Internet poker really hit the scene in 2003, when a relative unknown qualified for the World Series of Poker by entering a satellite tournament for the tidy sum of $39.

Chris Moneymaker turned that investment into a $2.5-million windfall, sending thousands of would-be champions scurrying to their computers.

Moneymaker had never been in a live poker tournament before his 2003 breakthrough.

The Spring Hill, Tennessee native first played poker in 2000, after seeing the influential movie Rounders. His intelligence has served him well.

Moneymaker has a master’s degree in accounting from the University of Tennessee, and was going to continue with his regular job even after winning the WSOP in order to put his daughter through college.

Instead, Harrah’s hired him as a spokesperson, and Moneymaker has also pieced together a living appearing in projects such as the Poker for Dummies video.

Coming from nowhere to take the 2003 WSOP main event (and knocking Johnny Chan out of the tourney along the way) earned Moneymaker his share of animosity, especially after some of the bluffs he got away with, but it’s difficult to argue with his aggressive strategy and his attention to opponents’ betting patterns.

To prove his win wasn’t a fluke, Moneymaker earned a cool $200,000 for finishing second at the 2004 Bay 101 Shooting Stars World Poker Tour event. But he’s only played in a handful of tournaments, given his heavy travel schedule as a spokesperson.

Moneymaker currently lives in Nashville with his wife and child.