Our #WeeklyHero @Jack McClelland is a man who has seen it all in his 37 years in poker and who has helped shape the industry as we know it. He talked to @Nicolas Levi about the 'perfect storm', the rise of televised poker and the 'lottery mentality', and the subsequent down cycle.
Stay tuned for Part II of the interview with Jack McClelland and his thoughts on poker as the casinos' 'doorstep child', on the importance of personal service in poker, and his own top 3 professional priorities!
After a huge poker boom, the industry is now contracting, and some are seriously worried as to its future. Professional poker is suffering, while amateur poker seems as strong as ever. Could poker as we know be about to die? How is the industry going to adapt?
Well, in a way, we had the perfect storm. The Internet came along and suddenly people could play at home and learn poker - for free or for a small amount of money. Because if you just go to a casino, poker is a very intimidating game.
Television and the 'lottery mentality'
Before 1998, when I used to run the World Series, it would take months before the ESPN had it on TV, And you never knew when it would be on, it might be a one-hour show at 3 am, or 4 pm, you had to be a really dedicated poker person to find it.
I was fortunate enough to do the first major televised live tournament in the Isle of Man. You could simply feel the electricity hundreds of yards away. A few months later, I was in Vienna, and I did a televised heads-up tournament where two teenage guys from Finland had these little lipstick cameras and four nights later it’s on TV in the United States! And I’m thinking, why did it take ESPN nine months?!!..
So I could see the potential. About that time I went to work for the Bellagio and the World Poker Tour came along with the idea to do this tour where they would show the hole cards, And my partner @Douglas Dalton asked me what I thought, and I said it would work. Because I’d seen the Isle of Man, I’d seen Vienna, I’d seen the excitement it creates.
So we got the OK from @Bobby Baldwin to run the World Poker Tour and I called my friends, Doug called his friends, and next thing, they got the whole tour going. And then a year later, when they did TV, it just exploded.
A little bit later, @Chris Moneymaker won $2.5 million on 40 dollars, and you got the lottery mentality in there, 'Wow, with 40 dollars I can win millions!'
That’s what the people want. They can sit in England, or Canada, or France, or Florida, and for 20-40-100 dollars, they can win a seat to the World Series, win a seat to the Bellagio, or anywhere else. And that was what was really enticing about the whole situation.
The Down Cycle
Then, in the United States, when the government got involved, and with Black Friday a little later, it really, really hurt. You know, I’ve been in the business for 5 decades. There are not many tricks to tournament poker that I don’t know and I was at the end of my wits at the Bellagio.
We used to be inundated with Europeans, we used to have a huge Asian following at the tournaments, and it all just disappeared. Asian players would go to Hong Kong and the Europeans would stay home and play in the EPT because of the PokerStars. And I don’t blame them. When I go to Poland, I visit the different sites and PokerStars have all the action. Like Jack Binion used to say, ‘action begets action’. So that’s where people go.
If I was European and I had to come to the United States to pay 30% tax and maybe not get it back, when I could stay home and play big events where I could win a quarter of a million or half a million, why would I come?...
So I don’t blame the players, it’s not the players’ fault at all. Basically, we had non-gaming people get involved and that’s what really did the damage.
When we had the Internet really going, with all the sponsorship deals and so on, there was a lot of loose money around. Once the Internet more or less went away, the loose money went away with it. And then there was the slowdown of the economy, People that had money remained cautious with it. It used to be, if you had $100,000 and you blew it, it was not a big deal, you’d get it back in a month or two. Now, it’s simply not there. Now you go back and start grinding, trying to make a living. It’s just very difficult. I mean, on the operators’ side it’s difficult and on the players’ side it’s 20 times harder.
We were on a run for about five years, when it was just up-up-up all the time. And now we’re in a down cycle. Hopefully, there will be an up-cycle again.
