Family, hard work and poker. In that order for Gold Pass winner Bill McLay
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Bill McLay was about ten years old when his grandmother taught him to play poker. He’s been in love with the game ever since.
She knew he had a knack for it and before long was taking him to her weekly home game.
“At first, I’m sure they were just humoring me, allowing me at the table,” says Bill, now 38. “That is, until I started winning hands and taking down pots. We played games like 7-card stud, 5-card draw, Follow the Queen and Pass the Ace. I fell in love with the challenges that these games presented, and years later began playing Hold’em as well. And then I was at just the right age for the poker, boom.”
Bill played a lot online and at a local casino and had some small significant wins.
“I really fell in love with it,” he says. “But that’s around when I had to make the decision – career or try to push it with poker.”
There were good reasons for his decision. A choice of pragmatism or idealism, the head or the heart.
He chose head.
A TOUGH START
Growing up in Northeast Pennsylvania had been tough. Bill’s father broke his back and neck aged just 30. It left his father disabled, and his mother to raise three boys on a nurse’s salary.
“We we’re not well off” says Bill. “The power was turned off sometimes. It was tough.”
But it did mean he was raised in an environment that put great emphasis on education and work ethic. Head might rule his decisions, but everything else was taken to heart.
“I thought long and hard what is the job that I could do. That has good security, that pays well. Pharmacy hit the table and we all agreed.”
His plan was in place. But this brought its own challenges.
ANOTHER SET BACK
“After a brief time in college, I realized that I could not yet afford it. I had no choice but to leave school and go to work.”
Setbacks like this prompt some to call time on plans. But Bill simply postponed it, putting the books away and finding work as a lumberjack and in construction. Anything to make money.
“I knew that I was working to eventually reach certain goals,” he says. That proved the all-important ingredient.
A FAMILY DECISION
You might have noticed his decision to study pharmacy, discussed with his family, was described as something “we” decided. That wasn’t a typo.
Like that decision, this was a family one.
“During my years at graduate school, my two brothers worked to ensure that the lights stayed on. My goal was always to return the favor after graduation. I’m proud to say that it worked out.”
It had been a challenge picking up the books again and switching back the classroom. But eight years later than planned Bill had his Doctor of Pharmacy degree. He hasn’t looked back.
REACHING HIS GOAL
With his new qualification, and job, he was able to buy a home and co-sign his brothers’ student loans. It was now their turn to attend graduate school.
“It has been a very long road, and hard work, but reaching my education goals, and providing opportunities for my brothers were very important milestones for me.”
It also allowed poker to return to his life. With his job came stability, a degree of financial security, and time to play.
“The Gold Pass that I won came from the Path the NAPT steps. I made it through each satellite, starting at Step one, and made it to the silver pass twice, but did not make the cut.
“My third run started at Step three, and I was able to win my way to the Silver Pass once again, and this time I was successful. It was an exciting ride, inching myself closer to the final with each win.”
A FAMILY MATTER
In keeping with everything else in his life, family were not far away. Right behind him in fact.
“My brothers and father were seated behind me during nearly the entire Silver Pass tournament,” he says. “There were moments of excitement and fear every time I was committed to a big hand, but in the end, when the winners were announced, we all jumped up in celebration.
“Thankfully, they kept their backseat driving to a minimum, letting me play my game. It always fascinates me that so many different styles of poker player can emerge from the same household.”
That love of poker he’d inherited from his grandmother was alive and well.
“I have since told several friends and family and they are so excited for the opportunity, with many stating, “it’s about time,” meaning that they expected a big win was coming at some point in my poker journey.”
SAME FAMILY SAME DREAM
Bill’s mother passed away in 2017, but the family are still as close as they ever were.
“A long time ago, my brothers, my family, we all decided to stick together to live together. It’s a bit odd, I guess nowadays to see that. It’s just how we’ve always been, it’s very tight and I grew up poor. So, you know, that might be part of it. We always struggled together.”
Bill still has the dream of reaching a final table, but the stability in his life, and that of his family, is what matters more.
“Getting a major title would be incredible”, he says. “And the validation of my poker efforts many years in the making. I am so thankful to PokerStars for this opportunity, and really hope to see myself at the final table of the NAPT main event this November.
Ironically his brothers have their own exams to sit, being 18 months away from graduating, meaning Bill made the trip to Las Vegas alone this time. But they’re with him in other ways for sure.
“I believe very strongly that having patience and a strong work ethic can get you far in life, and that mentality also translates well into poker. If you are persistent, and put in the time, you can be successful in the long run.”
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