Nancy Todd Tyner: Not Your Average Poker Player

In the 15 years that I have been writing for Card Player, I have conducted many interviews, but never have been as fascinated with anyone's life outside of poker as much as I am with the subject of this column, Nancy Todd Tyner. In fact, there is so much to write about that her story will have to be divided into two columns.



Tyner recently captured the World Poker Tour Ladies Championship at Bellagio, besting a field of 132 players. I had the pleasure of announcing the final table and enjoyed watching the grueling heads-up match between Tyner and Vanessa Selbst. Congratulations, Nancy, for coming out on top!



Tyner, born in Germany, currently lives in Las Vegas with her husband and 5-year-old twins. She lost her oldest son, Hayden, to cancer nearly three years ago, when he was 14. Her father was a United States Air Force fighter pilot. Her parents divorced when she was a teenager, forcing her mother back into the workforce. Nancy says that went a long way to making her as determined and as independent as she is today.



Linda Johnson: On your WPT bio, you listed your current occupation as working in international politics. What does that entail?



Nancy Todd Tyner: I consult with foreign governments on a variety of issues. I've been working primarily with gaming-related issues since I ran the successful campaign to legalize casinos in Mississippi in l992. My most recent international project started two months ago when the Republic of China hired me to analyze and adapt gaming laws to accommodate the growth of casinos and gaming. On the non-gaming side, I currently am working with the South Korean government to legitimize NASCAR there, along with a few other varied interests within the country.



I work with other advocacy groups, including serving as chairman of the Advisory Board of Poker Voters of America. The group uses traditional political campaign tools to push for legalization of online poker on a state-by-state basis in a way that conforms to federal law. Poker Voters' first major project is sponsorship of the California Intrastate Online Poker Legalization Study Act, now being considered by the California Legislature.



LJ: I hear that you are also very politically active in the United States. Please tell us about that.



NTT: Since 1979, I've run l96 political campaigns in 42 states and six countries. I served as president of the American Association of Political Consultants a few years ago, and then as chairman of that group, and I'm the incoming president of the International Association of Political Consultants, a real first for women in both roles. In March 2009, I will be the first woman inducted into the American Association of Political Consultants Hall of Fame, which is a real honor, indeed.



LJ: That is so impressive. How would you describe yourself both physically and emotionally?



NTT: I'm a self-proclaimed health nut who doesn't really get interested in anything until the pressure gets turned up. Thirty years in politics has pretty much eliminated the shock factor from just about every situation the poker table can deal to me, and after all the curveballs I've hit in my life, I'm pretty hard to bother and impossible to scare.



LJ: Why and when did you start playing poker?



NTT: I had never seen Texas hold'em until the World Poker Tour started. My oldest son, Hayden, was 12 at the time, and he, my husband, Don, and I would play poker at the kitchen table. Hayden was a whiz at the math of the game, but I could read the players better than he. He used to talk about playing in the World Series as a mother/son team. After I lost him to cancer in late 2005, I began to show up at the tables simply to keep from going crazy. I found that poker kept me from concentrating on anything else, and was great therapy at the time.



LJ: What makes you such a good poker player?



NTT: I have a very strategic mind; it's simply how I think. It also is how I've made my living for 30 years, and it's how I've earned the highest win record in the world in my profession as a political consultant. I always have been a very good student, and if I hadn't been drawn to a career that kept me on the road for 30 years, I probably would still be in school, studying everything I could learn. So, now I am a student of poker. I enjoy the thought process behind it and find that studying and applying what I learn is as much fun as playing the game.



LJ: Do you prefer ladies events or open events?



NTT: I prefer open events. Women are much harder to read and much less predictable than men.



LJ: How would you describe your playing style?



NTT: Careful and deliberate. Poker mirrors my two theories in life: First, play the hand you are dealt, and second, pick your battles very, very carefully. The poker table is an extension of how I live my life: don't waste effort, maximize your talents, and don't look behind you – look only ahead.



LJ: What is your top poker accomplishment to date?



NTT: My biggest poker accomplishment was to learn how to fold. I've never folded in life, and I never folded in a campaign, so that skill did not come easily for me.



LJ: What would most people be surprised to know about you?



NTT: I am far more competitive than people first assess me to be. For the people who now know me only through poker, I am extremely successful at my day job, which means that poker isn't my livelihood. I'm not your average WPT tournament winner; I haven't been playing for 20 years, and poker isn't my primary focus in my professional or personal life. It's fun and important to me, but it's not my whole life. If poker ended for me tomorrow, my career as an international political strategist would continue.



In my next column, Nancy will discuss how she won the WPT Ladies Championship, as well as inform us of some new projects that she has undertaken.

Now, let's play poker.



Linda is available to host seminars, tournaments, corporate nights, and other poker-related events. You can contact her through her website at www.cardplayercruises.com.