Friendly Needle: Nurse Lexi Sterner Takes the Felt as WPT bestbet Bounty

Oct 12, 2019

Lexi Sterner_WPT bestbet Bounty Scramble_S18_Day 1B_Giron_8JG6213
By Sean Chaffin

A hospital isn’t the easiest place to play poker. But for Lexi Sterner (pictured), it substituted occasionally for a poker room. Her father Patrick Sterner was battling pancreatic cancer and they bet and bluffed as a way to take his mind off the day-to-day struggles that come with such a serious disease. At one time, he was in the hospital over a month undergoing various procedures.

Patrick needed some preoccupation. Pancreatic cancer is an aggressive form of the disease and the pain can be agonizing. Those stricken by this form of cancer can experience significant abdominal pain, weight loss, fatigue, jaundice, and unexplained weight loss. Treatments include surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation.

“They only gave him a five percent chance to live past five years, and now he’s almost 10 years cancer-free,” she says. “So we always say he hit the one-outer. That’s when I actually got into poker. I was 18 and we were at home. My uncle was teaching him and then I got really into it. I’ve been hooked ever since.”

Lexi Sterner

Patrick is also still playing, and Lexi is currently one of the bounties playing in the WPT bestbet Bounty Scramble on Day 1b. The experience with her father’s cancer battle not only improved their poker skills, but it also inspired Lexi to become a nurse almost four years ago. She works three 12-hour days each week, which offers plenty of time to get away and play cards. Her fellow coworkers have some interest in her life at the tables.

“It’s always really interesting,” she says. “They always have a lot of questions. Actually my friend Tony Miles, he’s from my regular poker room, final tabled the World Series of Poker Main Event. I was working the night shift and I had all my coworkers, who don’t understand poker, watching Tony play. They ask me a lot of questions. They get into it and definitely think it’s fun.”

A native of the Orlando area, Lexi played cards during college at the University of Central Florida. She now has more than $72,000 in live tournament winnings, with several scores at Florida casinos. She’s hoping to put together a big run this weekend – and of course, keep that bounty badge as long as possible.

“This by far my favorite place to play,” she says of bestbet. “It’s awesome to be a bounty. To be asked to do that was really cool because I’ve been playing for over 10 years. I don’t play many tournaments, I mainly play cash games. So even though I’ve been around for a while, it was cool to get that recognition and be asked.”

When not attending to her nursing duties or playing cards, Lexi enjoys working out, traveling, and spending time with family. Her life as a cardplayer not only paid dividends with her father, but also led to a situation that greatly benefitted her mother. Eric Steinbaugh, a dealer who now works at bestbet, donated a kidney to her.

“I met him about 10 years ago and we’ve been friends ever since,” she says. “He used to be a dealer in Orange City where I play. My mom needed a kidney transplant and I posted about it online. Eric reached out about getting tested, was a match, and donated a kidney to her in May.”

After so much time playing poker at home and in the hospital, how does Patrick feel about Lexi’s success in poker?

“He loves it,” she says. “He doesn’t play as much as I do, but he’s probably my biggest fan.”

Lexi’s poker life, nursing career, and her father’s battle with cancer all seemed to have come full circle the last few weeks.

“It’s been very surreal lately,” she says. “I got this bounty, which was an honor. Then this week was my first week as an operating room nurse and I coincidentally scrubbed into a kidney transplant with the surgeon who did my mom’s transplant, and then scrubbed in with the surgeon who saved my dad.”

“Even 10 years later, when he heard my last name, the surgeon asked me about my dad mid-surgery. So these past few months have been amazing.”

A WPT final table would only add to that even more.

Sean Chaffin is a freelance writer in Crandall, Texas, and his work appears in numerous websites and publications. Follow him on Twitter @PokerTraditions.

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