James Hartigan is not a grinder and is not about to become one. He’ll tell you that straight up if you ask him.
But who knows…maybe that will change.
Change, and accepting change, has become a big part of Hartigan’s life over the past two years.
“I’d say the last 18 months have been transformative,” Hartigan said. “I went through a period of very dramatic change in my life. My dad died, my wife and I separated, we got divorced, we had to sell the house. I had to move.
“And so the joke I always make is there’s that list of the most stressful things you can go through in life: grief, divorce, moving a house. I mean, I was playing bingo…in a very short period of time, all this was happening.
“And I have always been one of those people who has very much feared change.”
And that change also extended to his career. It’s a shift that sees the GPI award-winning commentator for PokerStars Live spending more time on the road, on the felt, and in the action. He’s in the mix – celebrating the wins and taking the tough losses as opposed to solely being behind the mic on the sidelines.
“I’m not a professional poker player and never have any aspirations to be,” Hartigan said.
There was not an ounce of hedging in his declaration. Still, from the outside, taking a look at his social media for the past six months, one could be convinced otherwise. Hartigan has been playing far more poker than he has in the recent past with his adventures taking him from battling online in the UK to the WSOP Circuit event at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles, from Las Vegas for the start of the WSOP to Spain for UKIPT Malaga.
Most recently, Hartigan found himself back in Vegas, making a Day 2 run in the WSOP $1,979 Hall of Fame Bounty event for a career-high score and his first-ever WSOP cash.
If this isn’t grinding, fine. But it’s clearly a significant uptick in Hartigan’s poker volume, the seeds of which were planted roughly two years ago.
When PokerStars partnered with the Irish Open in 2023 to livestream its Main Event, Joe Stapleton, Hartigan’s long-time co-commentator and podcast partner, took the opportunity to surprise Hartigan with not just an entry to the Irish Open but a spot on the featured table. It was one part present for Hartigan, who has dual citizenship with Ireland and England, and one part gimmick – the star commentator would get commented on.
“I did not know what to expect,” he said. “I did not know what the audience was going to be like. I know that playing on a livestream can be nerve-wracking and you’ve got the entire world telling you everything that you’re doing is wrong. And I’ve got to be honest with you, I quite enjoyed the experience. The one thing I found is that the community was very, very supportive.”
It could have been a one-and-done. As much as he loves the game of poker, at that time Hartigan’s duties at PokerStars as Head of Poker Editorial simply didn’t leave a ton of time for getting in the game – he was too busy showcasing it from the other side. But it was Stapes who, once again, opened the door for Hartigan to jump back in.
“Joe then tells me he won some charity event where the prize was free entry to the World Series of Poker Main Event,” he said. “I kind of had this insane idea that we should both play.
“Having had the experience of playing in the Irish Open…now I’m going to enter the World Series of Poker Main Event for the first time because, let’s be honest, it’s a bucket list item for anyone who’s into poker.”
Even though he didn’t make it terribly far in his first WSOP Main Event, the experience sparked an idea, one that may have been in the back of his mind for some time.
“Playing those two tournaments, I guess, made me realize that I’ve been missing out.”
His multiple roles, in front of and behind the camera, were akin to having two full-time jobs. And it’s more than just the time, it’s the creative capital that it takes to continually create high-caliber content. For the better part of a decade, Hartigan juggled these roles, winning industry awards for his work, but ultimately, for him, it became “a little bit unsustainable.”
“So coincidentally, having had that experience of playing live poker and having this epiphany that I can’t do two jobs anymore, conversations opened up about how I could effectively change my relationship. And to cut a very long story short, coming into 2024, I left my full-time job at PokerStars, and signed a deal as a PokerStars Ambassador.”
Of course, Hartigan is still fully committed to commentary for the PokerStars livestreams, the podcast, and presenting but now he’s formally patched up and out in the field.
Hartigan’s Hendon Mob page is sparse (but growing), however, he notes that his love of the game has spanned nearly three decades and has never waned. Dating back to discovering poker at 18 from films like The Cincinnati Kid, and learning the rules of Seven Card Stud from his father’s copy of the book Gambling by Alan Wykes, Hartigan has always had a healthy competitive spirit.
“I’m very lucky in that when I play, it’s for entertainment. And if I win, fantastic. If I lose, I paid my money, I got my entertainment,” he said. “So for me, it’s a game and I will never take it too seriously. I’m never going to have a ‘Hellmuthian’ blow-up at a poker table. But yes, of course, it’s a game of competition. And as much as you converse and are friendly with the other people at the table and you wish them no ill will, you want to win their chips, you want to beat them in a hand. So it’s the outlet for my competitive spirit.”
And he’s finding, outside of potentially winning money, the extended benefits of showing up in events. It’s sitting with the players, getting into their mindset, understanding what’s important to them. It’s a massive benefit and Hartigan gets it. Not just for commentating, but in every aspect of the industry, from media to management, understanding the game and the players is the recipe for success.
“The great thing about playing a multi-day multi-table tournament is that there’s a lot of time where nothing is happening and a lot of time where everyone is folding. So it’s a great opportunity to talk to people and get to know people.
“I’ve had the experience now in multiple events, over multiple months where I’ve sat down with people who are pro players, who I respect, who I’ve commentated on probably multiple times. I get to meet them and they get to know me as a person rather than just that objective voice behind the microphone. I think that is really, really good.
“I do think it’s important as part of my job in the industry and as a commentator that I am also in the game as well but to be clear, it wasn’t because the desire wasn’t there.”
The poker community can also be incredibly supportive. Hartigan admits that through this time of major life transformation, there were “kind of dark periods” but he chose to focus on the positive aspects that this change has brought about. And that includes a new balance of both playing and being a part of the poker media and getting to feel the appreciation that comes from the community for both.
A trip to Northern California for the RunGood event at Thunder Valley is next up for Hartigan, followed by another intercontinental flight back to London for a PokerStars Ambassador Meet Up – of which he is now an official one.
“It’s so weird because on paper – and if you look at it rationally – this was the obvious move I should have made years ago. But it took all that other crap to happen. It needed my mindset to change and have a more positive view of change and a more positive view of risk, dare I say, which is kind of essential if you’re going to be a poker player to understand that, go for it, do it, make this happen.
“Yeah, it was just everything in my life has just been uprooted…and I know this is going to sound so fucking wanky, but I generally feel that I’ve come out of it a happier, better person and I have very much latched on to all of the positive things that have come out of that change.
“And there have been many positive things that have come out of that change and just feel that almost in every single aspect of my life, I’m in a much better place right now.”