A Completely Different Ball Game
Before 1985, which is when they opened up stud and hold’em poker in California, the average age of the players was probably about 60. The older people were playing and young people were looking for something else. Over the next decade, it dropped to 40 then as we got closer to 2000, it went back up to 50. But then the World Poker Tour came along, and ESPN got connected to the World Series, and they started showing Poker After Dark, and all the other television shows. The next year at the World Series, all of a sudden, the average age was around 23 years! It just made a completely different dynamic.
I’m 63 years old and I started palying when I was 6. But the way you learned was by playing. You play, you go broke, you learn, start over again, go broke again... Nowadays, by the time they’re 18-19 years old, kids have played 3 million hands, and they’ve got the computer to anayze what they should have done in this or that situation. It’s a completely different ball game.
Part II is up! Read on:
2014 Poker Hall of Famer Jack McClelland Bio and Poker Profile - Ranking Herowww.rankinghero.com
#RKHinterview
Eva Dimitrova 10 Mar 2015
I love the articles you post Annie, they are really keeping me up to date!
2014 Poker Hall of Famer Jack McClelland Bio and Poker Profile
"Poker players are intense. Poker's not life or death to them; it's much more important than that."
@Jack McClelland was born in 1952 in McConnelsville, Ohio and moved to Las Vegas in 1976 as the drier Nevada climate was recommended for his mother’s health.
His grandmother taught him poker when he was 6 and he has loved the game ever since, but Jack found his true calling on the other side of the poker tables. As a teenager, he was already organizing poker tournaments for the neighborhood kids.
My grandmother taught me how to play, starting with two-cent ante, nickel-limit seven-card stud. I was kept broke until I was ten years old because I couldn’t throw a hand away (laughs). But I learned a lot about math playing poker. (Cardplayer interview, 2013)
At the time of the family move to Nevada, Jack was a semi-professional bowler. In Las Vegas he got a job at Sahara Casino and was soon working as a dealer, moving up to shift manager within 18 months.
"I did everything. Set-ups, emptying ashtrays, learning to deal... A year later, I was shift manager." (PokerNews)
The casino closed in 1980 and for a while McClelland was active as a player on the live circuit, collecting first-hand experience, observations and (mostly) complaints about the way tournaments were run at the time. His late wife @Alma McClelland (herself a poker player and winner of the 1989 WSOP Ladies Event) at one point exclaimed, “If you’re such a genius, why don’t you run them yourself!”.
And that’s what he ended up doing! He started running shifts at WSOP, rapidly working his way up and running tournaments in the WSOP for 15 years. McClelland is also largely credited for bringing tournament poker to the @Commerce Casino and has directed tournaments all over the world, including Isle of Man, Austria, Cyprus, and Russia.
Because of his late wife Alma’s illness he had withdrawn from the poker scene for some years and had to start all over again in the new millenium. Both in poker and in his personal life, with a second marriage. Jack has often said it was his Polish wife Elizabeth’s passion for travel that got him back on the live circuit as a tournament director.
In 2002 he started as TD at the @Bellagio and it was to remain his home base right up to his retirement in 2013, for health reasons.
Jack McClelland was involved in the creation of the @World Poker Tour in 2002, with the then innovative idea of televised tournaments with hole cards. He has been a major figure in the poker industry ever since and through the years of the poker boom, the recession, and the slow recovery since Black Friday 2011.
I’m pretty proud that over 37 years in gaming I’ve never had a gaming violation or employee complaints. If I’ve improved the game of poker any at all over the years by rules or things I’ve done, then I feel like I’ve had a successful career.
In 2014 the poker community wholeheartedly welcomed McClelland's induction into the Poker Hall of Fame alongside @Daniel Negreanu.
