Moneymaker has used his fame in the past half-decade to become a successful brand and to intimidate in low-risk, low-stakes play. A typical night at the tables might be a $2/$5 game, a few beers and a few thousand dollars' profit at the end against players who are happy to have met and lost to the man.On Thursday, however, he rejoined the big boys with a performance on Day 1 of Event 2 of the 2009 World Series of Poker that's turned the murmurs back to excited chatter.
While more were expected initially, a total of 201 players put up the $40,000 entry fee for a net prize pool of $7,718,400 and a first-place prize of $1,891,012. When the dust settled on the night, just 89 players remained, with Moneymaker and France's Bruno Fitoussi separated from the pack. Both players had slightly more than $800,000; Emil "whitelime" Patel had $615,000 in third. Justin Bonomo, Michael DeMichele and Brian Townsend were among others to clear the half-million barrier.
While low attendance and missing names like Patrik Antonius were the stories early on, all eyes now turn to Moneymaker. On Friday and Saturday, he'll face a lot of play, even before Sunday's final table. But if poker's original hero can win the biggest-buy-in, no-limit, hold 'em event in WSOP history on national television, he'll quiet a lot of murmurs once and for all. We can only hope.
Here's a look at the top 10 heading into Day 2 with 27 players making the money:
Bruno Fitoussi $812,500
Chris Moneymaker $805,000
Justin Bonomo $738,000
Alexander Veldhuis $646,500
Kyle Wilson $611,500
Brian Townsend $609,000
Michael DeMichele $519,500
Emil Patel $494,500
Alan Sass $491,000
Andrew Black $449,500