For the music and media consultant, see Jeff Pollack

Jeff Pollack (music and media consultant)

Jeff Pollack is an influential American music and media consultant. As a program director, Pollack resuscitated the long suffering WMMR transforming "the troubled station into a rating winner and made a name for himself across the country." In an interview with WYSP, Howard Stern and Spike Eskin...

.

Jeffrey Pollack (born circa 1965) is the former Commissioner of the World Series of Poker

World Series of Poker

The World Series of Poker is a world-renowned series of poker tournaments held annually in Las Vegas and, since 2005, sponsored by Harrah's Entertainment...

. Pollack earned an undergraduate degree in journalism from Northwestern University

Northwestern University

Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

. He then received two master's degrees. He earned his first master's from The Graduate School of Political Management

George Washington University

The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...

 and his second in sports management from the University of Massachusetts Amherst

University of Massachusetts Amherst

The University of Massachusetts Amherst is a public research and land-grant university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States and the flagship of the University of Massachusetts system...

. Pollack later completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

. His first job was a political consultant. He then served as Vice President of Winner & Associates. Prior to joining Harrah's Entertainment and serving as WSOP Commissioner, Pollack held prominent roles with NASCAR

NASCAR

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...

 and the National Basketball Association

National Basketball Association

The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...

 (NBA).

Pollack has been named to Street & Smith's

Street & Smith

Street & Smith or Street & Smith Publications, Inc. was a New York City publisher specializing in inexpensive paperbacks and magazines referred to as pulp fiction and dime novels. They also published comic books and sporting yearbooks...

 Sports Business Journal of "40 Under 40" and twice to The Sporting News

The Sporting News

Sporting News is an American-based sports magazine. It was established in 1886, and it became the dominant American publication covering baseball — so much so that it acquired the nickname "The Bible of Baseball"...

 100. He has also won two Emmy Awards. Pollack is married, and resides in both Los Angeles and Las Vegas. His half-brother is Gary Bettman

Gary Bettman

Gary Bruce Bettman is the commissioner of the National Hockey League , a post he has held since February 1, 1993. Previously, Bettman was a senior vice-president and general counsel to the National Basketball Association...

, the Commissioner of the National Hockey League

National Hockey League

The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

.

Early career

In February 1994, at the age of 29, Pollack founded The Sports Business Daily. It was the first daily trade publication for the sports industry. Pollack modelled the concept for the Sports Business Daily on the political daily The Hotline

The Hotline

The Hotline is a daily political briefing published by the Atlantic Media Company from its headquarters at The Watergate complex in Washington, DC. It is edited by Reid Wilson with Josh Kraushaar...

. Doug Bailey

Doug Bailey

Doug Bailey is an American political consultant and founder of The Hotline, a bipartisan, daily, online briefing on American politics.From 1968 to 1987, Bailey was President of Bailey Deardourff and Associates, among the first national political consulting firms...

, The Hotline's founder, was Jeffrey Pollack's partner in this venture. The Sports Business Daily originally occupied 3 rooms in the same building and initially hired The Hotline's Stephen Bilafer as the Editor-in-Chief. With Pollack as its president and publisher, The Sports Business Daily garnered a strong reputation among to decision-makers in the industry. By the time The Sports Business Daily was sold in 1996, it was a "recognized leader in sports industry news and is relied upon by top sports, entertainment, financial, and media executives worldwide." The Sports Business Daily provided the content for ESPN's SportsZone "Industry Insider."

Pollack's career with the NBA began when he was hired as a communications consultant for the NBA during its collective bargaining arrangement. Pollack consulted with NBA commissioner David Stern

David Stern

David Joel Stern is the commissioner of the National Basketball Association. He started with the Association in 1966 as an outside counsel, joined the NBA in 1978 as General Counsel, and became the league's Executive Vice President in 1980. He became Commissioner in 1984 succeeding Larry O'Brien...

 and helped design the relaunch strategy after the NBA lockout

1998–99 NBA lockout

The 1998–99 NBA lockout was the third lockout in the history of the National Basketball Association . It lasted from July 1, 1998 to January 20, 1999, and forced the 1998–99 season to be shortened to 50 games per team and that season's All-Star Game to be canceled...

 in the 1998–99 season. As a result of these activities, Pollack was hired as the Vice President of Marketing & Corporate Communications for the NBA.

Pollack was Managing Director of Broadcasting and New Media for NASCAR Digital Entertainment. While with NASCAR, he encouraged NASCAR to use advanced media and technologies. It was under his guidance that NASCAR grew into a major sporting event. Pollack was responsible for NASCAR adopting the use of in-car cameras. Pollack won two Emmy Awards: Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Interactive Television Programming and a Sports Emmy for Outstanding Innovative Technical Achievement. He helped develop NASCAR's television partnerships with Fox

Fox Broadcasting Company

Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...

, FX, NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 and TNT

Turner Network Television

Turner Network Television is an American cable television channel created by media mogul Ted Turner and currently owned by the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner...

.

World Series of Poker

The World Series of Poker is the number one poker event in terms of participants, prize money and history. Poker is now the most-played leisure game in America, with upwards of 65 million people who play. The number of poker players exceeds practitioners of golf, tennis, and billiards combined.

In 2005, Harrah's Casino hired Pollack as its Vice President of Marketing. When he was hired, some people speculated that Pollack "was passing through poker on his way from NASCAR to Bud Selig

Bud Selig

Allan Huber "Bud" Selig is the ninth and current Commissioner of Major League Baseball, having served in that capacity since 1992 as the acting commissioner, and as the official commissioner since 1998...