Jack McClelland, 63, has seen poker from all sides and from its highest high to its lowest low. A one-time semi-professional bowler who moved out to Las Vegas to help his ailing mother, McClelland ended up with one of the most storied poker operations careers spanning five decades. McClelland has worked with three existing Poker Hall of Famers, Eric Drache, Jack Binion and Bobby Baldwin and was involved at the Bellagio when Mike Sexton and the WPT brought their first tournament there. From tournament directing the WSOP in the 80’s to running the Bellagio poker room from 2002 to 2013, McClelland has been part of a lot of poker history, and has done so from the operator side, starting as an $18 a day dealer and working his way up to running the biggest events and biggest rooms in Las Vegas. McClelland also played a little poker, but only for a brief stint full time. He has worked poker events in Aruba, Cyprus, London, Vienna and Russia. McClelland retired at the end of last year.
(POKER HALL OF FAME ANNOUNCES CLASS OF 2014, WSOP.com)
“Being inducted into the Class of 2014 Poker Hall of Fame is a very exciting prospect and I am sure it will be a very humbling experience. I thank everyone involved in this process and to the WSOP, WPT and all of the great people I have met and the wonderful people I have worked with throughout the years. Thank you for bestowing this honor upon me. I am very grateful.”
As Ty Stewart put it when congratulating the 47th and 48th HOF inductees, Negreanu and McClelland, “both have devoted their full hearts to the game”.
Jack McClelland is in need of a heart transplant and in his own words (from a moving letter to his friend Nolan Dala), has ‘taken a gamble on his life’, declining a heart battery while waiting for a transplant.
Gambling has been my life. Hopefully I made the right decision this time.
We hope so too and look forward to seeing Jack compete again and enjoy many good runs without the burden of actually running the games :)
For a complete listing of Jack McClelland's tournament poker results:
Jack McClelland - Poker index and results of Jack McClellandwww.rankinghero.com
Jack McClelland - A Man With Heart - Nolan Dallawww.nolandalla.com
#RKHbio
Stay tuned for @Nicolas Levi's interview with our #WeeklyHero Jack McClelland!
5 Ideas for Your Daily Break from the Online Poker Grind
Fast cars, fun NLHE alternatives, strategy, interviews & more in our Poker Bits&Picks this week. Here are five ideas and good reads for a break from the online grind while never leaving the world of poker:
1. If actually going for a ride is too much of a physical exertion, read about life in the fast lane of poker
PokerStrategy proposes a list of famous poker players and their cars, featuring @Phil Ivey @Sam Trickett (who recently crashed his £275k Ferrari 458), @Patrik Antonius, and many others. Notably missing is @Mike McDonald's yellow Lamborghini, which he himself has referred to as 'one of the least responsible financial decisions' he’s made.
Find out how the #lambopiss2013 hashtag was born in the PokerNews interview with @Mike Watson who explains why he peed on Mike's Lambo :)
News: Famous poker players and their carswww.pokerstrategy.com
2. Try something (not completely) different
All you need is another gambler with a basic knowledge of poker hand rankings! From 'Estonian Twist', through 'Crazy Dutchy', to 'Slovak Double Barrel' - check out these five fun games:
5 Awesome Poker Games That Take 5 Mins (or Less) to Play - Poker Blogwww.pokerlistings.com
3. Make time for the study session you've been putting off
Here's a PokerNews article that will get you thinking about the difference between bluffing with no hand and bluffing with no equity. Author Nate Meyvis draws five valuable lessons from a heads-up hand between @Jack Salter and the EPT10 Monte Carlo Main Event champion @Antonio Buonanno. Number 5 will NOT suprise you :)
Thinking Poker: One Heads-Up Hand, Five Valuable Lessonswww.pokernews.com
4. Replenish your own passion by reading about your poker heroes and their love for the game
You will find some great sources of inspiration scrolling down the RKHbio and the RKHinterview page, with interviews by @Pedro Canali and @Nicolas Levi with @Greg Raymer @Antonio Esfandiari @Marc-Andre Ladouceur and many others!
You will also find links to great interviews on the pages of @Robbie Strazynski and @Lee Davy (Ari Engel: An Unorthodox Orthodox Life).
