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The Inspiring Life of Poker Pro Chris Moneymaker

Here is a story of a low-profile accountant who placed a bet worth US$40 in a satellite poker tournament and finished the game winning US$2,500,000. Now, that is one heck of a success story. It may seem like the gist of a fiction book but actually, it happened in real life. The former low-profile accountant that we are talking about is Chris Moneymaker and it is true that his US$40 turned into more than a million dollars by playing online poker. And yes, it is also true that his surname is Moneymaker. It is not a pseudonym but it is his real surname, which of course suits him to the fullest.

The online poker Web site that Chris Moneymaker successfully participated in was the Web site of PokerStars. Such victory allowed him to qualify for the World Series of Poker (WSOP) tournament that was held in 2003. Call it luck or whatever you want to call it but it was at this tournament where he earned his first WSOP bracelet.

As a matter of fact, Chris Moneymaker almost did not make it to the 2003 WSOP tournament because he did not have enough money to pay for his trip to and for his hotel stay in Las Vegas, Nevada. Fortunately, Chris Moneymaker's father and his friend decided to lend him money so he could participate in the tournament, provided that he would share a portion of his winnings to them. He did not fail his father and his friend as he successfully defeated poker player Sam Farha, whom he went heads-up.

Born in Atlanta, Georgia on November 21, 1975, Chris Moneymaker spent his high school years at Farragut High School, located in Farragut, Tennessee, and graduated at the University of Tennessee where he obtained his master's degree in accounting.

Chris Moneymaker may have been familiar with the game of poker since he was young, but he only became interested in the game after watching the motion picture "Rounders." "Rounders" is a motion picture that stars Edward Norton and Matt Damon, and is a film that features poker giant Johnny Chan.

Chris Moneymaker resigned from his job as an accountant when he accepted the offer of becoming a celebrity spokesperson for PokerStars and Harrah's Entertainment. Despite his successes that made him an instant celebrity, this poker player remains as humble as ever. In one interview, he said that he does not dream of becoming the world's best poker player. He said that his ambition is simply to be a good provider to his family. Well, with his success, Chris Moneymaker surely is not only a good provider to his family but he is also one of the world's best poker players. Poker fans admire him even more because of the fact that he has donated a portion of his prize winnings to cancer research.

In March 2005, he released his autobiography titled "Moneymaker: How an Amateur Poker Player Turned $40 Into $2.5 Million at the World Series of Poker."