Jack McCLelland — Part One

As I’m sure you have heard, Jack McClelland will be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame this year, along with Daniel Negreanu. I know many younger players probably aren’t too familiar with Jack. A few, I’m sure, don’t even know who he is. This is mind-boggling to me. The man is truly a living legend.

Jack was the tournament director of the World Series of Poker for around 20 years and molded tournaments into what we know today. Jack was around before the Internet, before the Lipscomb camera, before tons of televised poker shows, and especially before smart ass tournament directors like Matt Savage (Jack has come to and played in my Montana tournament, Matt hasn’t!).

Speaking of Montana, I’m still up here, so I couldn’t meet with Jack in person. However, he was nice enough to spare me an hour of his time over the phone to talk about his career as well as the early days of poker and some of its more colorful characters. Here’s part one of the interview;

Todd Brunson: Well, to start with, congratulations on your recent induction into the Poker Hall of Fame.

Jack McClelland: Well, thank you. It really means a lot, especially coming from you.

TB: So how does it feel to get this recognition from the poker world?

JM: Well, it’s very humbling. I started playing poker when I was around six with my grandmother, so when I was like 10-years-old, I actually knew who Edmond Hoyle and Wild Bill Hickok were. So, when I look and see my name with theirs, it just gives me chills. And so many of the guys from the past 40 years have passed away; Johnny Moss and Stuey and Puggy and Slim. You know, you can just relate to them.

TB: So you said 40 years. Is that how long you’ve been a tournament director?

JM: I actually started running tournaments in 1984, so I actually ran tournaments for 30 years.

TB: Were there tournament directors before you? I mean, were you the first one?

JM: Well, Eric Drache was called the tournament director at the WSOP, but he was actually more of a host than he was a director. And, technically, the first year I worked at the WSOP, Frank Catrona was the director, er no, Kenny Lambert Sr. was, but he spent most of his time playing roulette and stuff like that, so I basically physically ran the tournaments. And, even with Jim Albrecht, he was working there year-round and wanted to be called the tournament director, but I really did the tournaments.

Binion’s gave me the opportunity to go other places because of the recognition I got at the WSOP. To go to places like the Commerce and different places like that. I was able to get much better pay, and recognition, and things like that. I briefly retired in the late 90’s when my late wife became terminal and then passed away. And then I started all over again, pretty much at the bottom.

I had given my spots up to everybody, and they didn’t want to give them up, but I couldn’t blame them. So, I started all over again and, after a couple of years, I was at the Bellagio. Also, I was traveling, as my wife is European and likes to travel. At all the spots I had been working; the WSOP, the Commerce, Four Queens, etc, somebody was running them. So I started doing tournaments abroad.

I did the first live TV tournament on the Isle of Man. We had a big tent out in the parking lot. There wasn’t even a delay, it was literally live. They had somebody else announcing it in there and everybody was betting on it, as it was England. And, I mean, you could just feel the electricity!

And then a few months later, I got a call and I went to Vienna, Austria, where I did the first heads-up tournament. It was also televised. And two young guys, around 20 years old, they used the Lipscomb cameras like we use now. And we did the tournament on a Sunday and, like, the next Thursday, it was on Fox Sports West. So it was a lot different than the WSOP that would air like eight months after it ended.

I then went to Russia and did the first team event. That’s actually where I got my heart problem at.

Then Doug Dalton, who actually helped teach me how to deal back in 1976, and I were having dinner and he asked me to come work at the Bellagio. I hadn’t worked full time in a casino for 20 years. I didn’t like messing with the political stuff. I liked doing my job, then moving on to the next one. But I said, “Okay, we can always try it,” and it worked out real good. You know, we had our bumps in the road, but nothing serious.

About this time, along came Steve Lipscomb and Lyle Berman. And they were trying to sell the World Poker Tour. So I was asked by Doug if it would work and, with what I saw over in Europe, I told him I thought it would work over here. So Doug said, “let’s go talk to Bobby [Baldwin].” Bobby also asked me if I thought it would work, and I said yes.

So Bobby says, “If you think it will work, go ahead and do it.” I thought to myself, “this might be the shortest job I’ve ever had.” But one of the things that makes Bobby such a genius is his knowledge on the art of running a casino. He used this by offering them half their asking price, as the Bellagio was a known commodity, while the WPT wasn’t. They accepted, so we saw how smart Bobby was.

About a year later, everything just exploded. It was perfect. With the help of the Internet and TV, poker wasn’t so intimidating. Free online poker taught people the basics without the fear factor. With the hole card camera, the number of entrants in the no-limit tournaments really took off.

People watched Gus Hansen win millions by playing 9-3 and said, “Hey I can do that!” And they would come in the casino after some small success and say, “Hey I have $100,000 in my pocket. Where’s Doyle Brunson? I wanna kick his ass.”

The average age in the WSOP went from like 50 to like 22 in just one year! And then Chris Moneymaker won after getting in through a satellite. For a while, it was like a perfect storm.

Tune in next time at the same bat time, same bat channel to hear more from Jack. If you’re too young to get the reference, look it up on Google or Urban Dictionary. Or just turn off the computer and watch more TV like God intended! ♠

Todd Brunson has been a professional poker player for more than 20 years. While primarily a cash-game player, he still has managed to win 18 major tournaments, for more than $4.2 million. He has won one bracelet and cashed 42 times at the World Series of Poker.