Quote:
Originally Posted by Mason Malmuth
I doubt it's Moneymaker. We had already seen a giant increase in our book sales before he won the 2003 Mian Event at the WSOP. However, the WPT TV shows started at the end of April that same year so this implies that eithe Steve Lipscomb or Henry Orenstein were more important.
Jack Binion also needs major consideration. He's the one who was pushing poker, this goes back to the early 1970s, and the WSOP was growing every year way before the 2003 breakthrough.
I doubt that Randy Blumer should be considered. While Planet Poker was the first Internet poker site, it was never that big and I suspect if he didn't get it going someone else would have. This shouldn't take anything away from him, but I don't think he was as important as the other people on this list.
You may also want to consider Greg Raymer who won the WSOP in 2004 and got tremendous publicity. When Moneymake won the previous year, it had no impact on our book sales, they were already booming. But when Raymer won, our substantial book sales immediately showed a large increase.
Another person to add to this list is Dan Harrington. When the first Harrington book, written by Dan and Bill Robertie, came out in Dec. 2004 (followed by the second volume in June 2005), it created a sensation, sold a huge amount of copies, and dramatically impacted how people played poker, both in tournaments and in cash games.
Also, and I don't mean to sound self-centered, I think everything Two Plus Two is perhaps as important, or more so, than anyone on this list. And that includes not only our family of books but this website as well. Of course, when I say Two Plus Two, it included many more people than just David Sklansky and myself.
Mason
I agree with a lot of this. Its popular to say Chris Moneymaker, but the 2004 WSOP was the most watched poker event of all time. I believe even the worst episodes were averaging only million people, while most of the time it was averaging 2 million and almost 3 during the final table. Not to mention the constant viewings on reruns. ESPN ran the 04 and 05 WSOP into the ground and then pawned it off onto the ESPN Classic channel they were trying to keep afloat. The 2004 WSOP was the most important event to happen, specially because it almost got canceled. Binions was locked up through the winter of 2004. If Harrahs doesn't come in and reopens Binions the poker world will look different.
https://www.pokernews.com/news/2014/...lled-18218.htm
He doesn't get a lot of credit, but Greg to me was the first to embrace the role as WSOP Champ = poker ambassador. I just remember seeing Greg and Hachem out there in the media during the boom years more often than Money was. Greg is really leaning into the role now with his work with ACR, but Greg and Hachem were often featured more often during the boom days then Moneymaker. If you say Moneymaker your join date was probably before 2012 or so. Fact is Chris wasn't covered much 2004-2008.
WPT and even more early Celebrity Poker Showdown were doing huge numbers before the 2003 WSOP aired. Celebrity Poker Showdown will never get the credit, but for a short while it was just as huge as both. I think it did a helluva of job bring poker to the mainstream. Easily drawing a 1.0-1.2 ratings every week. WPT was always a huge ratings success. It was funny when Moneymaker made a final table they went out of their way not to mention WSOP or World Champion if I recall, they really tried to downplay the WSOP in those early episodes. The one crazy stat that I think gets lost is in 2007 during the WPT Championship in a $25k 639 players played on one bullet. Reentry saved poker tournaments today and the WPT. I could imagine what that number would be if reentry was a normal thing.
Binion Family
WPT
The team around the 2004 WSOP
Last edited by Atarirob; 02-26-2024 at 02:29 PM.
