No wonder they put his name on the trophies ahead of time.
Chris Moneymaker has won his second main event title on the Moneymaker Tour named in his honor. The 2003 World Series of Poker main event champion’s latest title run saw him defeat a field of 907 entries in the $1,700 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event at the MGM Grand Summer Poker Festival. The strong turnout built a prize pool of $1,372,590, surpassing the $1 million guarantee.
In the end the largest share of that money was awarded to Moneymaker, who earned $238,900 as the champion. This victory came less than two months after his triumph in the Palm Beach Kennel Club main event in West Palm Beach, Florida back in May.
We defended. @MoneymakerTour #back2back pic.twitter.com/1rM47I4A3K
— Chris Moneymaker (@CMONEYMAKER) July 5, 2025
Now A Three-Time Champion
This was Moneymaker’s third overall title on the tour, having also won a $300 mixed Omaha side event for $5,195 at the MGM National Harbor stop back in April. That’s a significant number of first-place finishes for the 49-year-old, given his namesake tour only made its debut in 2023.
The top three finishers earned six-figure scores in this latest main event on the tour. Jia Li earned $108,315 as the third-place finisher, while Miguel Hernandez Borrero walked away with $167,380 as the runner-up.
This win increased Moneymaker’s total career earnings to nearly $8.7 million. His largest score remains the $2.5 million he earned as the last player standing in the WSOP main event more than two decades ago. The former accountant had quite the ROI in that event, having earned his way into the $10,000 buy-in via an $86 satellite online. The everyman win captured the imagination of the world, with the ‘Moneymaker Effect’ inspiring countless new poker fans around the globe to pick up the game.
| Place | Player | Payout |
| 1 | Chris Moneymaker | $238,900 |
| 2 | Miguel Hernandez Borrero | $167,380 |
| 3 | Jia Li | $108,315 |
| 4 | Ankit Ahuja | $80,060 |
| 5 | Han Ming Feng | $60,560 |
| 6 | David Lee | $48,355 |
| 7 | Javier Tazon Agorreta | $40,025 |
| 8 | Carter McMahon | $31,830 |
| 9 | Hyo Joo | $23,895 |
