Ersinhan Ersin Poker Journal

Think Darvin Moon and WSOP Millionaire and most people would picture a youthful, somewhat edgy punk dressed up in controversial attire and spouting rock song lyrics instead of regular conversation. However, when people come face to face with this unassuming logger from Maryland, they are pleasantly surprised – even mortified – for being presumptuous about his personality. That’s because this Oakland based poker player does not consider himself a poker star, leave alone project himself as the WSOP Millionaire that he is, after only 2 cash game wins contributing to a total winning amount of $5,184,214!

It could have something to do with his service class background that has helped keep Darvin Moon close to his roots, as this Oakland born (his birth date is October 1, 1963) poker enthusiast both admired and loved his grand-dad who first introduced him to the game as a past-time in the rural township they lived in, preferring to spend his free time roaming the woods close to the Backbone Mountain.

His initial years were spent as a logger to support his family but Darvin worked hard to establish himself in the industry and soon went into business for himself by establishing his own logging corporation. However, the fact that he now owned his business did not make Darvin a reckless spender as he continued to live a frugal live with his wife Wendy, making his home in a trailer van for many years.

It was in the early forties that Darvin got interested in television shows promoting pokerstars download and home games with local players soon followed (as was the norm in many American homes in those years). Many of his poker pals were fire department workers or belonged to Elks Lodge, which made the small community, get to know each other and enjoy a fun card game at the end of a hard working day.

However, some financial worries, like debts, a forgery case and issues like bad check allegations proved to be set-back in Darvin’s logging company success and he was unable to sustain his company in a stable manner for a short while. But a satellite event win helped him reach the $10,000 buy-in for the WSOP Main Event held in 2009.

Darvin was ecstatic as he envisioned being able to re-establish his company once again with the ready financing available to him from the prize money, though friends and family urged him to participate further. So, Darvin ended up using the $10K to get his buy for the Main Event two weeks later and reached the November Nine segment where he had a guaranteed prize of $1.2 million awaiting him for a 9th place finish minimum award.

Darvin being a reserved person kept away from the media for the 4 months leading up to the main event, preferring to concentrate his attention on his logging company but he was unprepared for swarming journalists crowding around him on his return from Las Vegas. This was unavoidable because when Darvin went heads-up with Joe Cada for the WSOP title, and gracefully congratulated the winner (Moon lost), it was all ESPN cameras could do to continue re-playing the zoom-in of an old-world charm to a sophisticated poker player who walked away with a second place looking like he’d finished firsts! Moon bagged $5,182,601, hugged Joe Cada, wasn’t depressed over missing first place and went back to his self-employed logger lifestyle with an admirable self-deprecating attitude that is rare to find in the world of competitive poker.