IS WINNING JUST ABOUT THE MONEY?

What do the following names have in common?

Andrew J. Whittaker, Jr.

Geraldine Williams

Harold Lerner

Robert Harris

Michael Glenn

Johnnie Ely

Take your time. Look over the names again very carefully. In fact, take all the time you need. Okay, give up? I’ll bet you are staring at your computer screen right now, like a deer caught in headlights.

Here’s a clue: What if I told you each of these individuals collected anywhere between 15 times all the way up to 35 times the amount of prize money won by last year’s WSOP Main Event winner Joe Cada. Now, do you get it?

That’s right. The six people listed above each won a massive lottery jackpot. Each winner collected anywhere from $115 million up to $314 million, for an investment of a single dollar [1]. Yet, practically no one has ever heard of any of these people. More to the point -- no one really cares about any of them.

My question is – why not?

Let’s put this discussion into context. Seven years ago, Chris Moneymaker won exactly $2.5 million in the 2003 WSOP Main Event. In doing so, he became a household name overnight. By contrast, just five months earlier, a West Virginia man named Andrew J. Whittaker won a whopping $314 million Powerball jackpot held in December 2002. So, why is it that Mr. Whittaker -- despite winning more than 100 times as much prize money (one-hundred times!) -- is completely unknown when compared against Moneymaker? If we were to survey name recognition against the amounts of money won, the outcome might actually be reversed. For every one person who might be able to correctly identify Whittaker as a lottery winner, more than 100 random people on the street would certainly be able to identify Moneymaker as a former world poker champion.

Of course, ESPN’s virtual round the clock rebroadcasts of WSOP events helps to fortify the recognition of players like Moneymaker, who remain part of the collective public consciousness. But the fact remains, once a lottery drawing takes place, no one really cares about the winner, unless they happen to hold a winning ticket [2]. The winners are usually about as interesting as yesterday’s newspaper.

The bottom line is – whatever the game, winning is never just about money. More than any other competition perhaps, this applies to the WSOP. This might seem like a blasphemous declaration coming from a 57-event tournament series which awards about $180 million each year to its winners, dwarfing every other sport and poker event in the world. For the WSOP to suggest competition is not really so much about money might seem like suggesting an auto race not being about speed or the Miss America Pageant not being about beauty.

But it is a fact. I have long theorized that when you get right down to it, most poker players do not really play the game for money. Yes, everyone insists they want to win. Everyone wants to be successful. Everyone who enters a poker tournament wants to win first place. But if poker were all about winning money, then why would so many people make so many wrong decisions, so often? Outside the casino, no one would dare invest in a stock they know will tank. No one would knowingly buy a house they know will depreciate [3]. But each and every day, thousands of poker players in every cardroom and in every tournament invest their hard-earned money in hands and situations which have very little chance of winning.

The average poker player plays the game because it’s usually enjoyable, interesting, and highly social. The vast majority of players, even those who attend the WSOP, are not professionals. They know upon arrival, they’re the underdogs. That said, I believe what makes playing in the WSOP special is the fierce competition, the potential for fame and glory, and certainly life-altering prize money. But more than anything else, it is about being part of the experience. In what other competition do 90 percent of the participants leave and end up losing up to $10,000 in a single tournament, yet they almost always vow to come back and try again next year?

Think about it. Would anyone in any other activity say they enjoyed an experience that left them ten-grand poorer? Can you picture walking up to a blackjack table, losing $10,000 and then saying – I can’t wait to go back? Imagine walking into a retail store, forking over $10,000 and then leaving out the door with absolutely nothing. Most people would depart with regret and anger. Yet in the decade I have been working the WSOP, I have never once heard a player say he or she regretted playing and sworn not to return to the WSOP the following year. This alone says something about what is really important at the WSOP. It’s not the money. It’s the experience.

It’s been said that money makes the world go around. Money is the lifeblood of commerce and, perhaps wrongly, it’s used as the measuring stick of success in our society. But money alone does not make the World Series of Poker what it is. Many decades from now, when Chris Moneymaker’s name and impact is discussed by historians, sociologists, documentary filmmakers, writers, and poker players alike, no one will remember the name of Andrew J. Whittaker, Jr.

Indeed, most of the money won by the former champions over the past 40-plus years is now long gone. It’s all been spent. Surely, the money was fun while it lasted. But what remains are the winners’ fond memories and a proud sense of accomplishment, symbolized by poker’s greatest achievement -- the WSOP gold bracelet.