's seat in Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

". His first responsibility with Harrah's was the 2005 World Series of Poker. Poker players' first impression of him centered on the 2005 Tournament of Champions

World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions

The World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions is an invitational freeroll poker event. Wins in this event do not count as official WSOP bracelets, but the winner receives a large trophy in the shape of the official World Series of Poker logo. In 2010, the WSOP Tournament of Champions returned...

 (ToC). The ToC was hyped as a $2.5 million dollar freeroll for which players had to qualify. In 2005, the ToC was sponsored by Pepsi, who was about to start an advertising campaign involving Doyle Brunson

Doyle Brunson

Doyle F. Brunson is an American professional poker player who has played professionally for over 50 years. He is the first two-time World Series of Poker main event champion to win consecutively, a Poker Hall of Fame inductee, and the author of several books on poker.Brunson is the first player to...

, Johnny Chan

Johnny Chan (poker player)

Johnny Chan rather than his Chinese birth name. born in Guangzhou, China in 1957) is a Chinese American professional poker player. He has won 10 World Series of Poker bracelets, including 1987 and 1988 World Series of Poker main events consecutively....

, and Phil Hellmuth

Phil Hellmuth

Phil Hellmuth is an American professional poker player. He is best known for holding a record 11 World Series of Poker bracelets, for winning the Main Event of the 1989 World Series of Poker and for his temperamental, "poker brat" personality...

. Pepsi insisted that its three spokesmen take part in the ToC and the WSOP consented. The other players objected that three corporate exemptions were granted at the last moment. Pollack was heavily criticized, but addressed the criticism head on.

On January 13, 2006 he was promoted to Commissioner of the WSOP. One of his first actions as the commissioner was to work towards avoiding the criticism of the ToC. Pollack started meeting with a group of professional poker players in a monthly council. Daniel Negreanu

Daniel Negreanu

Daniel Negreanu is a Canadian professional poker player. He has won four World Series of Poker bracelets and two World Poker Tour Championship titles. He is currently ranked second in the all-time career earnings list and is the star of poker game show Million Dollar Challenge. He plays a big...

 was impressed with his first meeting with Pollack, noting that professional poker is "a unique situation, as with the NBA players are being paid, while the poker players actually put up their own money."

Marketing

Pollack is known for his aggressive marketing. After becoming the Commissioner of the WSOP, he negotiated partnerships with ESPN

ESPN

Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

, Sirius radio, Glu Mobile, Bluff Media

Bluff Magazine

Bluff Magazine is an American magazine specializing in the game of poker. Separate editions are also published for Europe, Latin America, South Africa and Australasia....

, AOL

AOL

AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...

, and Betfair

Betfair

Betfair is the world's largest Internet betting exchange. The company is based in Hammersmith in West London, England. Since Betfair was launched in June 2000 it has become the largest online betting company in the UK and the largest betting exchange in the world. Betfair claim to have over 3...

. He also arranged sponsorships with Miller Brewing Company

Miller Brewing Company

The Miller Brewing Company is an American beer brewing company owned by the United Kingdom-based SABMiller. Its regional headquarters are located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and the company has brewing facilities in Albany, Georgia; Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin; Eden, North Carolina; Fort Worth, Texas;...

, Planters

Planters

Planters is an American snack food company, a division of Kraft Foods, best known for its processed nuts and for the Mr. Peanut icon that symbolizes them. Mr. Peanut was created by grade schooler Antonio Gentile for a 1916 contest to design the company's brand icon...

 and Hershey’s. Once Pollack was asked if professional poker players would start wearing uniforms covered with ads, similar to NASCAR. He responded, "That is not out of the realm of possibility. As long as they stick to the guidelines, players will be allowed to seek endorsement deals and advertise as they wish."

Pollack believed that the strength in the WSOP lies in its tradition and legacy. He wanted to do more to honor the WSOP's past champions, "I want to bring our past, our history, and our DNA along for the ride." He wanted to "grow the popularity of the World Series of Poker." "It is already the No. 1 brand in poker, but we're going to make it even stronger through world-class media partnerships, strategic marketing alliances and superior customer service."

WSOP changes

Pollack believed that the success of the WSOP was not determined based upon the number of participants every year, but rather upon the players' experiences.

For example, in 2007 the WSOP flattened its award structure. The cash awards were distributed more evenly so that people who went out earlier earned more money, while those who made it to the final table won less.

In an effort to reduce complaints about marked cards, the WSOP entered into a partnership with United States Playing Card Company

United States Playing Card Company

The United States Playing Card Company, started in 1867, produces and distributes many brands of playing cards, including Bicycle, Bee, Hoyle, Kem, and others, plus novelty and custom cards, and other playing card accessories such as poker chips. The company was once based in Cincinnati, Ohio, but...

 (USPC). USPC introduced a new "Poker Peek" cards as the official card of the WSOP. New decks were introduced every day at every table. In 2006, Copag provided playing cards that became creased as the events endured, resulting in cards that were essentially marked.

The training of WSOP dealers was also heavily criticized in past tournaments. In an effort to forestall this criticism, the WSOP began intensive training for dealers as early as March 2007 for over 300 dealers. The training included staff and supervisory training. Part of the reason for this additional training was to prevent a repeat of the "extra chips" that materialized during 2006's main event. During the 2006 main event, the tournament finished with more chips than normal chip upgrading would have led to. Another effort to reduce that risk was the introduction of special chips exclusively for the main event. These new chips, however, caused another controversy as they were designed in such a manner that players could not easily differentiate between the values.

Resignation

On November 13, 2009, Pollack announced on his Twitter

Twitter

Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...

feed that he was resigning as Commissioner.