Quote:
Originally Posted by ULTRAAAA
What person do you think has had the greatest impact on Poker? You can choose whoever you want. Here are a few suggestions:
- Chris Moneymaker- who beat Sam Farha at the 2003 WSOP Main Event showing everyone that an average man could become the World Champion and win millions.
- Henry Orenstein- developer of the hole card cam which made televised poker very interesting to watch.
- Jack Binion- creator of the WSOP
- Randy Blumer- started the multibillion-dollar online poker industry with the launch of Planet Poker, the world's first real money online poker room on January 1, 1998.
- Steve Lipscomb- Creator of the World Poker Tour which brought big money poker tournaments into the homes of millions of people.
++My choice is Chris Moneymaker. I think his win at the 2003 Main Event, broadcast all over the world on ESPN, brought millions and millions of people into poker when they saw anyone could defeat the pros, become world champion and win millions of dollars.
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