Tributes Continue To Pour In For Poker Legend

Published on September 9th, 2020 6:19 pm EST

Earlier this week, Mike Sexton passed away from prostate cancer at the age of 72.

It can be a rare thing to find somebody that is universally beloved at the time of their passing. For Sexton, this was the case, and this speaks to his honesty, good humour and friendliness. Mike Sexton was truly a good person, and this is reflected in the dozens of tributes that have been posted about him in the past few days.

It's easy for people to have bad days when they leave poor impressions on people. With Mike Sexton, however, this never seemed to be the case, as he always made time to meet new people and always had a smile on his face.

Mike Sexton's optimism and love of the game of poker permanently changed the game forever.

According to people that knew him, Sexton had a roadmap for how online poker would grow and prosper into the future as early as the mid '90s, far before the "Moneymaker Boom".

One of the biggest impacts that Sexton had on the game of poker was his steadfast support for the Partypoker Millions tournament, which nearly didn't run again after its first year. Televised poker had a dramatic impact on the game, and the fact that the Partypoker Millions was filmed and shown on the Travel Channel helped to fuel televised poker and the eventual poker boom.

Sexton was with partypoker from the beginning and remained an integral part of the company until his passing. While Pokerstars is now the 800 pound gorilla of the poker world, partypoker was the largest room in the world at the time of the "Moneymaker Boom", and Sexton's ideas and belief in the company helped to fuel the boom.

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Sexton helped to legitimize the game of poker through his commentary work for the World Poker Tour.

Before the poker boom, poker was not seen as a respectable game that was played by respectable people. Instead, the game was marred by stories of cheating, robberies and shady characters.

Sexton helped to change all of that. The man was supremely talented and could have chosen any profession - instead, he decided to focus on the world of poker, and his efforts helped to make the game respectable in the eyes of the masses. This helped to change the lives of many who decides to play poker for a living.

Sexton, who was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2009, was a fantastic ambassador for the game of poker. While playing at the tables, Sexton was always sure to include everybody in the fun - while other players tend to be moody and volatile, Sexton was always seemingly in a good mood, even when taking horrible beats.

This speaks to Sexton's overall mindset - full of optimism and never getting too down about things. There was always another hand to be played.

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The poker world is still in shock over the passing of Mike Sexton, as he was a truly great person who represented the game of poker in the best possible way.

"May all of your cards be live and may all of your pots be monsters."


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Filed Under: Online Poker Rooms