The Moneymaker "Keeping Up With Success"

When you ask 2003 World Series of Poker Champion Chris Moneymaker how his life has changed since winning the biggest event poker has to offer, he quips, "That's easy, I don't work anymore!"

While one may argue he has simply changed occupations, from a 9 to 5 accountant/controller at a restaurant named "Calhoun's" in Tennessee to professional poker player, by most accounts he is correct. What Chris used to do in his free time (approximately 6 hours a day, by his count), he now does for a living. On his tax return for the year 2004, under Occupation, it says Poker Player.

Here's the weird thing. Being a professional poker player, if you use Chris' life as an example, has very little to do with playing poker: The game is merely a backdrop for what Chris Moneymaker's real job is now�Being Chris Moneymaker.

Drive down interstate 5 here in Los Angeles and you will notice Chris' mug is on more billboards than Angelina's. Watch any televised poker event and there's Chris sporting his Poker gear and telling you how you can "learn to play like a champion." For those who do not know, incredibly, Chris won a seat at the Binion's classic playing in a $39 online tournament.

Be it liquor, sunglasses, or poker chips, Chris is selling you everything. Oh, and on occasion, he plays poker.

The night he won the championship changed his life. Gone: the regular 9 to 5 grind, the $30,000 plus credit card and mortgage debt, and any "regular person" money problems. Also gone, his former wife who stood by him during the lean years.

It's hard to tell if the separation is a product of his newfound fame and job requirements or if the couple just went in different directions. Chris doesn't talk about it much. He is seeing a fantastic new woman and is still very active in his young daughter's life.

All of the unimaginable perks and responsibilities are sometimes difficult to keep up with. Chris did not really sign up for this life. He just wanted to make a few bucks playing poker to help pay the bills. Now he gets paid big bucks just to sit at the table. He doesn't even have to win. He just has to show up.

Don't get me wrong, the author of Moneymaker, the book that chronicles his rise to fame, still enjoys playing poker. He even plays in home games for fun. Except now, when he looks across the table he doesn't see Bob or Jim from the restaurant he worked at, he sees "Spiderman" (Tobey Maguire), "The Daredevil" (Ben Affleck), and one of the guys from "That 70's Show".

The travel is tough his duties require him to go overseas more than he'd like, everyone wants to buy him a drink, and anytime he sits down at a poker table, people are gunning for him. But when all is said and done, Chris is having a good time. With a travel itinerary that screams more Paris Hilton than Doyle Brunson, he's doing the best he can. He just hopes he gets to play a few hands along the way.