5. Catch up with your social media feeds, baby
Be generous and make your following&followers happy with some likes, retweets, and favorites. You are welcome to start with Yours Truly and your friends on RankingHero :) Or, you may choose to support @Thuan B. "Scotty" Nguyen's debut on Instagram:
Scotty Nguyen...baby! (@scottynguyenbaby) ⢠Instagram photos and videosinstagram.com
Hope to hear from you with more ideas about things to do and read in-between two SNGs :)
The news was released just 10 days after the announcement of the first WSOP event to be held in Italy at the @Casinó Campione d'Italia by Lake Lugano. As well as the Morocco stop and the Italian event, the WSOP has also established an agreement with the Jubilee Casino in Monterrey, Mexico.
World Series of Poker Goes Out to the World
SuitedAce on Rankinghero SuitedAce on Rankinghero Morocco, Italy and Mexico will be the first international stops for WSOP Circuit events. The World Series of Poker (WSOP) has announced that it is extending its Circuit events internationally. The...
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Weekly RankingHero Highlights
Congratulations to our winner of the week, @Marius Pospiech, who won the @Spielbank Hohensyburg Winter Masters!
BGpoker hero and EPT Deauville Main Event champion @Ognyan Dimov took down a tournament in the 2015 WPT National Montenegro and now tops the BG earnings ranking for the last 12 months!
The RankingHero community was happy and proud to see two members reach 2nd and 3rd place in WPT National Brussels Main Event. GG @Yehoram Houri and @Erwann Pecheux!
Well-done @Kelly Saxby and @Eleanor Gudger, who both cashed in the $170 NLHE UKPC Mini Event at 2015 SkyPoker UK Poker Championship, @Dusk Till Dawn!
The British Poker Awards ceremony took place on Monday, Feb. 23rd, and RankingHero was there to welcome everyone with a drink to toast the future of the poker industry :)
Sample the writing of the Best Blogger nominees, find out more about the big winner of the night - @Victoria Coren Mitchell, and see the full winners list:
'Expected. Deserved. Universally Revered': Victoria Coren Mitchell Is the Big Winner in British Poker Awards - Ranking Herowww.rankinghero.com
Check out the new addition to the RKHbio collection: @Samantha Abernathy, who in 2014 scored more ITMs, FTs, and 1st places than any other woman on the poker planet!
Samantha Abernathy Bio and Poker Profile - Ranking Herowww.rankinghero.com
Join the newest PokerStars Team Pro, @Jason Somerville in his 70-day Twitch challenge, due to kick off today, March 1st!
Newest PokerStars Team Pro Jason Somerville Starts 70-Day Online Poker Stream Marathon - Ranking Herowww.rankinghero.com
Some great stuff going on right now 'next door', in the French-speaking part of RankingHero:
Visit @Rémi Rkh's page for an interview with @Moundir Zoughari!
Moundir : “ Ce sont les joueurs amateurs qui font vivre le poker “ - Ranking Herowww.rankinghero.com
@Elena RKH has posted and update about the ongoing contest to win a @Barriere Poker Tour buy-in to the BPT Deepstack Bordeaux! GL to the current leaders @Enzo Verdy @Cyril Pigeard and @Yann Roudaut !
Don't forget to check out the MoreThanMoney page where we've been sharing why we love poker, what skills we would most like to possess and whom we admire as our 'ordinary' and 'extraordinary' real-life and poker heroes! Congrats to winner of the week @TomBishop :)
Rank the heroes: Résultats ! - Ranking Herowww.rankinghero.com
Finally, join the fun and hunt down the participating RKH members to win the bounties on their heads in the Winter Is Leaving Championship on @Campok every Tuesday! Congrats to the first week's winner, @Nelo vieira(misternelo)!
RKH launches its “Winter Is Leaving” Championship on Campok tomorrow! - Ranking Herowww.rankinghero.com
GL on and off the tables, everyone!
Yours truly,
Newest PokerStars Team Pro Jason Somerville Starts 70-Day Online Poker Stream Marathon
After all the sad goodbyes and terminated (or not renewed) contracts with popular pros, the poker community welcomed the news from @PokerStars about the signing of @Jason Somerville as its newest Team Pro.
