Stepson of Barry Greenstein, Joe Sebok is the CEO and President of PokerRoad, a multimedia conglomerate that includes industry-leading podcasts, video blogs with some of the game’s best like 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event November Nine member Phil Ivey, and a mammoth collection of Twitter feeds called PokerRoad Nation. Sebok is one of the most recognizable faces in all of poker and serves as a member of Team Ultimate Bet, joining the likes of Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth.
Having a stepfather who is one of the most decorated players in the game gives Sebok a leg up on the competition. In an interview with Poker News Daily, Sebok explained, “We’ll chat about things before events. He’s teaching me more than he was before.” Greenstein is a three-time WSOP bracelet winner and was a nominee for the Poker Hall of Fame in 2009. His charitable work away from the felts has earned him the nickname “The Robin Hood of Poker.” With Greenstein being dubbed “Bear,” Sebok has appropriately earned the moniker “Cub.”
PokerRoad launched a Wednesday night television show on Fox Sports Net in November of 2009 called “Poker 2Night,” which is sponsored by Ultimate Bet and covers the hot topics for the week in the game. Besides Sebok, other PokerRoad personalities include Joe Stapleton, Gavin Smith, and Court Harrington.
Ultimate Bet Signing
In September of 2009, Sebok signed on to become the Media and Operations Consultant for Ultimate Bet. The announcement, which followed the release of screen names associated with the cheating scandal that rocked that online poker site, seemed to add credibility back to the brand. Sebok told Poker News Daily, “I requested a business role within UB, as I wanted to make sure I could also be involved in the operations and help guide the path a little.” The deal took four months to finalize and the Kahnawake Gaming Commission continued to finger Russ Hamilton, a former WSOP Main Event winner, for masterminding the scandal.
World Poker Tour
Sebok has bubbled a pair of final tables on the World Poker Tour (WPT). He took seventh in the Bay 101 Shooting Star event in Season V for $130,000 and also grabbed seventh in the Legends of Poker the following season for another $114,000. Sebok owns nearly $600,000 in lifetime WPT earnings, as he’s had to scale back his involvement with the roving tour due to his plethora of duties with PokerRoad.
2009 WSOP Main Event
Sebok burst onto the WSOP scene in 2005, final tabling two events for a combined payday of $109,000. Four years later, Sebok made a deep run in the $10,000 buy-in feature tournament, finishing 56th for $108,000. He outlasted 99% of the 6,494 combatants and took to the stage of the Penn and Teller Theater at the Rio in Las Vegas to watch the Main Event final table unfold in November.
Prop Bets
Sebok and Gavin Smith have faced off in numerous prop bets, including one during the 2006 WSOP in which Sebok turned out in a diaper. He has also dressed up as a variety of superheroes and co-hosted “Prop Bets” with Smith, an online series.