Sean Perry was at the top of his game when he left poker four years ago to focus on sports betting.
The high-stakes gambler from Las Vegas is back at the World Series of Poker this summer and made money in the first event he played.
“I feel like I haven’t missed a pep in my step,” Perry said. “I came in and I’m still that same aggressive, action-y player three-betting a lot, putting pressure on people. … I bluffed off my chips, though, so that happens.”
Perry followed his father, Ralph, into professional poker and dropped out of school at Cal Poly when he was 19. He has over $6.8 million in live tournament earnings, according to the Hendon Mob Poker Database.
Perry finished third in the PokerGO Tour standings in 2021 and won the $50,000 buy-in No-limit Hold’em event at the 2022 PokerGO Cup for $640,000, the largest cash of his career.
He added a sixth-place finish in the 2022 WSOP $50,000 buy-in No-limit Hold’em High Roller for another $264,034.
But Perry then turned his attention to sports betting, and his social media pages are filled with videos of him at sportsbooks making large wagers.
“Sports betting is my real bread and butter. That’s where I’m making millions and millions of dollars,” Perry said. “I can play poker and make $5 million in a year. But the truth is, I’ll bet sports and make mid-eight figures a year.”
In 2023, Perry gained notoriety when he refused to chop the Circa Survivor NFL contest with 13 entrants remaining. His “Goldenboy” entry, a nickname given to Perry by his mother, former Las Vegas Realtors president Merri Perry, crashed out in Week 16a short of the money.
“The truth is I did lose that competition, which is funny, and the whole world was celebrating,” he said.
Since then, Perry has been responsible for some of the largest Super Bowl wagers at Las Vegas sportsbooks. He has a $500,000 bet on the New York Knicks to win the NBA Finals that would pay $825,000.
New York leads the San Antonio Spurs 2-0 in best-of-seven series.
“I’m someone who likes to put my money where my mouth is, right?” Perry said. “I’m very confident and I believe in myself.”
Always seeking action, Perry hopped into the $10,000 buy-in GGMillion$ No-limit Hold’em High Roller event last week while his girlfriend was out of town. He finished 45th for a little over $25,000 after starting the day with one of the largest chip stacks.
It was Perry’s first tournament poker result since a 2023 Triton Super High Roller event.
Perry is still seeking his first WSOP bracelet, which are awarded to tournament winners, and plans to enter all of the higher buy-in events this summer along with the $10,000 buy-in No-limit Hold’em World Championship Main Event.
Ralph Perry, who won a bracelet in 2006, is one of the chip leaders in the $1,500 buy-in Monster Stack No-limit Hold’em event that resumes Monday.
“It’s cool that you have a father and son at the top of the gambling world,” Sean Perry said.
Madsen earns 5th bracelet
Jeff Madsen outlasted a field of 656 players to win the $1,500 buy-in Dealer’s Choice event and the $161,057 first prize.
It’s the fifth career bracelet for Madsen and comes 20 years after he won the WSOP Player of the Year award.
Madsen, a Las Vegas resident, is one of 27 players with five or more career bracelets and now has more than $7.3 million in live tournament earnings.
Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on X.
