Jane Hitchcock (born November 24, 1946), an accomplished New York Times-bestselling mystery novelist and avid poker player, has passed away at the age of 78. The cause of death is currently unknown.

A well-known player at East Coast stops such as Maryland Live! and MGM National Harbor, Hitchcock had $289,471 in lifetime tournament earnings dating back to 2013, according to the Hendon Mob. That included a career-high $57,645 for finishing second in the 2022 Venetian DeepStack Championship Series Event #103: $800 NLH Monster Stack.

The news was shared with the poker world via a social media post from 2021 WSOP Ladies Event champion Lara Eisenberg:

In 2017, The Washington Post wrote a feature article on Hitchcock profiling the “socialite’s unlikely journey from Park Avenue to the poker table.” In it, author Roxanne Roberts explained that Hitchcock took poker seriously just eight years prior, after her grandmother passed away,y and she found PokerStars.

“My grandmother said, ‘Love the cards and the cards will love you.’ I know what she meant,” she recalls. “The cards loved me when I needed to find an escape,” Hitchcock explained.

“The game quickly became an obsession, a balm, an entry into a new and fascinating world,” The Washington Post story read. “She’s still not a great player, she admits, but she’s competitive and wily and has won almost $40,000 over the past four years.”

The article, which also explained how Hitchcock helped put Ken Starr in prison, continued:

“Few of her opponents ever know that she was once a Park Avenue debutante, a close friend of Jackie Kennedy Onassis. They probably don’t care about her best-selling murder mysteries or a lifetime of jet-setting with the rich and famous … ‘Poker is like life,’ she says. ‘At the poker table, everyone makes mistakes, everybody plays hands wrong. It’s a game that teaches you about not dwelling on the past, but also learning from your mistakes. You play the next hand as it comes.’”

Hitchcock, an accomplished playwright and screenwriter, was the author of several mystery novels, including Bluff, which drew upon her love of poker. In an interview with Criminal Element about the book, Hitchcock made a poignant point about poker.

“First of all, I would never say I had ‘mastered’ poker. If anything, the game is my master. It’s taught me a lot about life and how to deal with adversity—namely, there’s no point in dwelling on bad luck or one’s mistakes. Hard as it is, you sometimes have to say, ‘Next Hand,’ and get on with it.”

PokerNews offers its condolences to the friends and families of Jane Hitchcock, who will be sorely missed by the poker community.

PR & Media Manager for PokerNews, Podcast host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.

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