My excitement was building as I brought my car to a stop. “Good afternoon,” the valet smiled as he opened my car door, “it’s great to see you back at The Bicycle Casino.”

I wondered if he really remembered me or if he was just being polite with a standard greeting for all guests. We chatted for a moment while I pulled the backs of my Hardy sneakers over my heels and reached for his tip in my pocket. “Plan on taking it down again this year?” he asked. Then I knew he remembered me.

“You bet!” I beamed as I stepped through the doors of The Bike, the launching pad of my poker career, and into the glitz and glamour of the 2007 World Poker Tour Ladies Night Out.

I was greeted at once by the Wizard of Oz herself—Kelley O’Hara, marketing director at The Bike. Kelley is every bit the feminine version of the remarkable wizard who dazzles everyone from behind the scenes. Kelley’s Oz is the casino and ladies’ poker events.  The success of this particular event was a tribute to her creative genius.  Kelley greeted me with a whispered “welcome back” and gently led me toward an energetic buzz coming from a nearby hallway. I wondered what delights she had in store for us this time.

We made a slight right turn and stepped onto a vivid pink carpet.  Two handsome waiters dressed in black welcomed us with pink martinis and I blushed as I reached toward the tray held by his incredibly chiseled arm! A photographer stepped up to take our picture. As we prepared our brightest smiles, actress Jean Smart of Lucky You walked by dripping with classic big screen charm. With flashbulbs popping and the excitement mounting, I felt like I was at a Hollywood premier—except the carpet was pink, not red!  If a news reporter had stepped into my shoes at that moment, she would never again have had to ask why we like to play Ladies events!

I thought Kelley’s production couldn’t get any better, but around every corner was another new surprise. In one area of the casino, WPT stationed a team of manicurists to provide complimentary manicures and pedicures for guests, in case they needed a quick color change before they started play!

The tournament registration staff was all smiles as they warmly welcomed players to the 2007 WPT Ladies Night Out at The Bike hosted by the Ladies Poker Association. When I paid my $1,070 entry fee a staff person handed me a pink travel bag, monogrammed, of course, with the Bicycle Casino’s logo and filled to the brim with all kinds of goodies. Walking into the banquet area I saw a sea of smiles. The assembled ladies were all big fans of Kelley and they were all as equally dazzled as I was by the elegant décor, bountiful buffet, and endless supply of miniature Yummy Cupcakes—pink, of course! 

I felt the warm glow of familiarity. I was happy. I was home. I was at The Bike!

One of the LPA’s primary goals is to recognize outstanding women involved in poker by sharing their contributions, their thoughts, and their successes in order to inspire others in the poker community. Each of the LPA’s feature articles casts the spotlight, for a brief moment, on a unique individual whose efforts might otherwise go unnoticed because they are oftentimes behind the scenes. This month we not only feature our remarkable Kelley O’Hara, but we also announce that she has been chosen to represent the LPA as the 2008 Poker Ambassador! Congratulations, Kelley!

Those who know her are impressed with Kelley’s commitment to excellence. I wondered what motivated her to pay attention to every detail in every single event. I found out that it’s in her blood! Kelley is the daughter of Olympic athlete Mike O’Hara and the late Billie Brown, a high stakes poker player. Her mother Billie left a legacy in the poker community and has been described as a true pioneer in the industry. Billie is most remembered for her role as marketing director of Ocean’s Eleven Casino in Oceanside, California, where she originated the idea of ladies poker weekends! Hers was a new and exciting idea and her events were all the rage.

Kelley learned at her mother’s knee, so to speak. She worked with her mother to host events that were both spectacular and entertaining. She took her mother’s fabulous ideas and helped implement them, always staying behind the scenes. Although she didn’t play poker, Kelley very much enjoyed the camaraderie of the participants. She enjoyed watching the women laugh, share and compete with each other. She had no idea at the time that the experience she gained working with her mother would become important to the continuation of poker, continuing the ideas her mother had worked so hard to develop.

Haig Kelegian, one of the new owners of the Bicycle Casino, recruited Kelley almost nine years ago to be the casino’s marketing director. She says she was hesitant at the time because she had worked for herself for nearly 25 years. But she had vision and entrepreneurial spirit. She saw what could be accomplished and decided to take a chance and try something new. Her creative ideas resulted in what The Bike has become today.

