It made everybody feel like they had a chance to win.

Phil Ivey’s words in a 2013 interview with All-In Magazine are as true to this day as they ever have been. Ivey’s recollection of Chris Moneymaker’s incredible WSOP Main Event victory in 2003 are as important as anyone’s. After all, it was the WSOP and poker legend Ivey who Moneymaker eliminated in 10th place to set up the final table he would then go on to win.

In the crucial hand, the chips could well have gone into the middle pre-flop, as Ivey held pocket nines and Moneymaker ace-queen. On the double-queen flop, the money still didn’t go in, Ivey hanging in there, only to find a miraculous nine on the turn. It was then that Ivey got his man on the hook, Moneymaker taking the bait, committing his chips and setting Ivey at risk, the now 10-time bracelet winner flipping from being an 11% dog to an 83% favourite to win the hand from post-flop to post-turn.

An ace on the river would end Ivey’s Main Event, the closest the man revered by many as the greatest player ever to play poker. Moneymaker, stunned and delighted, punched the air. Ivey felt like he had the air punched out of him. The favorite was gone, and the amateur would push forward.