Tournament ringmaster

Tuesday, April 18, 2006 | 9:09 a.m.

Bellagio's Fontana RoomPlace:

Dates: First round begins noon today; final table begins 4 p.m. Monday

Buy-in: $25,000

Field: To be determined today; estimated 550-650 players

Purse: Estimated $12-15 million with approximately $3.5 million for first place

TV: Coverage of the World Poker Tour Championship will debut on the Travel Channel (Cox cable channel 66) June 28. Other World Poker Tour events air at 9 p.m. each Wednesday on the Travel Channel.

Players to watch: Michael Mizrachi and Las Vegas' Gavin Smith, the leading candidates for World Poker Tour Season 4 player of the year

When the fourth World Poker Tour Championship begins today at the Bellagio, the man running the show will be longtime Las Vegas resident Jack McClelland, who practically defined the job of modern tournament director and has remained at the top of his game as poker's popularity has boomed.

In his 31 years in the business, including 17 as the world's leading poker tournament director, McClelland has accomplished the improbable in earning nearly unanimous respect from poker players - a notoriously irascible group.

"If you ask people to name the most admired, most well-respected official in poker, especially tournament poker, they're going to say Jack McClelland," old-school poker pro Pat Callahan said at the Bellagio.

"He's one of a kind. He's been wonderful for poker, and I doubt if you could find one person in the poker community who would say anything different."

A tournament director acts as the final arbiter for any kind of dispute that arises during the event, whether it's between a player and a dealer, a player and a floor supervisor or among players.

Because the tournament director has the last word on any question about proper procedure, and because it's his responsibility to dole out any penalties, heated discussions have been known to arise. A cool head, thorough knowledge of the rules and an ability to defuse a potentially explosive situation are required traits for a top-notch tournament director.

Those characteristics take on even greater significance during a big tournament such as the World Poker Tour Championship, the season finale of the lucrative, made-for-TV World Poker Tour. This week's event, which runs through Monday night, is projected to draw 550 to 650 players for a total purse of $12 million-15 million and a top prize approaching $3.5 million for the winner.

With stakes - and sometimes tension - running so high, McClelland has likened his occupation to that of a ringmaster. He has also compared it to being an umpire or a kindergarten teacher.

"I have been working very hard at this for 30 years, but the most important thing, I feel, is that I enjoy the respect of the players," McClelland said. "If you make a bad ruling, it could possibly cost someone millions of dollars. That's a task and a responsibility I take very seriously."

Having held a variety of positions in the poker business helps him in treating players fairly, McClelland said. He has been a dealer and a floorman, and he reached two World Series of Poker final tables as a player.

"I know the psychology of the game and the psychology of gamblers," McClelland said. "I know how it feels to be a floorperson, I know how it feels to be a player, and I can take all of those feelings into account in making a decision."

McClelland, soft-spoken with a disarming sense of humor, acknowledged that not every decision will please every player.

"You make so many rulings during a day that somebody is always going to be unhappy," he said. "Being a tournament director, you have to use common sense, stay on your feet and constantly adjust to situations as they change."

Now the Bellagio's official poker tournament director, McClelland, 54, has been in charge of events worldwide, including Vienna, Austria; Russia; and Aruba. He has also worked with top U.S. card rooms such as the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles.

A native of McConnellsville, Ohio, where he ran local poker games, McClelland has lived in Las Vegas since 1975. In 1984 he began working at the World Series of Poker at Binion's Horseshoe, and he established his reputation by coordinating direction of the World Series for the next 15 years.

Las Vegas professional gambler Alan Boston said McClelland made him feel at home as a newcomer in town more than 25 years ago.

"Back at the Horseshoe, when I first came to Las Vegas, Jack McClelland went out of his way to make me feel like I was one of the crowd, even though I wasn't," Boston said. McClelland's affiliation with the Bellagio and director of poker operations Doug Dalton has coincided with the rise in popularity of the World Poker Tour, which in Las Vegas is aligned with MGM Mirage properties.

"They couldn't have picked a better person to run the tournaments at the Bellagio," said longtime poker pro Mike Sexton, now a TV commentator for the World Poker Tour. "Everyone respects him, they respect his knowledge of the game and they appreciate his honesty. If you asked them which tournament director they wanted to be in charge, almost every poker player out there would name Jack McClelland."

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