The surge of online poker began in 1998 when Planet Poker, the inaugural real-money online cardroom, debuted� Coincidentally, the same year witnessed the release of Rounders, a movie that delved into high-stakes poker, featuring Matt Damon and Edward Norton, and gained a cult following� Fast forward to 2003 when Chris Moneymaker’s remarkable triumph in the $10,000 World Series of Poker Main Event in Las Vegas, stemming from an $86 satellite tournament, triggered an unprecedented boom in poker circles, forever etched in history as the “Moneymaker Effect.” Moneymaker, a previously unknown recreational player who worked as an accountant in Tennessee, beat a Main Event field of 839 entrants, up nearly 200 players from 2002, but the craze resulted in a tripling of the field in 2004, up to 2,576 players. By 2006, it reached a new record of 8,773 players� however, the massive growth was eventually stunted by cheating scandals, fear of bots and general distrust of policing the product, as well as the U�S� market being dealt a near-deadly blow due to poker industry overview 48 Sponsored by Casino City’s iGaming Pocket Directory poker
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