Book Review: Moneymaker

Benny Binion, Doyle Brunson, and Chris Moneymaker: Only two of these three names were listed among "The Big Six" in the Jan. 17, 2005, issue of New York magazine in an article about the emergence of poker. Well, they must have had room for only one World Series of Poker ( WSOP) champion, because Brunson didn't make the cut. Moneymaker, listed right below Steve Lipscomb in the article, did. Called "The Everyguy," the article went on to say that Moneymaker's WSOP victory was " … a tale that, right down to his surname, would seem as ludicrous as a plotline on Tilt."

In Moneymaker: How an Amateur Poker Player Turned $40 into $2.5 Million at the World Series of Poker, written with Daniel Paisner and published by HarperEntertainment, Moneymaker tells his incredible story. If you don't know it by now, Moneymaker paid $40 to enter a satellite on PokerStars.com and won his entry into the main event of the 2003 WSOP. He had never before played in a live tournament, and had to borrow money from his dad to pay his expenses to Las Vegas. He was, indeed, the "everyman" – a 27-year-old accountant, with a baby daughter, from Tennessee.

The book is written by Moneymaker and gives you great insight into what was going through his mind before, during, and after the tournament. He doesn't attempt to complicate the story with literary references. In his own unpretentious words, he sounds more like Doyle Brunson or Amarillo Slim than A. Alvarez or Jim McManus. When talking about his college years, Moneymaker writes, "The real drinking and the real gambling didn't start until I went away to school at the University of Tennessee, where I might as well have majored in both."

And while Moneymaker gives you enough background for you to understand his character, he was also smart enough to realize that people really want to read about the tournament, which is the crux of the narrative. While not a how-to per se, the book will teach you to be a better poker player by understanding what was going through Moneymaker's mind. For example, he writes, "No one ever plans on risking their tournament, but this is especially so at 4:30 a.m. when it's down to 10 players and only nine seats at the final table. I had a ton of chips – about $1.6 million – and all I really needed to do was sit back and twiddle my thumbs until someone else made a move and made a mistake. It would happen eventually. But at just that moment, my A-Q was standing in the way of eventually … "

If you've watched the tournament on ESPN, you likely now the rest. What you don't know – and what this book will tell you – is what was going through Moneymaker's head during that fateful hand with Phil Ivey, as well as the dozens of other key hands in the tournament.

No one argues anymore that poker has moved into the mainstream. Instead, people will argue about how and who was responsible for it. But when you're running through the list of names, you have to put Chris Moneymaker near the top. After Robert Varkonyi, another "everyguy," won the WSOP in 2002, he didn't go on Letterman, he didn't get a book deal, and the number of entrants in the WSOP the following year increased from 631 to 839. But when Moneymaker won – and you can't underes timate the power of his name nor the fact that he won a satellite online – the number of entrants the following year more than tripled to 2,576. In part because of his age and in part because of his lack of experience, he helped perpetuate the perception that anyone can win, and interest in the game, especially amongst young players, grew exponentially.

The words on the back of the book may say it best: "Inspiring and entertaining, his tale is must reading for every Walter Mitty who dreams of someday winning big."

Greg Dinkin is the co-founder of Venture Literary, www.ventureliterary.com, and the author of three books, including The Poker MBA, www.thepokermba.com. He is available for keynote speeches and can be contacted through his website.