$$ Cash 4 Seat $$

Chris Moneymaker’s superb run during day one of the $40,000 no limit yesterday impressed not just because of his chip count (805,000), but for the manner in which he got there. Since we watched in awe when he won the WSOP main event in 2003, he’ll be the first to admit his form since has been patchy.

Now, in a typically modest interview with the PokerStars Blog, Chris Moneymaker has revealed he understood and came to accept what the shortfalls in his game were - and has been working hard to improve them. And yesterday’s performance showed just how far he’d come.

“I’ve been working on my game on PokerStars a lot because whenever I get chips in a tournament I play too fast and bluff them off. It was a real bad habit, so it’s one key thing I have been working on - trying to slow down.

“I think I am better early in a tournament, but that counts for nothing when I would get too excited and play when I shouldn’t, which meant I would get into bad spots. When the blinds get bigger and the antes are out there, I would think, ‘Wow, look at those chips’, and go after them when I shouldn’t.

“As I said, that got me into bad spots and I’d lose my chips and momentum - and when I did that I had a second problem with my game… tilt. That’s something else I’ve been working real hard on, and these kinks in my game are something I think I have got rid of now.

“I have a lot of fans, but I know I have a lot of knockers, too. You have to expect that, and they don’t bother me. I feel I am a good player, and now that I have tried to improve further I think I can do well here. I’ve been really looking forward to this World Series because of that.”

There was so much expectation on Moneymaker after he won the Main Event that he felt it contributed to the bad points in his game - being too aggressive and then tilting when things started to go wrong.

“Yes, winning the WSOP did create a monkey on my back for a while. But I learnt to live with that, and now I have tried to improve, I think it’s gone and I can just let my poker do the talking.”

He had some tough tables yesterday, facing off against the likes of fellow Team PokerStars Pro Barry Greenstein and Ireland’s Andy Black. And today he kicks off with another tough one, sitting alongside the likes of Doyle Brunson and Ted Forrest.

“But, hey, it’s a $40,000 event - so it’s bound to be tough,” he said.

We said in yesterday’s blog that Moneymaker was looking like a man who means business, and now we know he’s been working on his game so much, we can see why he is so full of confidence.

You can follow his progress in day two right here today - and Chris will also be updating his Twitter page as often as he can.

It was 2005 when the PokerStars Blog first dipped its toes in the Amazon Ballroom madness.

For the first several weeks, PokerStars Team Blog consisted of…well…me. I sat with a scattering of people in a small closet at the end of the longest hallway in the Rio. Final table coverage of the preliminary events was easy. There were maybe five or six members of the media who actually sat around the table. More than a few of them were old school poker writers who had been around back when the Binions were still running the show. I remember one of the guys in the media closet struggling over a lead paragraph for half an hour. Finally, he stood up and walked out of the media room. He returned a few minutes later with a full bottle of scotch.

“I can’t write unless I’m drinking,” he said and proceeded to write his whole article without another word.

By the time the Main Event rolled around, we’d formed the first official Team Blog.

People in the poker media still talk about that year. The few of us that were there who are still plugging away remember sitting in the back corner of Benny’s Bullpen as Joe Hachem went on to win the 2005 Main Event. It was cramped, for sure, but nothing like what would happen over the next few years as hundreds of writers, photographers, and live bloggers came for the show.

The PokerStars Blog has been at the WSOP ever since. The Team Blog cast has changed many times (including this huge and awesome cast in 2006) and employed the best poker writers in the business. This year is no different.

For the fifth consecutive year, the PokerStars Blog will be covering the World Series. We’ll have people in Las Vegas beginning with the very first event and offer expanded coverage for the Main Event.

By the end of this weekend, more than 800 people will have qualified for the World Series Main Event on PokerStars. We’ll be there to cover every one of them and whoever manages to qualify between now and then.

Over the next week or so, we’ll be taking a walk down World Series memory lane. Stick with us as we once again get ready to cover the biggest thing in poker.