Suharto following in Moneymaker's footsteps

News / Dave Allan / 23 October 2008 / Leave a comment

Back in 2003, a little-known accountant by the name of Chris Moneymaker changed the world of poker forever when he turned his $39 satellite win into $2,500,000 by winning the World Series of Poker Main Event. Fast forward to 2008 and Darus Suharto is looking to follow in his footsteps, writes Matthew Pitt.

Whilst the Indonesian-born Suharto bears no physical resemblance to the 2003 Main Event Champion, his route to becoming one of the 'November Nine' is uncannily similar.

Suharto, like Moneymaker did until his big win, works as an accountant during the day and plays poker recreationally online at night, sometimes as little as 15 hours per week. His similarity to the 2003 Champion continues in that he won his seat to the $10,000 Main Event via an online satellite at a fraction of the cost, $80 in the case of Suharto.

Having only played poker for two years, Suharto does not rate his poker skills very highly, describing himself as "a donkey" but this donkey managed to finish 448th from 8,773 in the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event for a $26,389 payday.

Just before the dinner break of the final day of the 2008 Main Event, Suharto found himself in the last two positions, with a short stack of 7,200,000, needing a quick double up or risk busting out of the tournament.

Sat in the big blind, he looked down and saw a pair of Kings, more than strong enough to re-raise Joe Bishop's raise on the button from 350,000 to 1,700,000. Bishop made the call.

When the flop came down a queen-high rainbow, Suharto knew he had to have the best hand and bet out 3,500,000, letting his opponent know he was basically pot committed. This did not deter Bishop, who after some theatrics, announced he was all-in.

After a pause for thought. Suharto made the call and questioned, "You have Ace-queen, right?" and showed his pocket kings. Amazingly, Bishop showed the exact hand Suharto put him on, Ace-queen! Luckily for Suharto, his Kings held and he made a timely double up to put him back into contention and he never looked back from that point on.

Thanks in part to a combination of that double up and catching some good cards in the remainder of the day, Suharto will start play on November 9, sixth in chips with a stack of 12,520,000. Having already achieved his goal of being able to pay off his mortgage, Suharto's has now set his sights on emulating Chris Moneymaker and turning a small satellite win into several million dollars.