I've got to ask this question, regarding Ike Haxton

[Dan Druff]

I realize that we all age, our looks change, and our demeanor/attitude changes. That's fine. You won't find many people who barely changed between 2007 and today. I definitely look different myself, and in some ways my personality has changed as well.

However, nobody in poker has transformed more than Ike Haxton, and I don't get it.

Here was Ike Haxton in 2007, at the Pokerstars PCA. He was 21 at the time, and had just taken a year off college to play poker full time. He finished 2nd in this event.




Kind of reminds me of a long-haired Neo from The Matrix. Notice the cool, wild hairstyle, the minimalized sunglasses, the casual long sleeved shirt, and the generally confident demeanor. You could picture this guy scoring a lot of late-2000s chicks, right?

Now look at present-day Ike Haxton:




2025 Ike couldn't be more of a stereotypical dork if he tried. He's got the geek glasses, the uptight-looking hairdo, an N-95 mask perpetually attached to his face (even in winners photos), and he tops it all off with a "GTO Lab" shirt.

How can this possibly be the same guy?

There's no question that Ike is a great poker player, and aside from his annoying wokeness, he's not a bad guy. He's never been involved in a scandal, and doesn't really mistreat or attack anyone. So I'm not even saying I dislike him, because I don't.

I just don't understand this transformation. Given his tournament results (much better now than in '07, in fact), he could have been marketable as a sponsored pro if he stuck to anything resembling his original look.

Ike hailed from the Magic: The Gathering world, as did many of the nerd-crew millennial poker pros. So if he had the dork look the whole way, I wouldn't be making this post. I'm just not understanding why, at some point, he said to himself, "You know what? I'm tired of looking cool. Let's see how I can come off as geeky as possible."

[tgull]

Kelly McGillis:

[Dan Druff]

That's not a good example.

Kelly McGillis just got old and didn't age well.

Ike is not even 40 yet, and voluntarily changed his look. I'm just trying to figure out why.

[garrett]

I'm Joshua Schaller and I do not like this

Unfortunately you look odd when you wear a mask and sunglasses

[tgull]

That's not a good example.

Kelly McGillis just got old and didn't age well.

Ike is not even 40 yet, and voluntarily changed his look. I'm just trying to figure out why.

You took a pretty unflattering picture of him to make an example. If you go to his Wiki page there is a perfectly normal picture of him. He also graduated from Brown which obviously is a premiere Ivy League school, he probably is an academic. It simply looks like he got a haircut, outside aging rock stars I don't know anyone near 40 with long hair. He is also married for many years now, what I see is a guy entering the middle ages of life.

[garrett]

That's not a good example.

Kelly McGillis just got old and didn't age well.

Ike is not even 40 yet, and voluntarily changed his look. I'm just trying to figure out why.

You took a pretty unflattering picture of him to make an example. If you go to his Wiki page there is a perfectly normal picture of him. He also graduated from Brown which obviously is a premiere Ivy League school, he probably is an academic. It simply looks like he got a haircut, outside aging rock stars I don't know anyone near 40 with long hair. He is also married for many years now, what I see is a guy entering the middle ages of life.

Brown University is known to be the Easiest Ivy League U. to get into..

If I ever had kids I'd probably make sure she went to Brown University or better..

[Dan Druff]

That's not a good example.

Kelly McGillis just got old and didn't age well.

Ike is not even 40 yet, and voluntarily changed his look. I'm just trying to figure out why.

You took a pretty unflattering picture of him to make an example. If you go to his Wiki page there is a perfectly normal picture of him. He also graduated from Brown which obviously is a premiere Ivy League school, he probably is an academic. It simply looks like he got a haircut, outside aging rock stars I don't know anyone near 40 with long hair. He is also married for many years now, what I see is a guy entering the middle ages of life.

No that 2025 pic is really how he looks these days. I saw him in person last year.

He changed the look a long time ago, far before approaching 40.

[garrett]

Cornell is probably a bit better then Brown University and poker wise New York City

I played on the Upper East Side alot probably with some of these kids, Upper East Side

(I knew they had money...)

[desertrunner]

I dont know Ike Haxton or his history. But am guessing he get tired of the hippy look and the extra high maintenance of long hair. Also, I think most women over the last 10-15 years prefer the clean cut responsible type over the unemployed, no money slacker look. If you want to bag high or semi high quality, you need to look responsible and employed.

Maybe he should dump the glasses and hit the gym to add more self improvement.

Add- My whole life, I’ve never approved of long hair on men. Long hair on men is supply looking like a woman and too feminine to me. This includes all men, even the big hair rockers, just never liked it.

[garrett]

I do not think he is that good because he wins huge high rollers with tiny fields...

[sonatine]

he was 21 and it was 2007.


hes probably been writing javascript for the last decade.

[desertrunner]

And take that face mask off, you look stupid, they don’t work against Covid.

[tgull]

And take that face mask off, you look stupid, they don’t work against Covid.

They never did work. Nobody ever explained to me why the virus avoided getting into your system through your ears or eyes. I think just about everyone got the virus and simply showed no symptoms. LOL at Chicago keeping their downtown schools closed for 2 years. See how that works out for you over the next decade, some of those kids are boderline retards now.

[BetCheckBet]

It's nearly twenty years later.... He cut his hair and chose to grow up.

Also lets be honest. This is being posted because right wing poker social media is attacking Ike for wearing a mask. Not because it makes him hard to play against but they see it as some fucked up support for the riots in LA. No I'm not kidding.

[TheXFactor]

[Dan Druff]

Bonomo's transformation isn't that extreme, aside from the pink hair and the natural aging.

The main difference in Bonomo is that he suddenly decided to become a caricature of woke political activism (much worse than Haxton), to the point where many Democrats in poker hated on him because he was embarrassing their own side.

[Dan Druff]

It's nearly twenty years later.... He cut his hair and chose to grow up.

Also lets be honest. This is being posted because right wing poker social media is attacking Ike for wearing a mask. Not because it makes him hard to play against but they see it as some fucked up support for the riots in LA. No I'm not kidding.

I already went back and forth with Haxton on Twitter regarding the mask, awhile back. I even did a segment on my show about it.

I don't believe he's doing it on purpose to gain an edge, but it still gives him that edge whether he's trying to gain it or not. Similarly, let's say I wore a ski mask while playing, because the Paris WSOP room is cold (an actual complaint being posted a lot this year!) Even if my only purpose of the mask was to keep my face warm, it still wouldn't be fair to everyone else, due to the advantage it would give me.

Haxton did verify in an interview that he doesn't have any kind of unusual medical condition which necessitates the mask, nor does anyone at his home. He simply believes COVID is far more dangerous long term than people realize, and he's wearing the mask to protect himself. He's also admitted that some of it is a political statement (he's trying to "normalize" mask wearing), thus his refusal to take it off during winners photos.

I feel he should be forced to remove it for these events, but it's not a huge issue to me, so I don't really talk about it anymore. The discussion came up again, as you said, because some on X are attacking him again for the mask. I wasn't going to join in, but then it came to mind how different he once looked, and I was pretty amazed when I went back and pulled up the old picture.

[Dan Druff]

Also, garrett, don't spam these threads. I don't know what's been wrong recently, but perhaps you should step back from PFA for a bit. You seem very angry at a lot of posters here, and not just the usuals such as sonatine.

I deleted most of your posts and removed you from the thread.