What, Another Unknown Defeated the Pros?!

Chris Moneymaker's win in the championship event at the World Series brought back lots of memories of my own victory 20 years ago. Both Chris and I had several firsts, and other things in common. Chris is the first player to win his seat on the Internet and not only make the final table, but win the event. I was the first player to win a seat in the "Big One" via a satellite. Chris won the championship the first time he entered, and so did I. He is an accountant, and I worked as an accountant for several years before trading my pencil for the poker arena. Chris was an unknown who surprised lots of people with his outstanding play and willingness to gamble in certain situations. I too was relatively unknown before winning the 1983 Series, which literally changed my life overnight. For better or worse, Chris' life also will never be the same again.

The fact that an Internet player won the Big One did not surprise me as much as it did other people. I predicted that an unknown player would win the championship event this year, but little did I realize that someone would win his seat on the site that I have been working for the past six months, PokerStars.com. With the exceptionally large field for the final event, I was willing to bet that a relative novice would again sneak up on the field, similar to what Robert Varkonyi did last year, making it back-to-back years that an amateur would win the championship event. That in itself is another record.

Several players, all of whom are household names in the poker world, won multiple bracelets. The legendary Doyle Brunson won his ninth bracelet, a new record that was quickly tied by both Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth when they both won twice. Many other famous players also won bracelets, including 2000 World Champion Chris Ferguson, who won twice and had several other money finishes and final-table appearances. Men Nguyen also won, as did 1996 World Champion Huck Seed. And we mustn't forget Erik Seidel, who captured his sixth bracelet and came close in another event, eventually finishing in third place after having the chip lead. And who beat Erik? Phil Hellmuth, with Daniel Negreanu placing second. What a final table that was! Two ladies of legendary poker status also had near misses. Annie Duke finished second to Layne Flack in the limit hold'em shootout, and Kathy Liebert lost in the finals of the $1,500 limit hold'em event to a Horseshoe poker dealer, no less – John Arrage, another unknown who won a bracelet this year.

The big question is this: How did an unknown win the largest money prize in poker history when the most famous names in poker dominated most of the other events? I have my own theory. This year, the World Series was the longest and most expensive in poker history. Except for the championship event and a few other tournaments, attendance was down quite a bit from last year. The smaller fields and several very expensive buy-ins for added events favored the bigger bankrolls and enabled the great players to rise to the top. One of the reasons that I believe this to be true is that these great players understand and read other top players better than they understand and read amateurs like Moneymaker. A very well-known tournament player told me that he would much rather play against the well-known players – whose games he knows – than against lots of inexperienced players and amateurs who make unorthodox plays and are very difficult to read. I believe this inability to put some of the novice players, especially the Internet players, on specific hands or groups of hands contributed to the downfall of many world-class players.

Of course, some of the better-known players made it to the final table, such as third-place finisher Dan Harrington, the 1995 world champion, who began with one of the shorter stacks at the final table and made a serious run for the title. Dan is not known for his wild gambling, and this might have contributed to his ultimate survival. Another well-known high-stakes player, Sam Farha, whose style is quite a bit different from Harrington's, came in second. Sam is well-known by players in the biggest games. Although not known as a strong tournament player, Sam's aggressive style sneaked up on lots of players. He deserves a lot of credit for snapping off bluffs with marginal hands, displaying his excellent reading skills and showing once again that relatively inexperienced tournament players can often play the game much better than their more experienced and famous opponents give them credit.

I believe that the days when players won the Big One more than once are over. If the field in 2004 is anywhere near the size of the record 839 players we had this year, it is almost certain that another Varkonyi or Moneymaker will rise through the ranks and pull a "surprise." Look for the name players to continue to do well in the preliminary events with big buy-ins and smaller fields. Hopefully, some of the former champions like me will meet you in the winner's circle next year.

Editor's note: Tom McEvoy is the author of Tournament Poker and the co-author with T.J. Cloutier of the Championship series of poker books, including the bestseller Championship No-Limit & Pot-Limit Hold'em. Visit www.pokerbooks.com for more information.