking them one at a time.
Daniel Negreanu (online texas hold’em pro): I had fun with Sammy on Day 3, and it was clear that he had control of the table. He had a big pile of chips and he was talking his way through a great deal of hands and he was truly confusing a great deal of individuals.
Shulman: Sammy was such a excitement. I had fun with Sammy a great deal before after that, and I simply could not number him out. He would certainly put stress on, and boy, the way he had the ability to reach 200,000 in chips before the next man also had 30,000 or 40,000, it simply happened over and over. And after that he would certainly shed them in some way.
Farha: I am an insane gamer, but within factor. It is marketing. I’m marketing myself as insane. Which, I am insane, but I know when to lay it down. I remember one hand, I put down top 2 set. And if I called, I would certainly have shed. The man revealed me bottom set.
Day 4
Lederer: We’re preparing for Day 4, and I see Humberto Brenes in the bathroom. Humberto is a truly limited gamer. I said, “Well, I certain hope that the best hand stands up for you today, Humberto,” because I understood that if he obtained all his money in, he’d probably have the best hand. And after that I listened to later on that he obtained busted by Moneymaker, where he obtained all-in with the best hand and Moneymaker hit the two-outer. He had aces versus Moneymaker’s eights, and the flop resembled K-9-2, and Moneymaker put him all-in with eights and spiked his 8.
Moneymaker: I can’t remember what hand I put Humberto Brenes on. My read was that he was beat, so I chose it. And certainly it was inaccurate, so I had to visit Plan B and draw out.15
Goldman: That is when I called my managers at PokerStars and said, “This guy’s actually obtained a fired.” Certainly, I can’t say that is a brilliant play that he made. But what it informed me was that he was past the point where he was scared to take dangers. That hand informed me that the man had big spheres. And that is an extremely important characteristic.
Lederer: Appearance, he obtained fortunate. He relocated with eights versus Humberto and hit his two-outer. But that also frightens the crap from you when you find out about that hand, because he’s qualified of anything. And another point I need to say about Moneymaker is that he was psychologically difficult. Dan Harrington once informed me that among the essential points you perform in a online texas hold’em competition is you try and determine the man at the table then that desires to leave. For some individuals, that is right at the beginning of the competition. Simply the stress of being generally occasion is production them so unpleasant that they want to leave there. Whatever phase you are at in the competition, usually there is someone who’s at the point where if he goes damaged, it is not so bad because he’s from the stress cooker. I was constantly waiting on that to occur to Moneymaker, and it never ever did. He had not been the best gamer, but he was difficult as nails and he was unforeseeable.
Moneymaker: The essential hand I played that you didn’t see on TV was versus a man called Chuc Hoang. I can’t remember the blinds exactly, but he increased and I called. After that we went check-check on the flop. And the transform came about, and I had A-3, which was complete air. He made a tiny wager, 15,000. So I decided I was mosting likely to raise 15,000. And after that he returned over the top of me another 15,000. And at this moment, I’m thinking, OK, he’s obtained a decently solid hand, but I’m a persistent child of a bitch and I think I can obtain him off of it, so I make it 100,000 more. And he phone telephone calls. At this moment, I’m such as, Oh, this isn’t truly the spot I want to remain in. I’ve simply gotta hope for a great card on the river that does not change the board too a lot, because I was attempting to stand for a made straight and I was pretty certain he had a set or more set, something along those lines. On the river, he inspected and I shoved all-in, and he folded up pretty quickly. I revealed my bluff, and that is when I seemed like individuals were discussing me in a great way. Such as I’m not such a fish any longer, I’m a lunatic and you might want to leave me the fuck alone.
Swartz: The very first time I truly began taking notice of Chris was through his conflicts with Dutch Boyd. Dutch was among these fascinating personalities that captured our eye at an early stage.
Dutch Boyd (12th-place finisher): The evening before my interview with ESPN, I was truly considering how it would certainly show up on TV. I understood they were looking for little sound attacks that were mosting likely to appearance great on TV. I considered it, that I needed to earn certain I had lengthy pauses in between little sound attacks and attempt to make their job easy. I thought if I can simply make their job easy, I’m getting a great deal more coverage compared to I deserve.
Farha: Dutch Boyd was aggravating me a lot. Every hand, he says words “raise” and takes a look at each gamer in the eyes, one at a time, and takes about 5 mins to say how a lot he’s mosting likely to raise. I prefer to play fast.
