Grantland: Oral History of the 2003 WSOP

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9286395/the-oral-history-2003-world-series-poker-which-chris-moneymaker-turned-39-25-million

Those were the good ol' days.

I haven't sat down at a poker table in years, but reading this definitely made me want to schedule a game or make a trip to the casino.

Some excellent details in this story; from the chop that was proposed when it got down to head's up, to the behind the scenes stuff with the ESPN production staff.

That bluff Moneymaker pulled at the end.....ballsy.

 

Sam Farha is a cock.

 

Could you make another movie off the poker boom? (AKA: A more modernized version of Rounders?)

 

Rounders 2 has been talked about forever. No idea if it's ever going to be made.

 

Yeah, but Rounders 2, sans Malkovich, Damon, and Norton......eh.....All 3 of them are too big now to do it.

I think Turturro might.......

 

Not really. In fact, every time I hear about them doing it, it's with all the originals.

 

That I would watch.

 

The importance of the lipstick camera just cannot be overstated.

 

The receding of the poker craze is a good thing, mainly because it means fewer chances for Phil Laak to appear on my TV

 

One heck of a read. Makes me want to find a tournament tonight.

 

I started a thread about that and the eventual demise of the World Poker Tour, which was also a huge fuel to the boom.

WPT destroyed itself by switching networks and becoming, basically, unfindable.

Travel Channel did unbelievable ratings with the WPT starting back in 2003. In fact, WPT was shot in the fall/winter of 2002-'03 and preceded Moneymaker's win.