In 2002, Robert Varkonyi won the World Championship. Largely forgotten, he was rarely seen at the felt again. By contrast, the 2003 WSOP Main Event winner was a man whose face we haven’t seen for a week in the two decades since. In 2003, poker changed forever, and it all came down to a completely unknown poker player winning the World Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Seidel and Brunson Claim Early Gold
Heading into the Main Event in 2003, no one knew what was coming. The series was on par with previous years, with 36 bracelet events on the schedule, including the Main Event. The bustling schedule filled the festival with new tryouts and big names. Early events went to plenty of both varieties, with new names David Lukaszewski (Event #1: $500 Casino Employees Limit Hold’em) and Mohammed Ibrahim (Event #2: $2,000 Limit Hold’em) joined in the winners’ circle by poker legends including Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson (Event #4: $2,000 Limit Omaha Hi-Lo), Erik Seidel (Event #8: $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Rebuy), and Doyle ‘Texas Dolly’ Brunson (Event #9: $2,000 Limit H.O.R.S.E).
Of those three winners, it was Ferguson who scored highest, winning not only the $2,000 Omaha Hi-Lo- Split event but the $2,000 Limit Hold’em & Seven Card Stud event #10 too. Phil Hellmuth also took a preliminary event, winning the $2,500 Limit Hold’em event #12 after beating Young Phan heads-up after players such as Eli Elezra, Carlos Mortensen, and Scotty Nguyen got close.
Johnny Chan won the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em event #15 for $224,000, beating Surinder Sunar heads-up after Huck Seed busted in third place and Layne Flack busted in ninth place. There was another legend collecting gold, too, with Daniel Negreanu taking down Event #23: $2,000 Limit S.H.O.E. tournament for just over $100,000.
The Seed of Success
Huckleberry ‘Huck’ Seed had gone close in several events in 2003 and eventually made one of the coveted WSOP bracelets his own. Taking down the $5,000 Razz Event #27, Seed beat Phil Ivey heads-up for a score of $71,500, with Ted Forrest and John Juanda being the only other players to make the money. Juanda also won two bracelets during a stunning series for him personally, triumphing in Event #21: $2,500 Limit Seven Card Stud and Event #33: $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha Rebuy.
By the end of the series, a record six players won two bracelets, including the aforementioned Chris Ferguson, John Juanda, and Johnny Chan (Event #15 mentioned above and Event #24: $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha), who were joined by Layne Flack (Event #18: $2,500 Limit Omaha Hi-Lo and Event #25: $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout), Men ‘The Master’ Nguyen (Event #31: $5,000 Limit Seven Card Stud and Event #35: $1,500 Limit A-5 Triple Draw), and Phil Hellmuth (Event #12 mentioned above and Event #32: No Limit Hold’em). In previous WSOP festivals, the highest number of double bracelet winners had been three, but an influx of new events was generating huge enthusiasm from pros and amateurs alike for winning gold at the felt.
Phil Hellmuth’s second bracelet saw him draw level with Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan on nine bracelets. The trio – who had equaled Johnny Moss at the top of the all-time WSOP list of winners were racing to ten bracelets.
Even More Bracelet Winners
The antepenultimate preliminary event of the 2003 WSOP was the $5,000 entry Limit Hold’em event #34. A total of 143 players entered the event, but it was the 2001 WSOP world champion Carlos Mortensen who won the $251,680 top prize, beating Mark Gregorich heads-up for the title. Other bracelet winners from 2003 include Toto Leonidas (Event #3: $1,500 Limit Seven Card Stud), Jim Meehan (Event #5: $2,000 No Limit Hold’em), Prahlad Friedman (Event #6: $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em), Mihn Nguyen (Event #7: $1,500 Limit Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo), Phi Nguyen (Event #11: $2,500 No Limit Hold’em), Michael Saltzburg (Event #13: $2,500 Limit Seven Card Stud), ONeil Longson (Event #14: $5,000 No Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw), Eduard Scharf (Event #16: $1,500 Limit Omaha), John Arrage (Event #17: $1,500 Limit Hold’em), Mickey Appleman (Event #19: $2,500 Pot Limit Hold’em), Ron Rose (Event #20: $1,000 Seniors No Limit Hold’em), Amir Vahedi (Event #22: $1,500 No Limit Hold’em), Thomas Jacobs (Event #26: $3,000 Limit Hold’em), Barbara Rugolo (Event #28: $1,000 Ladies Limit Hold’em & Seven Card Stud), Frankie O’Dell (Event #29: $1,500 Limit Omaha Hi-Lo), and Keith Lehr (Event #30: $3,000 Pot Limit Hold’em). It was now time for the Main Event, and after a series of stars scooped up two bracelets at a time and had claimed over half of the available bracelets, it would be a first-time winner who would change poker forever more.
Record Numbers in the Main Event
With 839 entries in the 2003 WSOP Main Event, far more than the 631 the previous year, there was a feeling all around that poker was on the cusp of something big. Many entrants qualified for the Main Event via online poker satellites, far more than in previous years. As a result, the prize pool was an incredible $7,802,700, and the top prize was announced as $2.5 million, the biggest ever.
With the size of the field, the WSOP expanded the payouts to the top 63 players, The 2002 WSOP runner-up, Julian Gardner, cashed in 54th place for $20,000, Barry Greenstein, a.k.a. the Robin Hood of Poker, won the same amount in 49th and Annie Duke lasted until 47th place for $20,000 too. Humberto Brenes (41st for $25,000), Phil Hellmuth (27th for $45,000) and Howard Lederer (19th for $45,000) fell away before Marcel Luske busted in 14th place for $65,000.
Down to the top ten in the Main Event, Phil Ivey was all-in with pocket nines of a board showing Q-Q-6-9 against Chris Moneymaker’s ace-queen. Commentators reacted to a pivotal moment in the history of poker, with Moneymaker having only a 17% shot to win.
“Moneymaker looks disgusted. Now he is going to need an ace, queen or six on the river.”
It was an ace that turned over on the river to eliminate Phil Ivey for $82,700. The table was stunned. Phil Ivey looked like he could barely believe what had happened, almost staggering as he retreated from the felt.
“He’s knocked out Phil Ivey, Johnny Chan and Humberto Brenes,” said Lon McEachern on the mic about Chris Moneymaker. “Who is this young man?”
The world was about to find out.
2002 WSOP Main Event 2003 WSOP Main Event – Part 2
About the Author: Paul Seaton has written about poker for over 10 years, interviewing some of the best players ever to play the game such as Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Chan and Phil Hellmuth. Over the years, Paul has reported live from tournaments such as the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and the European Poker Tour. He has also written for other poker brands where he was Head of Media, as well as BLUFF magazine, where he was Editor.