赚钱效应：认识一夜之间改变扑克命运的人

When the cards were dealt, Chris Moneymaker could hardly have been happy.

Sure, he was the chip leader at the 2003 World Series of Poker (WSOP) having miraculously, and literally, battled against the odds all the way to make it to the final table out of 839 entrants. And now, from his initial $86 satellite entry fee granting him a seat at the WSOP -- the price of admission to enter the tournament at Binion's Hotel in Las Vegas could have been $10,000 -- a million-dollar payout was guaranteed.

Over the course of one week in May, 837 contenders had been eliminated, leaving this amateur online player going up against seasoned professional Sam Farha. And as they played heads-up Texas Hold 'Em, Moneymaker must have wanted the glory of winning the most prestigious prize in poker, to say nothing of the $2.5 million on offer to the winner.

And regardless of Farha's starting hand, Moneymaker's five of diamonds and four of spades did not exactly inspire confidence. But by this point, destiny was clearly calling.

All in the name

Judging by his name, you might think that Chris Moneymaker was meant to have been involved with dealing in sums. And you would be right.

Growing up in Knoxville, Tennessee, Moneymaker became an accountant and -- as he told CNN Sport as part of an interview discussing his involvement working with VELO's sponsorship with the World Series of Poker, who are highlighting how poker skills can translate beyond the table -- he acknowledged how translation also played a part in his surname.

"My father is Moneymaker, and we've had a long line of males in our family tree," he says. "From what I've been told [...] they made silver and gold coins.

"The name was originally Nurmacher. And when they went to England, they took the literal translation of someone that made the silver and gold coins and it was Moneymaker."

Moneymaker's love of card and table games resulted in poker becoming more of a regular occurrence in his routine. But it wasn't likely to lead to a career change and, even his partaking in an $86 satellite tournament, leading to a follow up tournament where a seat at the famed WSOP was at stake, wasn't his pressing priority.

In fact, Moneymaker says not winning that second tournament was more important -- to the extent of trying to lose on purpose -- because a fourth-place spot meant a cash prize.

Moneymaker says "it was a complete mistake" that he even entered to try and land a place at the WSOP, "I thought I was playing for cash. We got down to five-handed [five players left] and I'm actually chip leader and I'm trying to actively get fourth place because I want the $8,000 in cash.

"I don't want the seat to go play in the World Series of Poker to go play against the best players in the world because I'm just an amateur player playing with friends. I've never played against a pro in my life. And $8,000 would go a long way to paying off my bills and helping with things around the house.

"My goal was to win that eight grand. And a buddy talked me into taking the seat, and that's how I got the World Series seat. And the rest is history."

Like a Hollywood script

History indeed. Moneymaker's magnificent run in 2003 happened to coincide with what he calls "a dark period" for the iconic pastime.

"Poker rooms were shutting down," Moneymaker notes. "The game was in decline. It was really sort of a back room, you know -- what you would see in the movies, essentially."

And movies are an apt metaphor as what Moneymaker achieved was the stuff of legend, usually dreamt up by Hollywood scriptwriters.

His victory even coined a phrase: The Moneymaker Effect. In essence, the rapid expansion of online poker players who, inspired by Moneymaker, competed in tournaments against experienced professionals, hoping to make serious money of their own.

Television coverage played a part, as the innovative use of cameras showing the 'hole' cards -- the two starting cards with which a player begins each hand -- removed much of the mystery, transforming it into something resembling a sport itself.

And never mind 839 players: in 2019, the field of 8,569 players was reportedly the second-largest in WSOP history. The live WSOP was not held last year because of the coronavirus pandemic, but a return to physical action this year finds 6,650 entries, with a prize pool of more than $62 million.

For a while, Moneymaker rolled back the years and went fairly deep into the 2021 tournament, eying a second WSOP bracelet, but eventually exiting in a respectable 260th place, netting $38,600.

'The Bluff of the Century'

Back in 2003, the then 27-year-old Moneymaker embarked on a run where, fueled by Red Bull and water, he knocked out some of the biggest names in the game -- a sports David and Goliath tale for the ages.

Certain hands have since become the stuff of legend, notably the flush (all five cards from the same suit) which knocked out the legendary Johnny Chan, whose own flush of hearts lost because Moneymaker's included the all-conquering ace.