Only a year and a half into the job, Kelley earned praise and recognition from her peers for her trend setting ideas. The highest praise of all, she says, came in the way of a request from one of her mother’s dearest friends. Linda Johnson and Linda’s business partner Mark Tenner asked Kelley to speak at the annual Gaming Conference in Las Vegas. Linda and Mark did not know at the time that Kelley wrestled with a deep fear of public speaking! In response to their request, Kelley gasped, “I’ve been in poker for thirty minutes and you want me to speak to poker experts about my views on moving an industry ahead? Are you kidding me?”

In the end, however, she couldn’t turn down the honor! Kelley says that the months leading up to the conference were almost unbearable, but she wasn’t about to let her fear rob her of the opportunity! She mustered up the strength, confronted her fear, and delivered a successful presentation. On that very day she vowed that she would never run from an opportunity to speak again and would work to improve her skills to become an effective speaker.

 “Whatever you’re afraid of,” Kelley declares, “that’s the thing you must do. I was really shy growing up, though many might find that hard to believe.  I loved to create, but I didn’t like the presentation process. I liked running the project, the event, and I loved to direct. But I dreaded any type of large crowd situation. It seems rather contradictory to have chosen a career with nothing but presentations and huge crowds at industry events. I have to laugh, because no matter what project I have been in, I end up getting in front of audiences. I’ve tried to avoid them; I’ve pushed other people into the position, but in the end, sick to my stomach, I brave the podium.”

Kelley didn’t have much time to herself once the word got out about her excellent presentations. She was asked to speak again and again all over the world. She admits that it was difficult, but she was able to take her career to a whole new level by confronting her fear head on. When she confidently walked onto to the stage of the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in front of tens of thousands of people to represent land-based casinos for the Bodog Sports and Marketing Conference in Las Vegas, she knew she had conquered her fear. She delivered a powerful presentation in front of a packed house with 20-foot screens displaying her image on each side of the stage.

Kelley is a phenomenon and it was a joy and privilege for me to have the opportunity to discuss her personal thoughts and experiences in our exclusive one-on-one interview. I asked her some tough questions and got some powerful answers. Here’s what she had to say…

KG: What inspires you to create such detailed ladies poker tournaments?

KO: At the Bike, we know what’s important to our ladies at these events. We’ve earned that knowledge, as we were one of the first casinos to focus on the ladies’ market with our Queen’s events, which offered women the chance to develop and hone their skills and introduced fledgling players to the tournaments in a comfortable women-only environment. We’ve grown from 40 women on a Sunday afternoon to more than 400 women, often times!

Ultimately, women want a good game and solid tournaments. They also appreciate the value of being part of something positive, and, with events they want to feel welcomed and that their arrival is enthusiastically anticipated.   More than ever, I think that women want to be respected in whatever arena or environment they choose to be in. The Bike appreciates the woman poker player and her contribution to the game and the gaming floor. 

We’ve been blessed over the years with having two very passionate and skilled poker liaisons—Sharon Silvas and now Roni Taylor, who are not only accomplished poker players, but both ladies have a clear passion for the sport and have dedicated a significant portion of their time to helping people learn and get involved with women’s poker. Sharon was key to the Bike’s Poker College and Roni now travels with the Bike Team to many venues as our Ladies Poker Liaison, encouraging women to participate and get involved in the game. They’ve both been in poker for well over 20 years on many levels. These women, along with our tournament director and staff, are valued assets in the success of our event presentation. Most women agree that love, life, and the success of good events is “all in the details.” We’ve always enjoyed the ladies’ response to our tournaments.

KG: What is your vision for the future of women in poker?

KO: There have been pioneers who have greatly influenced me, especially entrepreneurial-minded visionaries like  Linda Johnson and Jan Fisher, who truly have been the heart of the business, and for me personally, Billie Brown (my mom), who was a high stakes poker player for years and so positively changed the industry with her establishment of the first guaranteed prize pool tournaments in Las Vegas, her effective approach to bringing Asian gaming forward, and her tireless effort for women in poker through her phenomenal events at Ocean’s Eleven Casino. 

The poker world is continuing to evolve, and I believe the women’s market is the next big frontier. With the advent of televised poker and the World Poker Tour, we’ve seen the landscape change. While Las Vegas may be the mecca of gaming, Los Angeles has always been the capital of poker. But a decade ago, it was a dying sport. When I came to the Bike eight years ago, the demographic was male, 45 years to dead, and the energy was really non-existent. Then televised poker changed the landscape, and, coupled with online poker, new players, especially women players, appreciated the opportunity to learn and play in anonymity. That’s when women really turned on to the game!   They started trickling into the casinos; then they came in droves. And the rest, as they say, is history. Where you once found three women in the high limit section, you now find two and three at each table.

