EXCLUSIVE: The Poker Ambassador Shows His Cards

Mike Sexton is more than an ambassador for poker, he’s one of the world’s greatest players and has plenty of advice for winning at the game he loves

March 21, 2007

By Janice Carroll
Bodog Nation Contributing Writer

When I first met with Mike Sexton, he appeared every bit the friendly, good humored host who you see each week on the World Poker Tour. However, not long into the interview you realize there is a lot more to Sexton. Not only is he an accomplished author, but he holds many accolades, including the creator of the Tournament of Poker Champions. He is a well respected poker pro, having won his second WSOP bracelet in last year’s Tournament of Champions. Behind the friendly face and good humor is a man with a passion for poker and a history to match. So here is Mike Sexton in a candid, uncensored interview, telling his own story and offering some advice based on his years of experience.

Poker Players I Respect

I learned to play poker properly at 13 years of age. The man who taught me how to play poker was Danny Robinson who for years was considered the best stud player in the world. At the time, of course, he was just a kid a couple of years older than me.

Danny led me into the card world and kept me broke. But when I went off to Ohio State College and played poker there, it didn't take me long to discover that I was better than the other students were. It just so happened that I had been taught poker by a guy who was world class. I didn't know at the time when he was beating me out of my paper route money. He was just the only guy I knew who played poker.

I'm an old school player as I've been around a long time. I like the old school guys and respect their play, even though it’s the young guns who are doing all the damage out on the tours now. To me, Chip Reese is still one of the best players of all time. I also have great respect for Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu in a cash game and in terms of play. These guys play the highest big stake cash games and have been successful. They can do both cash games and tournaments, and these players have succeeded at the highest levels in both.

Mike Sexton delivers a speech at the Cardplayer of the Year Awards after receiving his award for being poker's top ambassador. (Bodog Nation file photo)

I like the guys who play most of the pots, like Gus Hansen and Stu Unger, the guy who I consider the greatest player of all time. It seemed like he played every pot when he played poker. Gus Hansen has that style. Phil Helmuth has that style and Daniel Negreanu also plays a lot of pots. The guys who succeed at the highest levels are not the guys who are sitting back waiting for Aces or Kings, but they're in there mixing up every hand, they're not afraid to play pots. They make these probing styles of bets, smallish bets to get information about what their opponents have. They decipher all that info and then they know when they can steal a pot and they know when to let a hand go. These are the kind of players I like to watch.

Survival

When I played tournament poker early in my years, I followed Tom McEvoy's model. He wrote the book on tournament poker back then and basically said; tournament poker is all about survival. You just want to survive, survive, survive. You hope you get a rush of good cards where you can win it. That's the way I played for all those years, now it's a totally new trend. It's not anybody who is surviving that is winning the tournaments; it is guys who are very aggressive. It's the guys who are attacking, they're not afraid to take pots and they're not afraid to go broke. These guys recognize that accumulating chips is more important than surviving because when you get to the final table you have to get there with chips if you want a chance to win. All the big money in tournament poker is at the top three places.

Every time you go to play, as long as you live, that's where the money is; it's at the top. The good players understand that. You want to win the thing, because that's where the really big bucks are. Therefore, the aggressive style of the guys winning tournaments has taught me a lesson in that I've changed my tactics. I play differently than I used to play. Last year I won the Tournament of Champions of Poker at the WSOP. I won that million dollar tournament by playing more aggressive than I usually play. I've had the advantage of watching every hand that's been played by every player on the World Poker Tour for the past five years and I see who's winning and why they're winning. It's hard to change your style; it's not as easy as it seems.

Know Your Style

One thing I believe for everyone who plays poker is that you have to play in a style that you're comfortable with. If you're a rock solid player, you're not going to be comfortable ramming and jamming with a 7- 5; on the other hand, if you're a reckless, fast loose player, you're not going to be comfortable tightening it up just waiting for Kings and Queens. The truth is, both styles of playing can win at poker. The tight players have a much better chance to win in cash games than they do in tournaments. I haven't seen tight players win many tournaments. It just doesn't happen. Certainly tight players can win cash games. The reason for that is in cash games the blinds and antes never go up, it's allows you to be patient and wait on good hands. On tournament games, because the levels and the blinds and antes go up, if you're not increasing your action, where you're gathering your share of those pots, your stack is going to go down. Invariably, you find yourself in what we call the Short Stack Syndrome. Seventy to 80% of the field feel like they're always in the short stack when they're playing tournament poker. That's because they don't play enough hands. Once you recognize that and start doing something about it, you have to start picking up pots and taking your share of pots just to stay level with everybody else.

For years and years, I was getting in the money at the WSOP, as much if not more so than any other player. I was in the top three all time money winners in the history of the WSOP in terms of times that I cashed in tournaments; plus I didn't start playing it until 1984. That was the first year I played in the World Series. After a few years I was in the top three and probably still am in the top 10 all time cashes in the WSOP. Not money made, but times in the money. The first 17 times I made it to the final table at the WSOP, but I only had one win in all that time. Even though it's good to get there, I realized I was doing something wrong. What I was doing wrong was, invariably I got there on a short stack. The only time I won the WSOP was when I came to the final table as chip leader.

After years of playing, I later founded a big event in the poker world called "The Tournament of Champions of Poker" and I put that on for a couple of years at the Orleans Casino in Las Vegas. It was a bit ahead of its time; but, because of that event, I gained a lot of status within the industry and of course that led me to eventually being on the World Poker Tour.

You can presently see Mike as a host/commentator on the World Poker Tour where he has been since its inception. He feels the WPT has forever revolutionized the poker world. Mike is not only a poker champ but also a humanitarian. He donated $500,000, half of his WSOP Tournament of Champions winnings last year to charity.

PHOTO: Mike Sexton speaks at the Bodog sponsored 2006 Cardplayer Player of the Year Awards where he was given the award for being poker's top ambassador. (BodogNation file photo)