Calistri's Corner

My good buddy BJ Nemeth is in town this week and we’re spending time doing what we love best - talking about poker. I know the classic American cultural question is “Where were you when JFK was shot?” But in the poker world, there was probably no more important moment as when Chris Moneymaker parlayed 40 bucks into a WSOP Cinderella dream.

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People remarked on Moneymaker’s moniker - as he really was the “money maker” in 2003. But few realized at that precise moment how powerful a money maker he would be for the industry as a whole.  Poker was already clearly on a growth curve, but it kicked into overdrive when Chris (picture from Tunica 2006) turned over 5-4 offsuit; showing a boat to Sammy’s pair of jacks.

I was already well on my way to being a poker junkie at that point. I had played in my first “major” tournament. I had been to the 2002 WSOP, just to watch. And in 2003, I decided to attend the WSOP preliminary events in lieu of the championship, so that I could also attend the taping of the WPT Championship event at the Bellagio. The last event I attended in 2003 was Chris Ferguson’s WSOP bracelet winning performance in the Omaha hi/lo event. And I still marvel at the fact that I was probably one of only a dozen people, sitting on the bleachers at Binions, to see WSOP history in the making.  I also was lucky to score a seat next to Tiltboy Perry Friedman, where he shared his ideas about a new online poker site; later I would realize he was talking about the birth of Full Tilt.    Â

From Vegas, I went to the mountains of New Mexico to work on my dissertation in “near” total seclusion.  But it was killing me that the 2003 Championship was going on without me. I called Lou Krieger every day for updates.  And during the event, I initiated my sporadic and often spirited, email correspondence with the late great poker journalist, Andy Glazer. Ever day, I calculated how long it would take me to drive to Vegas; each time concluding it would be a fool’s errand.Â

Minutes after Chris Moneymaker flipped over his final hand, I was in Arroyo Secco, New Mexico, looking over the valley that lay beneath Taos. With phone to ear, I listened to Lou Krieger tell me how the poker world was forever changed.

Where were you when Chris Moneymaker won the 2003 WSOP Championship?            Â

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 14th, 2007 at 11:22 am and is filed under Uncategorized.