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Sports memorabilia, as many collectors know, can be a very lucrative investment, especially if it's from a big name.
Poker memorabilia, it turns out, not so much, even when it's from a big name.
And one of the biggest names in poker is that of Chris Moneymaker, whose epic win at the 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event sparked a worldwide poker boom after it was revealed he'd won his seat at the WSOP by winning a $39 buy-in online poker tournament.
Suddenly, everyone was playing poker, online and off, and poker was everywhere on TV.
Eight years later, does anyone still care about Moneymaker, especially in light of the fact that he's a one-trick pony, a flash in the pan?
He hasn't done much winning, or money-making as the case may be, since that WSOP miracle.
And that's reflected in the extreme lack of interest in a key piece of Moneymaker, and poker, history.
Earlier this month, a seller on the online auction site eBay put up for auction the actual winning cards from the 2003 WSOP Main Event that Moneymake held, as well as the rest of the deck.
The cards are authenticated by Moneymaker himself, as well as the then commissioner of the WSOP.
On the eBay listing of the item, the cards are described in part by the seller in this way: "I was there when it all happened, working behind the scenes at Binion's Horseshoe. I obtained permission to keep the deck, so right after Chris had posed for those famous photos where he was holding wads of cash high in the air, I carefully placed all of the cards from that final hand on top of the rest of the deck, kept in sequence, along with the dealer's cut card, and put the complete deck back into the double Kem box along with the unused deck.
"Now you can own those actual cards. If you are a serious collector of unique, one of a kind items, then this might be for you, or maybe you want to give the ultimate gift to someone you know who loves poker. Just think about it, you will own the cards that changed history. You will be the only person in the world to know what the burn cards were, and the order of the rest of the deck. You will have Chris’s cards to touch, to feel, to play with in a special game, or maybe just to dream with. You might even be able to sense from them the aura."
The aura?
The seller must be from California.
Anyway, the opening minimum bid on the item was set by the seller at $7,500.
The auction is now closed.
And how many bids did this wonderful item of pokerabilia receive?
As many bids as Chris Moneymaker has Nobel Peace Prizes.
In other words, zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada.
You can see the eBay listing here.
There are some who argue that poker is a sport.
A Canadian TV station even suggested last year that a Canadian poker pro who won a WSOP Main Event be named Canadian Athlete of the Year.
Poker, on some level, may be a sport.
But poker memorabilia, on no level, can be considered sports memorabilia.
Not when not even one person out of the eight billion on planet earth cares enough about poker history to buy the cards that sparked a poker boom.
By Tom Somach
Gambling911.com Staff Writer
