FULL TILT POKER BLOG

#825 – 2008 WSOP #83 – Seen & Heard #24 – Our Commissioner

Posted by Editor | Filed under Uncategorized

I have a great deal of respect for Jeffrey Pollack and I made him earn it. When Harrah’s hired him in the fall of 2005 to be Commissioner of the World Series of Poker, he was taking over (in slow motion) for Gary Thompson, who had convinced Harrah’s to buy Binion’s Horseshoe in April 2004 for the purpose of acquiring the World Series.

To me, Gary Thompson is a beloved figure. He did an admirable job running the Series in 2004 and 2005, with almost no notice or preparation, without a formal position or even staff, in the gold-rush atmosphere surrounding poker in those years. He was white-haired, formal but friendly, and enjoyed opportunities to play the game with staffers and the media.

In contrast, Jeffrey Pollack looked like he was sent from Hollywood to play the role of The Bad Guy. He was a stranger to the game, slick and immaculately dressed, and came from … a “marketing background.” The only thing that could have been worse is if he had also been a lawyer.

In 2006, Pollack & Co. were everything we were programmed to hate: they trumpeted successes with sponsors, partnerships, and branding; they underpaid dealers, driving away some good ones and bringing in the undertrained and incompetent; floor personnel were just as bad, routinely making ridiculous mistakes, most notably giving Jamie Gold hundreds of thousands of additional chips during a color-up with three tables remaining in the Main Event. And we complained and broadcasted every misstep.

But in 2007, Jeffrey, Ty Stewart, Jack Effel, and their staff threw away the script. They made some mistakes, but they corrected them. They tried new things and abandoned them when they didn’t work. And they listened. By the 2008 Series, the long lines were gone. The tent was gone. Complaints about dealers and the floor were exceptions, not the expectation. The Players Advisory Committee was given a real voice in matters like tournament composition, scheduling, and structure.

Here is an example of how far Jeffrey Pollack and his team have come:

A friend of mine, an early and frequent critic of Harrah’s, said to me after dinner the other night, “I think the World Series of Poker lacks the spirit and character it had a few years ago.”

Because those concepts are important, but so subjective, I asked him to elaborate.

“As recently as a couple of years ago, there was a camadarerie among the chaos. The long lines, the poor conditions. Now, thousands of people come and go among multiple events in multiple rooms and nobody thinks a thing of it. It’s gotten too cold and efficient.”

I mentioned this to Jeffrey Pollack yesterday, at the end of his most difficult week as Commissioner. He grimaced and said, “Please print that story.”

Popularity: 1% [?]

Be Sociable, Share!