Things you might not know:
- Baxter's father ran a general store on a military base while his mother ran an insurance company.
- Baxter started hustling pool when he was 14.
- Baxter, by the time he was sixteen in 1956, had saved up an amazing $5,000 from his pool hustling money.
- Baxter started to visit taverns when he was 18, which is where he discovered poker.
- Baxter repeated a cycle of winning in pool, then losing it back in poker, during his early years.
- Baxter, in his 20's, owned an underground casino called the Paisley Club which got shut down, then he re-opened another casino outside of tow which was also shut down and led to his serving nine months.
- Baxter established a weight loss prop bet before serving his nine months to go from 205 pounds to 165. When he left the jail, he immediately went to Vegas to step on the scale, which read 162 pounds, whereupon Baxter collected $10,000.
- Baxter took a honeymoon trip in 1975 to Hawaii passing through Las Vegas on his way back. He fell in love with Vegas and ended up spending nine months in a hotel with his new wife playing poker for a living with the likes of Doyle Brunson, Puggy Pearson, and Stu Ungar.
- Baxter won his first WSOP bracelet in 1975.
- Baxter lost $40,000 to Stu Ungar in Gin Rummy the first time the two met.
- Baxter amazingly won the first four WSOP events that he placed in.
- Baxter's seven bracelets are all in lowball games, like Razz, Deuce-to-Seven and California Lowball.
- Baxter enjoys the lowball games like Deuce-to-Seven because there is a lot of bluffing involved, something he relishes.
- Baxter staked Stu Ungar in his famous comeback 1997 WSOP victory.
- Baxter agreed to back Ungar the next year, but drugs and Ungar's continuing personal problems that led to his death in the following years prevented him from playing out the stake.
- death in the following years prevented him from playing out the stake.
- Baxter's last WSOP bracelet win was in 2002.
- Baxter is also a noted sports bettor, especially favoring football.
- Baxter will often have $50,000 riding on each game he bets.
While Baxter is certainly a deserving Hall of Fame player for his on the table accomplishments, it is his landmark case of William E. Baxter Jr. vs. the United States that will forever cement his status as one of the most influential poker players of all-time.
In the early 1980’s the IRS said that Baxter’s gambling earnings from 1978 to 1981 should be classified as “unearned income” and making it taxable up to 70 percent. Baxter argued that he made his money the same way a golfer did, by succeeding on the golf course, thus for making it “earned income.” In 1986 the US Government ruled in favor of Baxter, and in turn made the profession of “Professional Poker Player” a legal one in the eyes of the government.
Baxter videos include a WSOP interview and some WPT final table coverage:
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