Among the world’s biggest online poker sites is ending its organization with the man that stimulated the casino poker boom.
PokerStars announced Thursday early morning that the 2003 World Series of Poker main event champion Chris Moneymaker will no more be an ambassador for the website. The action finishes a 17-year partnership in between the Tennessee accounting professional and the on-line pc gaming giant.
Moneymaker got the 2003 WSOP centerpiece through an $86 satellite on PokerStars. The amateur parlayed that right into a $2.5 million score after beating 839 gamers and also besting online poker pro Sammy Farha heads-up.
He signed a sponsorship handle PokerStars quickly after his victory as well as has actually belonged of the PokerStars team since. In 2014, Moneymaker as well as high-stakes cash money video game professional David Oppenheim were sworn in into the Casino poker Hall of Popularity.
Moneymaker released a video statement from his own Twitter account in a tweet that read “2020 has been a year. Sad news. Thanks for everything @PokerStars.” He went on to say that he was likely going to play a little less poker in the immediate future and “explore different endeavors.”
The 45-year-old went on to rack up greater than $3.9 million in event profits. Other than his historical bracelet, he took place to finish runner-up in the 2004 World Poker Trip Bay 101 Shooting Star as well as the 2011 NBC National Heads-Up Champion.
In the fall of 2018, PokerStars used Moneymaker’s tale as a background to their “Moneymaker Tour,” a series of $86 no-limit hold ’em tournaments that granted Platinum Passes to the $25,000 PokerStars Athletes Championship at the PokerStars Caribbean Experience the following January.
PokerStars’ decision to cut connections with Moneymaker is a surprise simply as a result of the size of their organization as well as the historic ties that both entities, however it’s actually simply the continuation of a long-term trend.
The company has actually been reducing its roster of funded pros for rather time. In May 2019, the business chose to component ways with another Poker Hall of Famer, Daniel Negreanu. It was the end of a 12-year connection in between Stars and the six-time WSOP bracelet champion.
Just six months later, high-stakes pros Igor Kurganov as well as Liv Boeree had their contracts ended also.
Between those 3 players, there was a mixed $64.6 million in live competition revenues in between those three players. Negreanu went on to authorize a handle GGPoker in November 2019.
The firm has actually chosen to fund numerous prominent streamers as opposed to high-stakes pros. Lex Veldhuis, Ben Spragg as well as Fintan Hand all have prominent Twitch streams as well as presently funded by the company.
