Relaxing after easy day one

Chris Moneymaker ended his day one on Saturday with 68,525 chips and appears to be in a good mood today. He spent level one watching someone he's backed in this tournament and took time to grab a media member's camera and snap some pictures.

Moneymaker talked to CardPlayer about his day one and how he is approaching this event this time around.

Sharad Mattu: How did your day one go for you?

Chris Moneymaker: It was a real easy day. It was the easiest day of poker I've had in the Main Event since I won. I didn't take any bad beats -- all four years since I won I've taken really horrible beats -- and I didn't have many tough spots. Last year I had a nice stack going into day two but it was real stressful. This time I feel real good. I've worked on my game a lot and hopefully it will pay off.

SM: As a winner in this event, do you put a lot of pressure on yourself to do well?

CM: I wouldn't say that, but this is the biggest event of the year. When I get busted out of this I'm miserable. After this I there's no tournament for me to play until October and of course this is the Main Event. This is the one event you want to win. So I don't feel pressure because I've won this before but there is pressure because this is the one tournament everyone wants to do well in.

I think in past years I've played too many pots and put myself in too many difficult spots and it wore me down mentally. But this year I decided to step back and not force things so much. So far it has seemed to work out better, and that's going to by my strategy going forward.

SM: After you won you said that you saw players do some really crazy things against you. Do you still see that or now five years later has that stopped?

CM: Usually I do but yesterday I was so patient the people were respecting my play more. I was pretty much able to do whatever I wanted to but at the same time I wasn't playing agressively. For the most part I was waiting for good cards and good flops. It wasn't hard yesterday.

SM: How rare is it to have a day like yesterday?

CM: I hope what happened yesterday happens again but I don't expect it. The time I won was the only other time this has happened to me. I started with 20 just like everyone else, and then I had 27 at the end of the first break, 34 at the end of the second, 45 at the end of the third and up to 70 at the end of the fourth. It was a smooth ride to the top.

SM: How man events did you play this summer?

CM: I played in the first event and then only three or four others. I got deep in two of the 10k events and didn't cash. I didn't give myself enough opportunities to do something. Overall I'm pleased with the way I've played and hopefully I can do something in the main event. We'll see.