The perception for so long was that this is a man’s game. In truth, women are born to master this game – our innate intuition, sense of timing and ability to read people, and the skills to be patient and multi-task while still holding our focus, etc. are extremely advantageous characteristics.

As in all projects and industries, I believe the contribution of women is always an improvement of the condition.  When women add their essential core strength and energy, projects, communications, and businesses expand and flourish. One of my goals is to continue to encourage and empower women in all aspects of the poker industry. Whether it’s creating more opportunities to play or learn, or getting more women into every aspect of the business of poker, I know it will evolve the sport in a positive way.

What areas of ladies poker do you feel work well?

 The world is changing rapidly and, specifically, the role of women is evolving exponentially.  This is evident in the gaming industry as well, with casinos just starting to understand the value of expanding the female demographic and utilizing women’s talent and resources in a new way.  While so many women are learning to play, more women are moving up the ladder into key positions in casinos, bringing their perspective and affecting change.  At the Bike, almost half of the management team is comprised of women in key positions including Controller, VP and Counsel, Casino Administrator, and Director of Marketing, which speaks volumes about the progressive attitude at the Bike.  It’s not perfect, but it’s moving forward.

What I love about poker is that it’s truly one of the few, maybe the only, truly equal opportunity sports. Think about it. It invites and includes almost everyone: every culture and ethnicity; women and men; young and old; healthy and those physically challenged. The game has longevity: you can play the game from the time you can read the cards until you can no longer read the cards, so it’s a sport that will include you through several decades, practically cradle to grave. It’s a game that you can play with anyone—family, friends, even your enemies! And thanks to online opportunities, you can play alone, with strangers who through the community experience of the game, can become friends.  You can play in any country in the world and language is no barrier. If you know the cards, you can communicate through the game!  That’s an exciting sport. And if that wasn’t enough, you can make money - big money!  No other sport in the world has these attributes.

Now add to all of this, the innate characteristics and communicative nature of women and their abilities to foster relationships and create community and now you have something REALLY interesting!  I clearly love this arena I’m in, because the possibilities are so far reaching. Poker is now a global market and women are in such a great position to take advantage of the opportunities.

KG: What advice can you give to a player just starting out?

KO: First and foremost, newcomers to the game need to remember that this is a game, and it’s FUN!  One pitfall many women fall victim to is the intimidation factor, because they’re initially afraid of the element of competition.  Like anything else, there is a skill level that must be developed, but if they take the time to access all of the educational information available with resources online and free sites to practice skills, along with beginner tournaments that are offered in many casinos, they can really enjoy and expand their game. And the great news is that in this industry, there are so many women who are more than happy to share their knowledge and help you.

KG: What advice can you give to a player ready to take poker more seriously?

KO: Again, there’s so much information available today with poker camps, and online sources that offer the opportunity to see a live game played with commentary so that you can study the game.  There are hundreds of books and DVDs to benefit players at all levels of play.  The LPA will continue to be a great source for this as well.

KG: What are your plans for the future of Ladies poker at The Bike?

KO: We’ll continue with our quest to put on the best women’s events in the country. We’ve been at the forefront of women’s poker from the beginning, hosting beginner, intermediate and advanced tournaments every year.  As charter members of the World Poker Tour, we chose to host the only women’s poker celebrity event, the WPT Ladies Night Out Invitational, Travel Channel’s highest rated event on the Tour. We’ve been really blessed with so many fabulous women who have come through our doors, and left such a beneficial footprint as ambassadors and pros to emulate.  And with women like the “first lady of poker” Linda Johnson, Kathy Liebert, Jennifer Tilly, J.J. Liu, Pamela Brunson, Mimi Tran, Kristy Gazes, Kelli Griggs, I could go on and on, but, needless to say, we’ve had some great players who have turned out to be excellent role models for the game.

On a personal mission and working from the business side of poker, I think from an industry perspective as well. While I work directly with the Bike, my goals expand to fostering women’s poker within the industry. There’s a global platform out there and women need to be part of it in all areas, playing poker, creating new innovations, and managing projects. I think what we do individually is great; I think what we can do as women together is phenomenal!

KG: What is “Live at the Bike”?

