Former Buckeye is "all in" the poker world

When students from Ohio State graduate, they usually go into a career that is within their selected major, but one Buckeye took a different road.

Mike Sexton, who attended The Ohio State University in the 1960s on a scholarship for the school's gymnastics team, is now a professional poker player and commentator years after leaving the campus.

"I've been fortunate both as a player and since I transcended over to the business side of poker now as a TV commentator on the World Poker Tour," Sexton said. "Life has been good for this Buckeye."

Sexton said he began playing cards at age 13 and continued to play a lot of cards while at Ohio State during his free time.

"After playing professionally in North Carolina for about eight years, I moved to Vegas to play," Sexton said.

Sexton was then in the right city to do what he always wanted to do: create a special event in the poker world where you could not buy into, but earn your way into.

"I founded the original Tournament of Champions of Poker and to play in this prestigious event, you had to win a poker tournament somewhere in the world during the calendar year," Sexton said.

The TOC was a great event that lasted three years (1999-2001) and was just ahead of its time when poker really started to become popular, Sexton said.

Sexton then won a prominent event against some of the best players in the world, the World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions in 2006, which had a $1 million first place prize.

"It was an amazing heads-up battle between Daniel Negreanu and myself," Sexton said. "On TV, it lasted about five minutes, but it actually lasted seven grueling hours. Ironically, I had two aces on the last hand and it felt great to win it."

Sexton donated half of his winnings to five worthy charities, with $100,000 each going to the Paralyzed Veterans of America, the Special Olympics, the Buoniconti Fund, Children Inc. and the Wounded Warrior Project, which gives money to the families of fallen and wounded soldiers in Iraq.

Written by Alex Morando

thelantern.com