Moneymaker Had an Excellent Debut on No Gamble No Future

What Exactly is No Gamble No Future?

No Gamble No Future is an live cash show where players compete for real money while also resorting to something referred to as the “Wheel of Pain”. The wheel in question has sections with various debuffs that make the game even spicier.

For two days, the rules of the wheel were as follows: when any participant folds to a 4-bet, wins a hand with 72, runs it more than once as a favorite, or loses a hand with pocket Aces — they must spin the wheel or buy-it out for $1,000. The effect that appears on the wheel applies from the next spot moving forward. These effects include the standup game, increasing the ante or stakes, having to pay an additional ante, and so on.

Other than that, No Gamble No Future is a classic broadcasted game show with commentary. 

Moneymaker Shines on the First Day of the Show

When Moneymaker announced his participation in No Gamble No Future, he characterized his future opponents as “killers” — and no wonder, because PokerGO invited poker legends including Phil Hellmuth, Tom Dwan, Alan Keating, Shaun Deeb and Erick Lindgren.

The show went relatively smoothly.

Hellmuth played a little but talked a lot.

Dwan, Keating and Lindgren seemed like they had a great time.

Deeb made a few creative plays.

But Moneymaker was quiet, serious — and loved by Lady Luck. At least, his jams ended almost exclusively well for him. And when he joked, it was funny.

What’s also funny is that in an interview before start of the show, Moneymaker singled out Alan Keating as the most desirable opponent:

Well, Keating didn’t disappoint, even for a second. He provided a ton of action across the board and became the biggest investor of the day, paying $197,300 to others.

The only issue on Day 1 was the questionable commentary. After almost sex hours of, everyone agreed: Nick Wright, Brent Hanks and Jared Bleznick tried too hard as commentators. So hard, that they spent most of the time completely drowning out the conversations at a truly interesting table, including periodically raising their voices to a level you could characterize as screaming.

Even when Nick Wright left the booth to join the show as a player, things didn’t improve much — probably because the commentators didn’t understand when to shut up and listen to the table. Luckily for the players, they didn’t hear the comments, so they were able to play calmly and also have some fun.

Moneymaker Doesn’t Lose Face on the Second Day

On Day 2, the table lineup slightly changed. Alan Keating, having completed his mission of funding poker legends, went off to rest. Nick Wright decided to abstain from playing but remained as a commentator, while Jared Bleznick chose to appear on the show rather than discuss it.

For some reason, Day 2 turned out to be even more interesting to watch, despite the lack of six-figure losses and wins in the end. However, it wasn’t an easy day for Moneymaker, although he was able to finish it with a profit almost identical to Day 1.

The commentators calmed down a bit but Phil Hellmuth really went wild with his stories about how he’s the GOAT. He unwittingly shot himself in the knee with this, because Tom Dwan was listening carefully and found several spots to play on Phil’s ego.

Jared Bleznick made some amazing folds during the second day, including one that came in one of the best hands in the No Gamble No Future history involving Chris Moneymaker and Tom Dwan.

This sick spot finally gave Moneymaker his first wheel spin — and he hit the standup game.

The moment didn’t exactly spark joy among those around him, probably because at their age, these legends felt uncomfortable leaning over the table from a standing position and playing at that angle. 

We’re joking, of course, but to understand the picture, at the time of this game:

• Jared Bleznick was 38 years old 
• Tom Dwan was 39 years old
• Shaun Deeb was 40 years old
• Erick Lindgren was 49 years old
• Chris Moneymaker was 50 years old
• Phil Hellmuth was 61 years old — and he is also 2.01 meters tall

So, it’s not hard to imagine that playing while standing isn’t the most pleasant activity for this group of poker legends.

It’s funny that Moneymaker already sat down on the second hand — after he beat Hellmuth and spun the wheel again, it forced Moneymaker to pay the ante directly from his stack to other players.

Towards the end, his game fell apart a little — it was clear that he was already a little tired — but this didn’t stop him from winning more than anyone else on the second day.

Chris’s Reaction to His Success

Moneymaker left the show in good spirits but shared his emotions on social media rather reservedly:

Interestingly, Moneymaker was quite reserved during the stream too — he maintained a poker face for much of the session and didn’t give the impression of being overly nervous or even uncomfortable.

Results of the Show Featuring Moneymaker

Alan Keating and Shaun Deeb were the main investors on the first day of play, but Moneymaker managed to finish the game with a nice profit.

There weren’t that many big winners and losers in the room on the second day of play, but Chris managed to finish the game with a profit again.