@Daniel Negreanu speaks for many in the world of poker in his latest blog dedicated to Jason:
What the Jason Somerville signing proves, is that hard work promoting poker does pay off. I realize it's not for everyone, but Jason has spent countless hours providing free content with the hopes one day that it could turn into something of a career. It has, and I'm proud of him.
The Run It Up founder and former Ultimate Poker ambassador comes on board 'humble and hungry' for new exploits in an area where he has been a tireless pioneer in the past few years and which he feels holds the key to the next poker boom - live streaming.
"Honestly, my entire being just wants to stream."
Flushdraw interview, Jan 31st
I want to become the best broadcaster I can be, there is still so much room left for me to grow and improve, both personally and with the show. We are just beginning to see Twitch poker grow, and the fact I can have a role in building that tent is something that I take very seriously. That’s my goal this year.
If you are twitching to see him in action, you won't have to wait long - starting tomorrow, March 1, Somerville will be playing on PokerStars for about 4 hours every day for 70 days in a row, all while streaming on Twitch under the screen name "'jcarverpoker".
PokerStarswww.twitch.tv
I think it's very interesting to combine the power of what I'm doing--the innovative platform on Twitch--with the power of PokerStars to create this amazing recipe of awesomeness that I just can't wait to explore and develop together.
Interview by Brad Willis, PokerStarsBlog
EPTlive fans are sure to rejoice at the news and the prospect of more appearances by Jason in the EPT commentary booth. The PCA stream with the knowledgeable and engaging commentary by Jason alongside all-time favorites @Joe Stapleton and @James Hartigan was a phenomenal success.
Flushdraw talks to Jason Somervillewww.flushdraw.net
Jason Somerville: How Live Streaming Could Help Spark Another Poker Boomwww.pokernews.com
"It is important to me that I am usually playing my best poker. I basically am making the same decisions that I would make playing in a $100K in a $10 buy-in tournament on stream."
Are YOU on Twitch yet? Let us know what you think and if you follow jcarverpoker 
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Annie RKH 28 Feb 2015
Samantha Abernathy Bio and Poker Profile
She’s got the looks of a Royal Flush Girl and the poker tournament record of a world champion. The 23-year-old graphic designer & photographer made her official debut in poker rankings last year and finished 2014 on the very top, scoring more in-the-money finishes, final tables, and 1st places than any other woman on the planet! In February 2015 @Samantha Abernathy won her biggest cash to date and almost doubled her career earnings.
About Samantha
@Samantha Abernathy was born on May 11, 1991 in Atlanta, Georgia.
She studied Design at Savannah College of Art and Design.
She later lived in Chicago where she worked as a freelance graphic designer, photographer, and illustrator.
In 2014, Samantha moved to Las Vegas.
Discover her portfolio here (note the poker-chip inspired kitchen measurements infographic :)
Poker
Samantha Abernathy’s first cash on record is dated January 3, 2014, when she finished 129th and won $1,600 in a $160 buy-in tournament at the @Bicycle Casino.
Less than 3 months later, she scored her first 1st place for $690.
By then Samantha was playing regularly at @Caesars Palace and had an amazing series of 6 consecutive wins in April alone.
 |  |
The 'belissima & bravissima' Samantha drew the attention of Italian media as the protege of @Flaminio Malaguti, Vegas based Italian businessman and poker player, and a world poker record holder himself.
"This year I'd like to begin my focus with the daily DeepStacks just as Flaminio did last year when he won the DeepStack player of the year and the seat to the main event. I saw the interview you did with him after the trophy ceremony on youtube and it inspired me to strive for the same achievement," (Gioconews interview, May 27 2014)
Samantha with her poker mentor, after they finished first and second in a @Caesars Palace event.
On June 1, 2014 Samantha Abernathy played her first ever WSOP bracelet event. And though she did not score, this summer she added 6 ITM finishes in the @Rio WSOP Deepstacks to her resume.