Moneymaker dispatched the great Phil Ivey in a rollercoaster of a hand, where at one point Moneymaker looked certain to win, then lose, before yet another ace got him out of trouble, and sent Ivey packing.

And when it was Moneymaker against Farha to decide the title, a monumentally brave bluff saw Moneymaker go all in, meaning he was essentially willing to bet his tournament life on nothing more than the high card of a king.

Farha didn't just have the upper hand in every sense -- a pair of nines -- but knew it. "You must have missed your flush draw, huh?" Farha says at one point.

The issue was that if his read of the situation was incorrect, Farha would have been eliminated and thus decided to fold. ESPN announcer Norman Chad described Moneymaker's move as "the Bluff of the Century."

And so to that final hand. Moneymaker's five of diamonds and four of clubs were inferior compared to Farha's jack of hearts and 10 of diamonds, but another miracle took place when the flop of three community cards was revealed by the dealer.

Not only did Moneymaker match his own cards with a five of spades and four of clubs to give him two pair, but Farha actually had top pair with the jack on the board, which made it appear he was in a better position.

This time, Farha would go all in, which was an easy call for Moneymaker. The turn card produced an eight of diamonds, and the fifth and final river card was a five of hearts, to secure victory and give Moneymaker a full house in the process. "This is beyond fairytale. It's inconceivable!" exclaimed Chad.

Nearly 20 years on, Moneymaker can seemingly recall every moment. "When you could see an amateur like me pull off a bluff like that, it gave everybody hope that they could do it too," he says in reference to the so-called "Bluff of the Century."

When it is put to him that his critics have said he simply got lucky, Moneymaker doesn't necessarily object, but adds one important caveat.

"You can't win a poker tournament without getting lucky. That's just part of the game. But you have to put yourself in position to be lucky though, too. That's what makes the game so good. If the best player won every single time, no one would play."

赚钱效应：认识一夜之间改变扑克命运的人

发牌时，Chris Moneymaker 几乎高兴不起来。

当然，他是 2003 年世界扑克系列锦标赛 (WSOP) 的筹码领先者，他奇迹般地、字面上的意思是，一路与赔率作斗争，从 839 名参赛者中进入决赛桌。而现在，从他最初的 86 美元卫星赛入场费让他获得了 WSOP 的席位——在拉斯维加斯 Binion's 酒店参加锦标赛的入场费可能是 10,000 美元——保证了百万美元的支出。

在 5 月的一周内，837 名竞争者被淘汰，让这位业余在线玩家与经验丰富的职业选手 Sam Farha 展开竞争。当他们玩单挑德州扑克时，Moneymaker 一定想要赢得扑克界最负盛名的奖金的荣耀，更不用说提供给获胜者的 250 万美元了。

而且不管 Farha 的起手牌如何，Moneymaker 的五张菱形和四张黑桃并没有完全激发信心。但此时，命运显然在召唤。

名副其实

从他的名字来看，你可能会认为 Chris Moneymaker 是为了参与处理款项。你会是对的。

在田纳西州诺克斯维尔长大，Moneymaker 成为了一名会计师，并且——正如他在接受 CNN Sport 采访时讨论他参与 VELO 赞助世界扑克系列的一部分时所说的那样，他们正在强调扑克技巧如何可以超越桌面—— - 他承认翻译也在他的姓氏中发挥了作用。

“我的父亲是赚钱的人，我们的家谱中有很多男性，”他说。 “据我所知 [...] 他们制造银币和金币。

“这个名字最初是 Nurmacher。当他们去英国时，他们把制造银币和金币的人直译过来，那就是 Moneymaker。”

Moneymaker 对纸牌和桌面游戏的热爱导致扑克在他的日常生活中越来越常见。但这不太可能导致职业转变，即使他参加了 86 美元的卫星锦标赛，导致在著名的 WSOP 的席位处于危险之中的后续锦标赛，也不是他的当务之急。

事实上，Moneymaker 说没有赢得第二场比赛更重要——在一定程度上试图故意输掉比赛——因为第四名的位置意味着现金奖励。

Moneymaker 说“这是一个彻头彻尾的错误”，他甚至试图在 WSOP 上获得一席之地，“我以为我是在为现金而战。我们只剩下五人制 [还剩下五名玩家] 而我实际上是筹码领导者和我正在努力获得第四名，因为我想要 8,000 美元的现金。