Boyd: I was having fun with Moneymaker on Day 4. I obtained a respectable inform on him. He was the type of gamer that, if you inspected to him, he was mosting likely to wager. Constantly. And he had something, it was almost such as from a Hollywood movie, where he would certainly flare his nostrils when he was weak. It resembled a rabbit, guy. So I resembled, This is mosting likely to be so easy. All I gotta do is inspect to him and let him wager, and I’ll simply appearance at his nostrils, and if they begin flaring, I’ll come by the top of him. And that is what I performed in our big well-known
Moneymaker: The flop was 9-5-2, and I had pocket threes. Dutch had me protected, and he increased me all-in. I remained in the area then. My instinct was that he had 2 overcards. I truly could not see him pushing in with a set there. Pre-flop, he wager and I called, when I called, I remember he fired me an appearance such as, Oh crap, what the heck are you doing in my pot? It was more of a worried appearance compared to a positive appearance. I seemed like he didn’t have a lot, when he went all-in, I simply could not put him on a hand16 that he was mosting likely to risk basically his competition life on. I figured he had complete air and it is a relocation. So I underwent my going attempting to determine what he could have, and my first instinct is he has A-K, A-Q. It ended up it was K-Q. I called and said, “Reduced cards, dealer!” because I wanted individuals to know before Dutch revealed his cards that I understood where I was when I made this pretty ill call.
Swartz: I remember Dutch trembling his going and saying, “That is a hell of a phone call, Moneymaker.”
Boyd: A great deal of individuals resemble, “Amazing call, Chris!” But I didn’t think it was amazing at all. Also if I was bluffing, I could easily be bluffing with better. And in the best-case situation, which it ends up he remained in, he’s still gotten rid of, what, 30 percent of the moment? You do not truly want to put on your own in those settings. But that is his fearlessness. He didn’t know what that 30 percent seems like. You listen to constantly about individuals obtaining it in with aces generally occasion and shedding. Well, you just truly need to be all-in with aces 3 times before you are [an under]dog to win all 3. If you maintain obtaining all your contribute, it is simply an issue of time before you go damaged. Chris was all-in versus me. Seventy percent of the moment he victories. Thirty percent of the moment, the entire online texas hold’em globe is various.
“When you first begin having fun online texas hold’em, that is what you consider, knocking individuals out. Having the ability to inform your friends, “Wow, I knocked senseless Johnny Chan. I knocked senseless Phil Ivey.” — Jeff Shulman
Raymer: What Chris has never ever been provided credit for, he’s among the best hold ’em gamers I’ve ever seen when it comes to placing another person on a hand. But in ’03, he didn’t have a great feeling for the mathematics of online texas hold’em and basic strategy. It was a great read, but you could still suggest that, if you know all the mathematical opportunities, it was inaccurate to require your competition life.
Swartz: Chris simply played the video game in a different way. He had not been a professional. He might not have known what was the “right” dip into the moment. He simply chose his guts. And it helped him. He was having fun the video game in a different way — in large component because he was various.
Farha: Chris Moneymaker phone telephone calls all-in with pocket threes, and the amusing component, he made a declaration, “Begin, dealer, give me 2 reduced cards,” without looking at Dutch Boyd’s hand. He understood pocket threes was the best, and it was! And I’m watching this and I’m chuckling to myself! Where do they come from, that they play such as this? This isn’t online texas hold’em.
Boyd: One point I regret doing was going all-in. I seem like if I would certainly have re-raised the minimal, or re-raised such as 2 and a fifty percent times his wager, it would certainly have looked a great deal much less such as a bluff. Hello, he made a great read. But I could have been attempting to press him about with fours. Or sevens. There is a great deal of hands there where I could actually be in advance and feel weak.
Goldman: That was a turning-point hand. The hand with Dutch gave Chris the self-confidence to go with his reads. I invent until that point, he had not been certain that he was a competitor.
Boyd: I informed him about his nostrils inform after I was gotten rid of. Why not? But I do not think he thought me. He probably still does not think that he did that. That is OK. He can think what he desires, I’ll think what I want.
Moneymaker: Dutch Boyd informed me about that inform after he busted from the competition. But I have no idea if it was a precise inform. To be honest, for the first 3 or 4 days, I never ever truly bluffed, so my nostrils were never ever truly flaring.
Boyd: It still harms, considering how shut I came. When you are deep generally occasion, it is almost such as you are living a desire. It seems like destiny. It is established, and you are mosting likely to win it, and nothing’s mosting likely to stand in your way. Deep space desires you to win. It had not been until I was out the door that I recognized deep space does not treatment.
Lederer: I obtained gotten rid of on Day 4, in 19th place. I didn’t want to leave bed for a week. That removal was one of the most disappointing, devastating removal of my online texas hold’em profession. There are video cams there, the video game is changing, I’m having fun the best online texas hold’em I’ve ever played, and it simply really felt incredibly winnable. And I may not have known it after that, but I really felt it, that that may be my last chance generally occasion. I understood there were mosting likely to be much more individuals the next year. It is no much longer a competition you can anticipate to win or that you truly carry your list of profession objectives.
