The recent WSOP Main Event final was not only a memorable day for it’s youngest ever champion Joe Cada, during the closing stages the legendary Mike Sexton, PartyPoker’s global ambassador, was inducted into the prestigious WSOP Poker Hall Of Fame.
As well as many years successfully playing the poker circuit Mike was also instrumental in the explosion of poker across the world in recent years.
Sexton needs little introduction and is unarguably one of the most respected figures in the game. As the face and voice of the World Poker Tour and holder of a WSOP bracelet, Mike is truly one of the games pioneers. Sexton is in the top ten for the most cashes at the World Series of Poker and is instantly recognizable to all poker enthusiasts.
Regarded as ‘The Ambassador of Poker,’ for years Mike advocated corporate involvement with poker to take the game he loves into the mainstream.
Notably, Sexton also won the first $10k buy-in NL hold’em championship event at Foxwoods World Poker Finals in 1992 and in 2000 was the first American to win the championship event at the Euro Finals of Poker in Paris, which at the time was the biggest event in Europe. Through his role with the World Poker Tour Mike brought the game to millions around the world.
In 2006 Sexton won the Tournament of Champions at the World Series of Poker, a concept he had originally created. He donated $500,000 of his winnings to charity and has since become a co-founder of www.pokergives.org, which encourages players to make charitable donations.
You see, it’s not only Mike’s tremendous success at the poker table that has made him one of the most respected players on the poker circuit. In a world of brash, trash talking young guns Sexton remains a class apart. It is testament to the great man that he still commands such respect in a game notorious for its individualism and rivalry.
Mike recently made the trip to London for the World Open V in his role as PartyPoker.com global ambassador and it was great to witness the younger generations eager to spend some time with him. Whether they wanted to talk over some strategy ideas or just say how much his contribution to the poker boom gave them the opportunity and inspiration to take up this great game of ours Mike always had time for them.
And I guess that says it all about Mike, no matter how much success he’s had he always has time for anybody that needs his advice and he’s certainly been a great ambassador for PartyPoker.com over the years, helping us to grow from a minnow to today where we stand as one of the world’s biggest online poker rooms.
Here’s a clip from Mike’s Hall Of Fame induction courtesy of our friends over at clubwpt.com.
