AUTHOR: Jerry "Jet" Whittaker
TITLE: Haxton '08 amasses $1.3 million playing poker 
DATE: 3:11 AM
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BODY:
<p class="mobile-post">When Isaac Haxton '08 was a freshman, he spent winter break outside his
native Syracuse, N.Y., playing poker at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino.
He came away with a respectable $1,500. This year, Haxton spent part of the
winter playing poker in the Bahamas, and this time, he finished $861,789
richer. A member of Alpha Epsilon Pi, Haxton won the whopping sum when he
placed second in the Poker Stars Caribbean Adventure at the Atlantis Resort
and Casino in early January. He said his lifetime poker earnings now amount
to approximately $1.3 million. This tournament, which drew 937 players, was
one of a series facilitated by the World Poker Tour for a TV show that airs
on the Travel Channel. "Filming for that was a surreal experience," Haxton
said. "I found out I had made the final table, and I get a stack of forms. .
The first thing I see is '10:00 a.m.: play starts, 8:30 a.m.: make-up
call' . what?!" Haxton's success in the world of poker has been growing
steadily over the past four years, ever since he began playing when he was
17, during his senior year of high school. At first, he played only socially
with friends but soon began frequenting Turning Stone, which is a 20-minute
drive from his house. When he returned home for winter break after his first
semester at Brown, Haxton played poker at Turning Stone almost every day. At
the start of spring semester, he deposited his $1,500 winnings into an
online poker account and began playing online for about 20 hours a week,
finishing the semester with a few thousand dollars in winnings. "I didn't
sleep very much that semester," he said. "But I got all A's." Following his
success, Haxton decided to spend the following summer living at home,
playing online poker full-time. "My parents were pretty okay with it,"
Haxton said. "It took some effort to convince my mom that it was real money,
but once the first check showed up at the house, she believed me."
That summer, Haxton won $40,000. The next summer, he stayed in Providence
and did the same thing, winning $100,000. Haxton said he has read about 30
books on poker. "I read everything I could find about the game," he
recalled. In addition to reading, he played the game a great deal and
discussed poker strategy on an Internet forum. "The forum is just filled
with 18-, 19-, 20-year-old kids who have made millions of dollars playing
poker. . There will be posts like, 'I made $100,000 dollars this month,
which of these cars should I buy?'"</p>
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