William Baxter

Born William E. Baxter Jr. on September 21, 1940, in Augusta, Georgia, Baxter began gambling as a teenager, hustling pool games and saving $5,000 by age 16. He attended Augusta College but dropped out to pursue poker professionally.

Baxter moved to Las Vegas in 1975 after a honeymoon trip, where he met poker legends Doyle Brunson, Puggy Pearson, and Stu Ungar. He has won seven World Series of Poker bracelets across four decades, all in lowball variants (Deuce-to-Seven Draw, Ace-to-Five Draw, and Razz). His seven non-Hold'em bracelets rank second all-time behind Phil Ivey.

WSOP Bracelets

Beyond his bracelets, Baxter is famous for staking Stu Ungar in the 1997 WSOP Main Event, which Ungar won. He also reached the final table of a World Poker Tour event in 2010, finishing fifth for $246,921. In 2023, at age 82, he finished runner-up in the $1,000 Seniors Championship at the WSOP, earning $473,212—his largest career cash.

In 1986, Baxter won a landmark tax case (William E. Baxter Jr. vs. United States) that ruled poker winnings should be classified as earned income rather than unearned income, benefiting all professional poker players in the U.S.

Baxter was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2006.

As of 2025, Baxter's live tournament earnings exceed $3.4 million, with 35 WSOP cashes totaling over $1 million.