Savage: Once we obtained to the last 10 gamers — one removal from the last table — we removaled everybody to one table. But we just had 9 video cams on the table. So 2 individuals needed to share. That was uncomfortable.
Moneymaker: I was having fun tight as a insect in a carpet when we obtained to 10. I wanted to earn the last table. I didn’t want to play another hand, I didn’t appreciate being the one to bust someone. The just hand I played 10-handed was the A-Q hand versus Ivey. If I played another hand, I do not remember it.
Lederer: Certainly, Chris Moneymaker is the big tale to find from that Globe Collection of Online texas hold’em. But the next greatest point that happened was the birth of Ivey. He had come enclose 200217 and I remember him saying, “I’m mosting likely to win this point in 2003,” and I said, “Yes, yes,” and there he was, where truly he should have won that competition. He was ending up being one of the most intimidating competition gamer on the planet that year.
Moneymaker: Everyone believes that I obtained fortunate versus Ivey. I didn’t obtain fortunate. I increased pre-flop with A-Q, Jason Lester had 10s, Phil Ivey had nines, they both flatted,18 the flop was Q-Q-6. And it came about to me and I wager 75,000, and Ivey just had about 475,000 left. Everyone says I wager too small to obtain him from there — my wager dimension maintained him about — but that is what I wanted to do. I didn’t want to run individuals off when I have A-Q. Jason folded up his 10s, Ivey called with his nines. And I didn’t obtain fortunate, I obtained very unfortunate that he hit a two-outer. He hit a 9 on the transform. He inspected to me, I wager 200,000, he increased 200,000 more all-in, and certainly I’m never ever folding there. It is a colder. I simply obtained the better finish of it when I hit an ace on the river.
Negreanu: It definitely troubled Phil. But at the same time, he had a lot decision and focus and self-confidence that he simply presumed he was mosting likely to do it again next year and he was mosting likely to do it again every year. Still, it took him a bit to overcome that one.19
Shulman: Moneymaker busted Ivey and Chan. When you first begin having fun online texas hold’em, that is what you consider, knocking individuals out. Having the ability to inform your friends, “Wow, I knocked senseless Johnny Chan. I knocked senseless Phil Ivey.”
The Last Table
Ruby: I wish I could have bank on Chris back on Day 1 or Day 2. But that year, it had not been available until the last table, so I just obtained 3-to-1 on him because he had all the chips.
Savage: Although Moneymaker was the chip leader, individuals weren’t thinking he had a possibility. It was a difficult table, no one expected that lead to stand up.
Farha: The table was difficult. You have Jason Lester, Dan Harrington, David Grey, Amir Vahedi. Chris Moneymaker was the just one that had not been difficult. No one took note of him, because that cares? When you have one bad gamer, you do not concentrate on him as a lot.
Hellmuth: I quit by the last table simply to see that was left. There was Sammy Farha, that put a poor beat on me previously in case. And I saw this youngster, Moneymaker. And he resembled, “Phil” — I imply, they’re actually having fun, he tossed his hand away, he came over, he resembled, “Hello, can I obtain an sign?”
Moneymaker: Once the last table began, I understood I’d be heads-up with either Amir or Sammy at completion. Amir was the craziest individual at the table. Sammy was the second-craziest. So I informed my father that Amir and Sammy are mosting likely to play a big pot with each other, they’re gonna clash, and whoever victories, I’m mosting likely to play heads-up for the title.
Dalla: Amir took control of the chip lead from Moneymaker very early at the last table. After that he simply imploded. He totally self-destructed in an outrageous bluff, and sadly, that is how Amir Vahedi is mostly remembered currently. To watch that, if you were a buddy of Amir Vahedi, I still appearance at that and wince.20
Harrington: It had not been as big a meltdown as individuals indicated. Vahedi reached where he remained in the competition because he took chances at key times. So he picked a flop where it didn’t rate that his challenger had a hand. He maintained wagering right into Sam and Sam had a flopped set of nines, and Sam played the hand very well. He understood what Vahedi had to do with, that Vahedi was mosting likely to attempt to take him off the hand. A great deal of the theorists, as much as what’s the proper strategy when you have ascending purchase of payments and what chances you are supposed to take, they would certainly not concur with what Vahedi did. But, on the various other hand, it is high volatility and you obtain awarded if you succeed. You have a likelihood to win the competition.
Farha: I flopped top set. I was surprised he was bluffing. But I guess he thought, It is Sammy Farha — he’s hostile, let me see if I can obtain him out. A great deal of gamers think this way. I was lucky to make money off with a complete house, that the man decided to bluff there.