By the end of 2014, Samantha Abernathy had $36,220 in total earnings from 39 ITM finishes, of which 28 final tables and 14 first places!
She thus finished the year as the top player in the United States 2014 ranking by 1st places,
Samantha also topped the worldwide women's rankings for 2014 by ITM, by final tables, and 1st places!
2015 promises even greater things. With her $25,000 cash as the runner-up in Event 35, Deepstack Extravaganza @The Venetian Las Vegas, Samantha Abernathy is moving up to the major league of poker and we wish her lots of continued success!
Player profile&stats: http://www.rankinghero.com/samantha.abernathy
Samantha Abernathy - Poker index and results of Samantha Abernathywww.rankinghero.com
Photos: https://instagram.com/samabernathyy/?modal=true
Samantha Abernathy (@samabernathyy) ⢠Instagram photos and videosinstagram.com
Meet the Man with Most Poker Tournament Wins in the World - Flaminio Malaguti - Ranking Herowww.rankinghero.com
#RKHbio
Raphael Clayette 6 Mar 2015
She has talent, for sure. Nice to see a woman perform like this.
'Expected. Deserved. Universally Revered': Victoria Coren Mitchell Is the Big Winner in British Poker Awards
The Poker God was a She last night at the #BritishPokerAwards. @Victoria Coren Mitchell won in three of the top categories: Best Social Media User, Performance of the Year, Poker Personality of the Year. Best Blogger nominee @Tony Kendall spoke for many in the poker world in this tweet:
Vicky Coren has called herself a 'strange mix between an old lady and a teenage boy'. We'll call that mix adorable, as confirmed by her 278,303 (mostly) adoring followers on Twitter. That staggering number itself begs the Best Social Media User award. And deservedly got it.
In 2006, she became the first woman to win an EPT event and eight years later topped that by becoming the first player - man or woman - in history with two EPT champion titles. With her win in EPT Sanremo, Vicky Coren Mitchell was also the natural choice for the Performance of the Year award. And deservedly got it.
But her poker year of 2014 had one more defining moment in store. Hours after the decision to offer casino games on PokerStars, Vicky Coren made a 'scary and sad decision' herself. She terminated what must be the most coveted sponsorship deal for a professional poker player - the ambassadorship for the single most powerful actor on the global poker scene - Amaya's PokerStars.
Once again, we couldn't agree more with Tony Kendall, who wrote in his January blog:
Meanwhile, Queen Victoria (Coren-Mitchell) exited PokerStars, but did you see her abdication statement? Typically Vicky, no brickbats were thrown and no digs were made. She was kind, polite and deferential. If she doesn’t win Poker Personality of the Year at the British Poker Awards, I’ll eat my poker hat.
You can keep your hat on, Mr Kendall! She got it :)
GOODBYE TEAM PRO, Victoria Coren Mitchell, November 2014
Victoria Coren in the Run for a Second EPT Title at Sanremo - Ranking Herowww.rankinghero.com
Champion of Poker Victoria Coren Mitchell Wins Favorite EPT Moment - Ranking Herowww.rankinghero.com
British Poker Awards Winner and 2014 Nominee Victoria Coren Mitchell on the Phil Ivey Case - Ranking Herowww.rankinghero.com
Full winners list:
Mustafa Ali 24 Feb 2015
Victoria Coren you are my Hero!!! Love you!!!
UK Poker Honors the Best of the Best: Here Are the British Poker Award Winners
Poker Personality of the Year, Best Social Media User, Performance of the Year:
Breakout Player of the Year, Best Live Tournament Player:
Best Online Player; Players' Player of the Year:
Best Live Card Room:
Best Pub Poker League:
Redtooth Poker
Best international Player:
Best UK Tournament:
WPT500 @Dusk Till Dawn
Best Training Site:
Run it Once
Best Blogger
Best Tournament Director:
Toby Stone
Best contribution to growing and promoting poker:
Congrats to all #BritishPokerAwards winners!
Elena RKH 24 Feb 2015
to all of them !!!
