Chris Moneymaker has found a new home. The 2003 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion will now represent US-facing site Americas Cardroom (ACR) after parting ways with PokerStars.
When Moneymaker announced his departure from the world’s largest online poker site, he cited his intention to spend more time with his family as one of the reasons for ending his 17-year relationship with the brand.
ACR is currently serving the US market via an offshore license. The poker operator is looking to expand its presence in the U.S and signing Moneymaker is a strategic move by the poker room. Moneymaker will be donning the ACR logo in his future poker endeavors, both live and online, and will also help with their promotions.
Moneymaker’s first appearance as ACR’s newest ambassador took place on 03 Feb, when he showed up during the final table broadcast of the $8 million-guaranteed Venom, doing the commentary.
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News of ACR signing Moneymaker as the latest member of its Team Pro comes as a surprise to many in the poker community, but the site will benefit from the move, considering that Moneymaker has remained among the most popular poker figures of all time, since his epic victory in the 2003 WSOP Main Event, a historic moment widely credited for the “poker boom“.
ACR has also recently become the go-to place for players using Bitcoin, making it one of the busiest online poker sites at the moment. With Moneymaker joining on board, ACR is expecting to see an increase in U.S player registrations.
ACR Deal Coincides With Moneymaker’s Future Plans
Chris Moneymaker was off the road for most of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and that allowed him to realign his priorities. While travel restrictions were ongoing in 2020, Moneymaker was restricting to playing poker online and during that time he realized the importance of staying at home and be with his family more often.
As a PokerStars ambassador, he needed to do a lot of travel from his home in Mississippi to states where PokerStars was licensed to operate like New Jersey. The timing was right when Moneymaker met with Phil Nagy, CEO of Winning Poker Network, the mother network of ACR. The talks resulted in a sponsorship deal, and Moneymaker took the opportunity with ACR.
Moneymaker is excited for this new chapter in his career, and is looking forward to making the most of it as an ACR ambassador.
