Mike Sexton was born in Shelbyville, Indiana, on the 22nd of September 1947. He was a renowned professional poker player and commentator and had a stellar career that earned him handsome cash prizes and accolades. Sexton was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2009.
History of Mike Sexton, Career & Early Life
Sexton grew up in the U.S. as a gymnast. He graduated with a degree in public recreation from Ohio State University. He reportedly played Poker frequently in college, which was how he got started in the game.
Sexton joined the United States Army in 1970 and was a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division. After his two-year enlistment was done, he became a salesman. However, his passion gravitated towards poker, and he left his sales job to begin a full-time poker career in 1977.
Playing poker proved to be more rewarding than his previous job, and in 1985, Sexton stepped up his poker career by moving to the State of Nevada.
Sexton had an illustrious career as a poker player, during which he had seventeen career cashes in World Poker Tour (WPT) tournaments, including four final tables. In June 2018, Sexton’s career WPT earnings were reported to be about $1,011,725. He currently holds the 64th position on the WPT final table appearances and is ranked at 225th for WPT earnings.
Mike Sexton’s poker career has been legendary. He won various tournaments and prizes throughout his playing career, including a World Series of Poker bracelet and an estimated amount of over $5.8 million. Sexton’s final appearance at the World Series of Poker was in 2019 with James Holzhauer as his partner at that event.
Mike Sexton is also famous for having co-founded the one-time biggest poker site across the United States, PartyPoker, in 2002. The company was under a $500k deficit, but after only four years, it went public for $9 billion. Unfortunately, Sexton had sold his shares for $15 million just over a year before this happened, and his loss could be estimated at around $500million. However, he said he never regretted his decision, and 15 million is still a nice chunk of change.
Tournament Wins
At the World Series of Poker in 1989, Sexton won his first bracelet in the $1,500 seven-card stud split event. He has won 72 cashes from the split event throughout his career, amounting to $2.6million.
In 2005, Sexton went on to finish in the 10th position in the preliminary event at the 2005 World Series of Poker. He also made the final 16 at Poker Superstar ll in the same year.
Sexton won the third annual World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions event On 27th June 2006 and walked away with $1million in prize money, after winning in extra-ordinary fashion by defeating Daniel Negreanu heads up.
The most significant cash prize Sexton won was at the “Big One for One Drop” WSOP event in July 2012. He placed 9th in that event.
After many years of shine, Sexton finally won the 2016 WPT Montreal Main Event in November; this represents his only WPT tournament title from three final appearances. He bested a field of 648 entries and won a prize of US$317,896 on a buy-in of CAD$3,850 per player.
Achievements
Sexton earned accolades for being the top poker ambassador at the Card Player Magazine Player of the Year Awards Gala held on February 15th, 2006. He was also a renowned commentator for the World Tour and a writer for notable papers such as the ‘Card Player Magazine’ and the ‘Gambling Times.
He was the founder of the Tournament of Champions of Poker, an exclusive tournament opened only to winners of tournaments from the previous year.
Sexton is also a major contributor to charity organizations. He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2009, and is considered by many as an ambassador of the game.