In the world of poker, big wins resonate, and ACR Pro Chris Moorman’s recent achievement is certainly echoing loudly. Moorman claimed fourth place in the prestigious 2023 World Poker Tour (WPT) World Championship at the Wynn Las Vegas, ensuring his biggest-ever career cash of $2,095,300.
This fiercely fought $10,400 buy-in tournament featured some of the most decorated WSOP bracelet holders. And Moorman proved that his strategic skills and poker knowledge remain as sharp and effective as ever.
After Moorman’s noteworthy performance at the WPT Championship, we had the opportunity to sit down with him for an interview. In our discussion, we explored his approach to the tournament, his experiences, and much more. Here’s what he had to say.
ACR: Congratulations on your recent achievement, what a ride it has been! How does it feel to have achieved fourth place in the WPT World Championship?
Moorman: It’s still sinking in, but I feel proud of myself how I played over the 7 days and there really wasn’t much more I could have done down the stretch with the cards and situations I was dealt at the final table.
ACR: The $2 million cash prize marks the biggest win of your career. How does it feel to achieve such a significant milestone, especially considering your previous notable successes, including finishing second in the WSOPE Main Event in 2011?
Moorman: It’s great to run deep in one of these big main event type field tournaments again. These are my favorite types of tournaments (huge fields and massive payouts). Obviously, it is very hard to go all the way in an event like this so to beat out over 3800 players is an incredible achievement and to get my new highest ever cash by some distance is just the icing on the cake.
ACR: Can you share your thoughts on the overall experience of reaching the final six?
Moorman: It was great. A really tough field deep, and everyone battled so hard every hand. To battle for 2 days straight on the stream table was very intense. Everyone on the final table is an amazing poker player and didn’t give an inch.
ACR: Were there any particularly memorable hands or moments during the final table that stood out?
Moorman: The AJ river check raise against Ben Heath had to be my favorite moment of the whole tournament. I felt surprisingly calm as I was very confident that it was both the correct play and that he would fold his hand to my raise.
ACR: Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently in your approach to the final table or specific hands?
Moorman: No not really. Obviously you can always do something different but I was very happy overall with the decisions I made.
ACR: What was your strategy going into the last day, and did you have to make any adjustments as the game progressed?
Moorman: I didn’t have a set strategy. I was just going with the flow and making game-time decisions. That is more my style as I would say that I’m a pretty unorthodox player who is very adjustable in game. So my plan coming in was essential to mix up my play from level to level adapting to the ever changing stack sizes of all the players.
ACR: Can you describe the atmosphere at the final table and who did you have to support you?
Moorman: The atmosphere was great, and was really starting to build just before I was knocked out, unfortunately. I had my wife, her dad and some of my best friends in poker come to support. I really felt all of the love and wanted to win for everyone.
ACR: Who was your most challenging opponent / moment in the tournament? How did you navigate through them?
Moorman: The French player Maxime Chilaud was my nemesis throughout the tournament. I ran KK into his AK for a huge 16 million pot at 250k bb in a crazy spot and after that I also lost a number of medium sized pots to him before I was fortunate enough to cooler him on a T52 flush draw board with pocket aces versus his ace ten for his last 25 big blinds.
The most challenging moment for me was when there were 33 players left. We were on a significant pay jump bubble and my table was playing 6 handed with 5 very good players including Ren Lin and Luckychewy on my direct left. I was also the shortest stack at the table so didn’t have as much leverage to threaten people’s stacks as I’d have liked. This pay-jump bubble went on for over an hour but I managed to maintain my stack by taking a number of well-timed 3 bet bluffs. To survive this table and avoid blinding down really gave me the confidence to try and go all of the way.
ACR: What do you think contributed the most to your success in this tournament, especially considering the tough competition?
Moorman: My mental game. I’ve worked closely with my mind coach Stephen Simpson for almost a decade now so I think one of my biggest strengths is keeping a level head when you have a good or bad couple of levels. The tournament was so long that I felt it was important to try and stay as even keeled as possible throughout.
ACR: Your live career earnings now stand at over $8.7 million. How do you see this recent accomplishment impacting your overall career trajectory and goals?
Moorman: I would like to get to $10 Million in live cashes by the end of 2024 so I may play a higher number of live events next year than I have been in recent years.
ACR: You’re one of the most successful players in the game — what advice would you give to aspiring poker players based on your career?
Moorman: To never get complacent. If you aren’t working on your game then you’ll find the new hungrier hard-working players will eat you up. It’s very easy to go from a winning player to a losing player in certain poker tournaments if you aren’t putting in the work off the tale
ACR: What are your plans for 2024 in terms of poker tournaments and competitions?
Moorman: No set plans yet. I’ll just see what events I’m excited to play and then give 100% in them and hopefully the results will come along with that.
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