Bobby Baldwin was born in 1950 in Tulsa, Oklahoma USA, and is a professional poker player and casino executive, best known for winning four Golden bracelets in the World Series Of Poker, including the 1978 World Series of Poker Main Event – the youngest champion at the time.
So just how wealthy is Bobby Baldwin? Sources state that Baldwin has collected a net worth of over $15 million, as of early 2014, earned through poker and his career as a casino executive, which began in the early 1979s.
Bobby Baldwin Net Worth $15 million
Baldwin was raised in an upper-middle class family in Tulsa, and attended Oklahoma State University. He first became interested in poker during his teenage years, and played occasionally during high school. His commitment to poker became more serious while attending college, when he and several friends gathered a few thousand dollars together and headed to Las Vegas, where they would quickly lose it. However, Baldwin managed to get a $500 credit from the casino and eventually earned around $180,000. Upon his return to campus, he invested it in sports betting.
In 1977 Baldwin won his first two bracelets at the World Series of Poker, firstly the $10,000 Deuce to Seven Draw event and an $80,000 prize, and then the $5,000 Seven Card Stud event, earning an additional $44,000 in prize money, which greatly contributed to his net worth. The following year he won the World Series of Poker Main Event, earning his third bracelet and the $210,000 prize, becoming the youngest winner at aged 28. His wealth was boosted, and he became a famous figure in the world of poker. A year later, Baldwin won his fourth bracelet at the $10,000 Draw and a $90,000 prize, additionally improving his net worth.
Winning four WSOP bracelets in three consecutive years has only been accomplished by a few people over the course of WSOP history, enabling Baldwin to establish himself as one of the best poker players ever, and to amass a considerable fortune. However, rather than continuing in this direction, he instead became interested in gambling business management, becoming a consultant for the Golden Nugget casino in 1982, and two years later, he was appointed the Company’s President. In 1987 Baldwin was hired as the head of The Mirage casino, and a decade later he became the president of the Bellagio hotel and casino. All contributed to his net worth.
Working his way up the corporate ladder, Baldwin became the Chief Financial Officer of Mirage Resorts in 1999, and the following year when Mirage Resorts merged with MGM Grand, he became the CEO of the Mirage Resorts subsidiary of MGM Mirage, additionally increasing his fortune. When MGM Mirage bought Mandalay Resort Group in 2005, Baldwin was named CEO and President of Project City Center, and remaining the CEO of the MGM/Mirage Resorts. He has since been involved in the development of various other connected resorts. As for poker, he still plays it occasionally, but only in major tournaments, but has also written a book about poker entitled “Tales Out of Tulsa”, plus numerous columns and a portion of Doyle Brunson’s book “Super/System”.
In addition to being a successful poker player and casino executive, Baldwin is also a noted billiards player, and off-road racer.
Baldwin’s impeccable poker skills have enabled him to achieve great popularity and to earn various honors, such as being included in the Poker Hall of Fame and having a poker room in the Bellagio Casino named ‘Bobby’s Room’. They have also earned him good money. His total live tournament winnings since 2012 are estimated at around $2,300,000, and his 20 cashes at the WSOP account for $2,100,311 of those winnings.
In his personal life, Baldwin has been married twice, briefly in the ’70s to a woman unknown to sources, and as of 2012 to Audra Hendley; the couple resides in the Southern Highland, Nevada.
