It is always tragic when someone passes away, especially at a young age. It is also tragic when they have a connection to the very game that you have covered. Thus, it is with great sadness that Poker News Daily must report on the passing of a friend of the game of poker, a legend in the sport of cricket, Australia’s Shane Warne, who succumbed to a heart attack on Friday. He was 52 years old.
Sudden Passing in Thailand
Warne was apparently in Thailand on Friday when he passed away. “It is with great sadness we advise that Shane Keith Warne passed away of a suspected heart attack in Koh Samui, Thailand today (Friday),” a memo from Warne’s management company, MPC Entertainment, simply stated. “Shane was found unresponsive in his Villa and despite the best efforts of medical staff, he could not be revived. The family requests privacy at this time and will provide further details in due course.”
Tributes poured in from around the world, some noting his exploits on the cricket ground while others noted his enjoyment of life and all involved with it. He was one of the most dominate players in cricket from his first entry into the game in 1992. In fact, only he and Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan have more than 700 “tests” in the history of the game (Muralitharan is tops with 800, while Warne racked up 708 in his career).
Warne was one of the most dominant bowlers (for U. S. readers, think of the pitcher in baseball) ever for Australia, leading the national team as vice-captain in several international tests. Warne helped the Australian team win the 1999 World Cup, in particular because of Warne’s performance against South Africa in which he dominated their best batsmen Herschelle Gibbs, Gary Kirsten, Hansie Cronje and Jacques Kallis. When he retired in 2007, Warne was respected as one of the greatest to ever step on the cricket grounds.
History of Promoting Poker
Warne, as he was reaching the twilight of his career, began to shift his competitive skills into the world of poker. He was one of the first sportsmen to step to the green baize as a sponsored player with 888Poker. It wasn’t a frivolous pursuit by Warne; it was one that he approached just as seriously as his days as a cricketeer. From 2008 to 2015, Warne was a member of the Team 888Poker roster.
Warne’s performance in the poker arena was particularly felt in Australia, where he was a popular player during the run of its biggest events. Whatever the event was in Australia, Warne would get in the ring with the best of the pros and amateurs who took their shot. His first major cash in an event was at the Victorian Poker Championship in 2010, with his third-place finish in a $10,000 (Australian) tournament earning him a $40,000 (Australian) payday.
Warne would also make an impact on the World Series of Poker stage. During the play of the last time the WSOP Asia/Pacific was run in 2014, Warne made it to 22nd place of the 329-player field for a cash of $23,441 (Australian) for the first of two WSOP cashes. On the World Poker Tour circuit, Warne would also earn two cashes, one in 2019 during the WPT Australia and the other during the WPT DeepStacks Gold Coast in 2021. All totaled, Warne would pick up 18 cashes in his poker career for a total of $161,325 in career earnings.
Poker News Daily would like to extend their condolences to the family and friends of Shane Warne, a sportsman for all time.