KO: This project is one close to my heart, as it has proven to be a very positive innovation in the industry.  At the Bike, as in all casinos, the ongoing challenge is the ability to convert tournament attendees into cash game players. Again, the intimidation factor is always present.  We run the largest tournament house in the country, but so many players only felt comfortable within the tournament format. In addition, for those new to the game, the perception of sitting down with experienced players in a cash game was just too scary.

A small group of us decided to tackle that challenge and formed a company called Joker Gaming, LLC, to take on this ever-present problem. Our solution was the creation of a project, “Live at the Bike,” the first live, high stakes cash game streamed online directly from the casino’s floor.  Thanks to a progressive ownership and management team, the Bike allowed us to film literally on site four days a week.  I have to give the Bike’s managing partner Haig Kelegian and CEO Hashem Minaiy special kudos for their support for something that had never been done before. This was a major innovation to the industry and for the first time, players had the ability to watch three hours of high stakes poker played in real time from their computers, letting viewers see the real game - raw, unedited, and unrehearsed, while professional commentators called the game. From this vantage point, you could see every nuance, every mistake; the bluff, the standoff, the win and the lose.  As a viewer, you could write in and talk to the commentators while the game was going. There has been nothing comparable to it anywhere and the host of pros and successful cash game players has created a new global audience for the Bike. It was an extremely successful marketing tool for us and very beneficial to all levels of players.

KG: What is the future status of Live at The Bike?

Thanks to the positive response and requests for more content, the “Live at” concept has evolved into a more global format—Poker Netcast. This new poker portal will provide live, cash game content from around the world, tournaments, and special events content. Some events will be streamed while others will be archived allowing viewers to pick and choose which events they most want to see. There will be unique content as well as opportunities to play free poker. The site will be officially launched early in 2008.  And we will be supporting and marketing women’s events! We’re very excited to be taking this concept to the next level, and we have some surprises in store as well.

KG: What are your basic views on life? 

My motto has always been: “The view is always the same except for the lead dog.”  I seem to always gravitate to the road less traveled. I would rather try something that hasn’t been done and risk failure than to imitate.  Reproduction is just not very interesting.  I was blessed to come from very entrepreneurial parents who thought “big” and valued the process of creation and bringing people together for a common cause.  I really appreciate this chapter in my career that addresses my need to create on a daily basis, and truthfully, participating in expanding an industry is really exciting business! 

KG: What are some areas of ladies poker you feel need change?

KO: There are a couple of areas where I believe our shared focus would be optimum. Our goal as players and proponents of women’s events is to encourage casinos to hold ladies tournaments and that, in fact, it will be beneficial to their floor business. As individuals and as a united entity, we need to work together to foster relationships and quality communication with casinos that support ladies’ events. The LPA will be a worthy advocate in this area. Equally important is making sure that we make our events a positive experience for our casino partners, because we want to evolve our events into bigger prize pools, guarantees, etc.  From a venue standpoint, the casino is willing to underwrite events that are perceived as successful, that put their casinos in a positive light within the industry, and that create ongoing business for the house.  When and if occasional issues come up, as they sometimes do, we want to be problem-solvers with our casino partners.  The goal is to not have them step away from us; we want them on board and working with us to create the types of events that are to our benefit and theirs.

As women, we have developed a skill for rising above and looking at the bigger picture as we multi-task through our days for the benefit of our families, friends, our businesses, our employers, etc.  It’s important for women to extend the same abilities that they must use in their everyday life to their favorite sport and pastime and keep their eyes on the big picture.   Now with Internet access, forums and association websites, we can communicate so easily with each other and the world and share our opinions on events, tournaments, and all things poker.  But think Paris Hilton. In the heat of the moment, a hasty comment turns into a lifetime on the web.  You can think of this individually, but I would invite all women to think of what’s happening with women in poker is also a movement, and in fact, a global happening!  In marketing, you know that presentation is everything.  From my perspective as a participant on the business side, I know that outrage carries a double edged sword so when you vent, as a group or as an individual, keep the ultimate goals in mind, not the momentary setbacks that will pass. 

And as casinos see the benefits of having all of these fabulous women in their casinos, we want to share with them our desire to not have our constituency split. We want to support all events, but it would be most advantageous to women’s poker if local area casinos worked together and didn’t go over the top of each other. That will take a bit of what we do best—communication—and a little finesse.  

Doyle Brunson and Kelley OHara

Kelley OHara
A Phenomenon Behind the Scenes

by Kelli Griggs

Photos courtesty of World Poker Tour