Mike Sexton's Health in Critical Condition as Poker World Offers Outpouring of Support

The poker world has seen a massive outpouring of warmth and support for one of the legends of the poker world, Mike Sexton, following confirmation that the “Ambassador of Poker” has entered in-home hospice care.

Sexton’s long-time friend and fellow Poker Hall of Fame member Linda Johnson confirmed the root of rumors posted on social media by another person, offering this on Twitter:

Johnson also added that she and another close friend of Sexton’s, Women in Poker Hall of Famer Jan Fisher, have been relaying well-wishes to Sexton, who last posted on social media himself around August 22nd. Brit player Padraig Parkinson, another close friend of Sexton’s also confirmed via Twitter the serious nature of Sexton’s health, who is currently battling Stage 4 prostate cancer.

The warm wishes for Sexton and prayers for his recovery focus on Sexton’s neverending promotion of poker in general along with his personal efforts in supporting, financially, poker friends who were down and out. The most famous such story is probably that of three-time WSOP Main Event champion Stuey “The Kid” Ungar, whom Sexton put up at a Vegas hotel while Ungar battled, albeit unsuccessfully, his addiction troubles.

That was only one such example of Sexton’s grace and largesse, though many of those tales and beneficiaries are known only behind the scenes. Sexton himself enjoyed one of poker’s largest windfalls when he was in the veritable right place at the right time to help develop and launch partypoker, which became for years the world’s largest poker site. Eventually made wealthy by that relationship, he has used some of that wealth in continuing ways, often assisting less fortunate friends while also taking a role in several charitable endeavors.

Combined with his long-running and very public role as the color commentator (with Vince Van Patten) of the World Poker Tour, Sexton became one of the most famous people in all of poker. In 2017, Sexton left the WPT to become the full-time chairman of partypoker, which has continued to allow him to promote the game on a global basis.

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