Historic presenter of the World Poker Tour and with US$6.6 million in live earnings in his career, Sexton now struggles to continue expanding the frontiers of poker, a lifelong passion that has been with him since he worked at Ohio State University.
"After leaving the Army, I got married, got a job and looked for some games at home to play. I did very well and I loved playing poker. So when I got divorced three and a half years later, I quit my job to play full time," says the current executive of partypoker. "I always thought: if it goes wrong, I'll get another job. But it was twenty-five years before I received a salary again. And that only happened when I got to partypoker. "
What does MILLIONS South America stand for?
For Sexton, having the MILLIONS South America event in Rio de Janeiro is the consecration of popularization of poker in Brazil. "A poker tournament is a poker tournament, regardless of the country in which it is played. I have the greatest respect for the Brazilian players I met at the WSOP, WPT and MILLIONS events. This tournament, with many new faces for many of us, it should be very fun and exciting," he says, coming to Rio for the first time.
"I know they have a great passion for poker, so I expect insane final tables in Rio de Janeiro. I'm sure the Brazilians will go crazy by encouraging locals to beat the best professionals from around the world who will also be at the final table," he says enthusiastically.
Sexton says that "depending on the success of this inaugural MILLIONS in Rio, the event can grow and perhaps become one of the most important poker events in the world." According to him, the goal is to "continue to expand the partypoker brand throughout the world, especially in South America. As you all know, Brazil has been the fastest growing poker world in recent years, so we hope to ‘surprise’ everybody with this MILLIONS South America".
The secret of success
In the interview with Codigo Poker, Sexton comments on what has become a success in the tournament. "Players love to know what the minimum prize will be when they travel to poker tournaments. The secret is to simply have the courage to offer these incredible guaranteed and have faith that the players will appear. You have to give Rob Yong, the founder of the partypoker LIVE tour, all credit for granting these sums of money. Honestly, these guaranteed millionaires were prizes unknown in the poker world and certainly the players love them."
Sexton has the dream of bringing the partypoker back to being the number one online poker site in the world and sees Brazil as an important stage in this project.
Source: GMB / Código Poker
