Mike Sexton: A Champion of Champions : Poker Player

Mike Sexton: A Champion of Champions

In February of 2006, Mike Sexton was officially given the "Poker Ambassador" award at a ceremony in Hollywood, in the company of fellow members of the poker community. But he has long been considered the game's ambassador, a long time before he received a tangible token of that appreciation.

Sexton is regarded so highly for many reasons. It is the respectful way he carries himself at the tables – never flying off the handle or lashing out at others – and the true passion that he has for the game of poker and expresses in an consistently eloquent, enthusiastic manner. Further, it is the many ways that he has found to promote the game of poker through his magazine columns and interviews, his creation and promotion of the original Tournament of Champions, and his roles as player and commentator.

And on top of all of the responsibilities that Sexton carries with him, he does so with a spirited demeanor. He always has time for fans and interviewers – granting time, smiles, and kind words to those who ask.

One naturally wonders if a charmed or easy life led to Sexton's temperament and perspective on life, but that is certainly not the case. Like most who spend their lives in a house of cards (no pun intended), his decisions in life have not been easy ones, but he has always possessed the confidence in himself and his instincts to follow his heart.

In the Beginning
 
Sexton started playing cards in junior high school, and he has a friend to thank for that. "Danny Robinson, who many consider the best seven card stud player in the world, is the guy that actually taught me how to play," he recalls. "He was two years older that I was. He would always keep me broke playing cards because he was better than me."

As Sexton came to master various card games, an innate skill that matured over time, he began to see his own potential. "When I went off to college and got away from Danny, I realized – playing in a dorm with these other guys – that I was way better at any kind of card game than they were. It was then that I realized that I had talent more than most people when it came to playing cards."

Sexton's proficiency with the cards was so diverse that he could play anything and win. Besides stud and draw poker games, he excelled at any wild card games that were thrown into the mix. His diversity allowed him to begin building what was to be his bankroll.

After college and a stint in the army, Sexton returned to his home state of North Carolina and a job in sales. Ultimately, after a divorce, he reexamined his life. "I decided I would just rather play in a poker game every night of the week than have a regular job. I decided to just quit my job and play regularly, and if I went broke, I could always go back and get another job. And for the next 20 years, that's what I did."

And Then There Was Vegas
 
Sexton played in his first World Series of Poker in 1984. Though he had been a professional player for about eight years at that time, he had only been to Las Vegas a handful of times. "I had always wanted to test myself against the best players," he says.

And in 1984, Sexton made a one-week trek to Vegas. "At that time, the tournaments were every other day, so I could play three tournaments in a week's time, and that's what I did. I made two final tables," he trails off for a moment. "I should have won those tournaments. I still lose sleep thinking about it now – twenty something years later. I can still remember the hands I went broke on!"

Nevertheless, Sexton's fine showing in the events signified the start of a new chapter in his life. "I knew that if I wanted to be a professional poker player, I needed to move to Las Vegas. So, early in 1985, I did that, and I've been here ever since."

Several years later, in 1989, Sexton won his first WSOP bracelet in the seven card stud hi-lo event. Still one of the proudest moments of his life, he knew that he had chosen the right path, and the reward of the prestigious bracelet was a symbol of that.

As the popularity of poker started to rise, albeit slowly, Sexton began to look at poker and see into its potential future. While comparing it to one of his favorite hobbies, golf, he saw that the PGA had a championship tournament that pitted the best players who had won events on the PGA tour against each other. He was hooked on this notion of such an event in poker, and the wheels started turning.

"I didn't develop the concept of the Tournament of Champions (TOC) until about 1995 or 1996," Sexton remembers. "That's when I wanted to put together a venue in poker that patterned itself after the TOC in golf, where you couldn't just buy your way in. So, I set it up. The first event in 1999 was very popular with the players. It was a multiple-game concept that people said I was crazy to try, but I always believed that in order to determine the best poker player, you should play more than one game. It was a big hit!"

In the end, the TOC didn't make the money required to continue it. "Unfortunately, it was a little ahead of its time. I still believe that it was the classiest poker tournament in the history of poker tournaments, and it led me to my good things – my job with PartyPoker, my job with the World Poker Tour, and the rest is history."

Still Making History
 
Whether one believes in karma or not, it's difficult not to chalk up the 2006 Tournament of Champions event to some perfect twist of fate.

Mike Sexton won the $1 million first prize in the tournament, outlasting some of the best players in the game – Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, and other world champions – to play a five-hour heads-up match with Daniel Negreanu and to emerge victorious. Sexton calls it "poetic justice."

Speaking of the event, Sexton says, "This was a great challenge – a great field, great competition – and I was very fortunate that PartyPoker.net was the premier sponsor of the WSOP and the TOC. Because of that, I got a sponsor exemption as I'm the host for PartyPoker. It worked out great for all of us that I happened to win – for me as well as the charities that I donated some money to. That's what really made it special."

"Some money" to Sexton was actually $500,000, which was half of his prize money. Prior to his entry into the tournament, he pledged to donate half of his winnings to charity. Little did anyone know that it would be such a sizable contribution.

Five separate charities benefited from Sexton's generosity, and they all have a special place in his heart. The Special Olympics has always been special to him, and the Paralyzed Veterans of America touches him as he is also a veteran. "Nobody appreciates the sacrifice that these guys have made more than I do," he notes.

The third charity was the Wounded Warrior Project, established by the poker club of soldiers stationed Iraq called Screaming Eagle Poker, as Sexton and fellow player Kenna James are directly involved in that start-up organization.

The fourth was Children, Inc., which may sound familiar as it is Barry Greenstein's charity of choice. "Because I have so much respect for Barry, who is the man for charity in the poker world, I wanted to contribute to his charity that helps underprivileged children around the world.

And the last but certainly not the least was the Buoniconti Fund that helps with spinal cord research. "I had the privilege of meeting Mark a few years back. He's the son of hall-of-fame football player, Nick Buoniconti, and Mark was paralyzed during a football game and now dedicates his life to raising money for this research. When I saw the spirit of this guy, it wowed me."

And all of these events cap a year that began with Sexton's receipt of the Poker Ambassador award, an honor given by the poker community. "It's probably my greatest honor ever in poker," he reflects. "It sums up, more or less, a career – my career."

When not writing enormous checks to charities or humbly receiving accolades from throughout the poker world, Sexton is promoting poker and looking to the future of the game that he loves.

"I'm just happy to see the evolvement of the poker world where not only the country, but the world views poker as a game of skill," Sexton says. "I think the next thing that the poker world could try to do is worthwhile things for charities. No matter how anti-gambling or anti-poker somebody is, nobody is against giving money to worthwhile causes. That's why I was so happy to be able to contribute a half million dollars to those charities. These people now look at the poker world from a different viewpoint. And I don't want the money I gave to be looked at as money that Mike Sexton gave; I want it seen as coming from the poker community. That's the ultimate goal."

Enough said.

Written by Jennifer Newell.

Printed with permission from  American Poker Player Magazine.