“我不想在世界扑克系列赛中与世界上最好的球员比赛，因为我只是一个和朋友一起玩的业余选手。我一生中从未与职业选手比赛过. 8,000 美元对于支付我的账单和帮助处理房子周围的事情有很长的路要走。

“我的目​​标是赢得那八场大奖赛。一个朋友说服我坐下来，这就是我获得世界大赛席位的方式。剩下的就是历史了。”

就像好莱坞剧本

确实是历史。 Moneymaker 在 2003 年的辉煌业绩恰逢他所说的标志性消遣的“黑暗时期”。

“扑克室正在关闭，”Moneymaker 指出。 “游戏正在走下坡路。它真的有点像一个密室，你知道——本质上你会在电影中看到什么。”

电影是一个恰当的比喻，因为 Moneymaker 所取得的成就是传说中的东西，通常是好莱坞编剧所梦想的。

他的胜利甚至创造了一个词组：Moneymaker Effect。从本质上讲，在线扑克玩家的迅速扩张，他们受到 Moneymaker 的启发，在锦标赛中与经验丰富的专业人士竞争，希望自己赚大钱。

电视报道起到了一定作用，因为创新性地使用摄像机显示“底牌”——玩家开始每手牌的两张起始牌——消除了大部分谜团，将其转变为类似于运动本身的东西。

更不用说 839 名玩家了：据报道，2019 年的 8,569 名玩家是 WSOP 历史上第二大玩家。由于冠状病毒大流行，去年没有举办现场 WSOP，但今年恢复实体比赛的参赛人数为 6,650 人，奖池超过 6,200 万美元。

有一段时间，Moneymaker 倒退了几年，相当深入地参加了 2021 年的锦标赛，瞄准了第二条 WSOP 金手链，但最终以令人尊敬的第 260 名退出，净赚 38,600 美元。

'世纪的虚张声势'

早在 2003 年，当时 27 岁的 Moneymaker 就开始了一场比赛，在红牛和水的推动下，他淘汰了比赛中的一些大牌——这是一个关于大卫和歌利亚的体育传奇。

某些牌从此成为传奇，特别是同花（同花色中的所有五张牌）淘汰了传奇的 Johnny Chan，他自己的同花红输了，因为 Moneymaker 包括了无所不能的 A。

Moneymaker 把伟大的 Phil Ivey 打成一手过山车，在这一点上，Moneymaker 看起来肯定会赢，然后输了，然后又一个 ace 使他摆脱了麻烦，并让 Ivey 打包。

当 Moneymaker 对阵 Farha 决定冠军头衔时，Moneymaker 一次非常勇敢的虚张声势，他全押，这意味着他基本上愿意将自己的锦标赛生涯押在一张国王的大牌上。

Farha 不仅在任何意义上都占据上风——一对 9——而且他知道这一点。 “你一定错过了同花听牌，对吧？” Farha 有一次说。

问题是，如果他对情况的理解不正确，Farha 就会被淘汰，因此决定弃牌。 ESPN 播音员诺曼·查德 (Norman Chad) 将 Moneymaker 的举动描述为“本世纪的虚张声势”。

最后一手牌也是如此。 Moneymaker 的 5 个钻石和 4 个俱乐部与 Farha 的 jack of heart 和 10 个钻石相比逊色，但当庄家透露三张公共卡的翻牌时，另一个奇迹发生了。

Moneymaker 不仅将自己的牌与 5 张黑桃和 4 张梅花相匹配，给他两对，而且 Farha 实际上在公共牌上有顶对和 jack，这让他看起来处于更好的位置。

这一次，Farha 将全押，这对 Moneymaker 来说是一个轻松的选择。转牌产生了八颗钻石，第五张也是最后一张河牌是五颗红心，以确保胜利并在此过程中让 Moneymaker 获得满屋。 “这超出了童话，不可思议！”乍得叫道。

近 20 年过去了，Moneymaker 似乎可以回忆起每一刻。 “当你看到像我这样的业余选手进行这样的虚张声势时，每个人都希望他们也能做到，”他在提到所谓的“世纪虚张声势”时说道。

当有人告诉他他的批评者说他只是走运时，Moneymaker 并不一定反对，但增加了一个重要的警告。

“如果没有幸运，你就无法赢得扑克锦标赛。这只是游戏的一部分。但你也必须让自己处于幸运状态。这就是让游戏如此出色的原因。如果最好的玩家赢得了每一场比赛时间，没有人会玩。”