Nice post ... Poker really did hit big the same year Money Maker won the event and then it exploded even more the following year when Greg Raymer won it.

Those were the golden years of Poker. If you were semi good at playing then you could have made a fortune online.

Poker owes allot of its sudden " boom " to the NHL lockout of 2004 -2005 as tv broadcasters were in need of content to fill the spots the lack of hockey brought ... Televised poker events filled those spots and the Poker Boom was born when everyone thought they could be the next " Money Maker".