By now the Moneymaker Effect has been well-documented. Chris Moneymaker’s WSOP Main Event win in 2003 ignited a huge uptick in poker interest that spread across the globe, fueled in part by the widespread availability of online poker. But an interesting name and a cool story (amateur poker player wins World Series seat in cheap online satellite, bags millions of dollars) only tells part of the tale.
Chris Moneymaker went on to have a long ambassadorial relationship with the online poker site PokerStars, but look back at the final table of 2003 and you’ll see he was already wearing the cap, even before he won. It’s a great example of what made PokerStars so successful in those early days of online poker: they were thinking several moves ahead.
Now, more than 20 years after that historic moment changed the game of poker forever, the influential former PokerStars boss Isai Scheinberg is in Las Vegas, playing the WSOP Main Event himself. And while everyone in the Main Event has the chance to walk away with the World Champion’s bracelet, PokerStars co-founder Scheinberg has a rare chance to win something even greater this week: true poker immortality in the Poker Hall of Fame (PHOF).
Fifth HOF nomination in a row
This year Scheinberg has been nominated for induction to the PHOF, and not for the first time. In fact, he’s been nominated for five years in a row. It’s a testament to the success PokerStars has enjoyed over the past 20+ years, those early efforts to grow the game and give back to players, and to the hard work and vision of its founders and staff (who - full disclosure - at one point included this writer).
What would it mean for Scheinberg, a private man who famously spurns the spotlight, to be included in the PHOF after a career behind the scenes?
“I will be very honored,” he tells us when we catch up with him in the PokerOrg Legends Lounge. “I am very proud of how we ran the company, where players - both recreational and pros - were treated with high respect.”
PokerStars was sold in 2014, three years after Isai successfully navigated the shock and fallout of ‘Black Friday’ - the day the legal shutters were slammed down on online poker in the USA, affecting the largest online poker sites including PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.
PokerStars had always stood out for its relentless focus on taking care of the players. That proved true even - perhaps especially - following the sudden closing of the American online poker market, which left millions of players uncertain about their online bankrolls sitting with the poker sites.
“I am especially proud that after Black Friday we immediately made whole PokerStars US players, and then, were able to do the same for Full Tilt’s US and international players.”
The Full Tilt side of the equation is perhaps what cemented Schienberg’s status among many online players. Full Tilt was a completely separate company, and in the aftermath of Black Friday Full Tilt was unable to pay back the online bankrolls of its players. PokerStars stepped in, acquired the company and restored the outstanding bankrolls of Full Tilt’s customers, turning them into PokerStars players in the process. Once again, doing what’s right for the players while thinking several moves ahead to protect both the company and the wider poker community.
It’s not something that was soon forgotten, especially by those players left exposed when Full Tilt went under.
“It's great to have such respect from players, even today” says Scheinberg, and that respect seemingly extends to the top of the poker industry, where many movers and shakers have been campaigning for his inclusion in the PHOF for years.
Among them is Daniel Negreanu, a fellow Canadian and long-time associate of Scheinberg’s thanks to his long career as a PokerStars Pro. The first time Scheinberg was nominated, in 2020, ‘Kid Poker’ was resolute in his backing for the former PokerStars boss.
Back in Vegas with a stack to play
Scheinberg has been spotted more than once in poker’s spiritual home in recent years, playing WSOP and WPT events. In 2023, he received the WPT Honors Award in a star-studded ceremony in Las Vegas.
His first participation in the WSOP Main Event came that year, when he made Day 3 but fell short of the money. This year he’s back, playing the Main, and catching up with fellow legends of the game. He recently dropped in on former World Champion Johnny Chan and Jack Binion, an instrumental figure in the history of the World Series of Poker. Both are current members of the Poker Hall of Fame.
“We talked about poker, the poker industry and Las Vegas,” says Scheinberg. But for now, he has other things on which to focus, chiefly his progress in the Main Event where he has a decent stack to bring back for Day 2. We ask him what brought him back to the Main Event, and are unsurprised by his answer.
“I play because I love to play poker, especially tournaments, and playing the Main Event is a real thrill.” As such a private figure, we wonder how he deals with the attention of players at his table - many of whom may have taken up poker directly thanks in part to his actions in the industry. “The players at my table didn’t know who I was.”
We have a feeling that suits Scheinberg just fine.
Everyone on the shortlist for this year’s Poker Hall of Fame is there on merit, but after a career spent building the game into the blockbuster it is today, it’s surely only a matter of time before Scheinberg takes his place among his fellow greats.
The 2024 inductees to the Poker Hall of Fame are expected to be announced on July 14.
