It’s been two years since the inaugural Moneymaker Poker Tour. A celebration of Chris Moneymaker’s iconic 2003 WSOP win, the land-based poker tour is set to make waves in 2025.

Moneymaker recently announced he would be bringing his live tournament to Baltimore at MGM National Harbor, Maryland, in April. American players from the mid-Atlantic and Northeast will be able to participate and potentially follow in the footsteps of Moneymaker.

The Maryland stop is scheduled for April 21 to April 28, and is the fourth Moneymaker Tour stop for 2025. The stop will guarantee more than $400,000 across 12 trophy events, including a $1,500 Main Event, which has $300,000 guaranteed.

Established in 2023, the Moneymaker Tour continues to expand across the US, with stops in Florida, Cincinnati, Houston, Ohio, and now Maryland. There are also international events such as 2024’s Aruba stop, returning later this year, and the newly announced stop at Playground, Canada.

What is the Moneymaker Poker Tour?

The year was 2003, and Chris Moneymaker had entered the 2003 WSOP Main Event as an underdog. He had decided to try his luck in an $86 online poker satellite tournament and ended up winning the $10,000 seat in the Main Event. Soon after, Chris bagged the $2.5 million prize, made history, and turned his aptly symbolic surname into a household name among poker fans across the US and around the world.

In 2023, Moneymaker established the Moneymaker Poker Tour, a new series of poker events with buy-in prices for players of all levels. Events priced at $86 commemorate Moneymaker’s satellite victory, along with high-stakes buy-in events and multi-day events with large guarantees.

To add to his legacy, Moneymaker is currently an ambassador for the #1 US online poker platform, ACR Poker. As a catalyst of the online poker boom, Moneymaker works alongside the website as an ACR Pro to help promote online poker to wider audiences in the hopes of finding “the next Moneymaker.”

ACR Poker also recently held a series of satellite tournaments offering players a chance to win a Moneymaker Tour package. The Beast Tournament Mega Satellites guaranteed 15 of these packages worth $2,500, which includes a $1,500 buy-in towards a 2025 Main Event of their choosing. This included the Moneymaker Tour Aruba stop scheduled for September 2025. Below, we’ll look at some iconic Moneymaker Poker Tour stops:

Houston

In 2024, Moneymaker brought his Poker Tour to Houston, Texas for the first time. The tournament was set to take place at the Texas Card House, and welcomed over a thousand poker players from around the country and the world to compete for titles and prize money. Houston was the first stop of the 2024 Moneymaker Poker Tour, marking the tour’s expansion into ten different stops through the year after only four stops in 2023.

Meanwhile, our previous post highlights Galveston Island’s thriving tourism industry, including the $1.2 billion in annual tourist spending. Galveston’s tourism also helps support more than 11,800 jobs. As the Moneymaker Poker Tour continues to expand its stops, bringing poker tournaments and events of this size can help boost the industry further. A future Galveston stop can help expand the tour while making high-stakes poker more accessible.

Canada

Given the Houston stop’s success, it only made sense for the Moneymaker Poker Tour to introduce even more new stops. As mentioned in our introduction, Moneymaker also recently announced the Tour would be heading to Canada for the first time in 2025. Scheduled for May, the Canada stop will offer players a packed schedule with 23 trophy events and over $973,000 (CA$1.4 million) in guaranteed prize pools.

Set to be held at the Playground in Montreal, the highlight of the stop is the $799 (CA$1,150) Main Event, which boasts a $347,000 (CA$500,000) guarantee. Moneymaker has stated he was “thrilled to finally play at Playground and meet the passionate poker community in Montreal.” The Playground has a rich history of being one of the most prestigious poker rooms in the world, nominated and voted in the top four rooms by the Global Poker Index.

Aruba

Finally, arguably the most iconic Moneymaker Poker Tour stop is Aruba. Announced in 2024 and in partnership with the Caribbean Poker Series, Aruba is the Moneymaker Tour’s first international stop. The Main Event featured a $1,500 buy-in and a $200,000 guaranteed prize pool. Fellow ACR Team Pro Katie Lindsay ended up winning the event outright, bagging $102,915, a Championship ring care of The Caribbean Poker Series, and the coveted Moneymaker trophy.

Following the stop’s success, Aruba is set to be one of many more Moneymaker Tour stops announced for 2025. As previously mentioned, Moneymaker and ACR Poker held the Beast Tournament Mega Satellites to offer players a chance for a seat at the Aruba stop’s Main Event. While we’re still a long way to go until September, we’ll likely see the number of attendants grow from the 325 entries recorded in 2024.