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Jeffrey Pollack is the current Vice President of Sports and Entertainment Marketting at Harrah's Casino and Commissioner of the World Series of Poker. Prior to joining Harrah's Casino, he held prominent roles with NASCAR and the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Pollack earned an undergraduate degree in Journalism from Northwestern University. He then earned two master's degrees. The first from The Graduate School of Political Management and a master's degree in sports management from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His first job was a political consultant.

The Sports Business Daily

In 1994, at the age of 29, Pollack founded The Sports Business Daily. It was the first daily trade publication for the sports industry. With Pollack as its president and publisher, The Sports Business Daily garnered a strong reputation among to decision-makers in the industry.

NBA

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 and helped design the relaunch strategy after the NBA strike in 1998-1999. As a result of these activities, Pollack was hired as the head of marketing for the NBA.

NASCAR

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. While with NASCAR, 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, FX, NBC and TNT.

World Series of Poker

In 2005, Harrah's Casino hired Pollack as it's Vice President of Marketting. When he was hired, some people speculated that Pollack "was passing through poker on his way from NASCAR to Bud Selig's seat in Major League Baseball. His first responsibility with Harrah's was the 2005 World Series of Poker. Poker players first impression of him centered around the 2005 Tournament of Champions (ToC). The ToC was hyped as a $2.5 million dollar freeroll that people had to qualify for. In 2005, the ToC was sponsored by Pepsi, who was about to start an advertising campaign involving Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, and Phil Helmuth. Pepsi insisted that its three spokesmen take part in the ToC and the WSOP consented. The other players objected that 3 Corporate Exemptions were granted at the last moment. Pollack was heavily criticized, but addressed the criticism head on. Daniel Negreanu was impressed with his first meeting with Pollack, professional pokeris "a unique situation, as with the NBA players are being paid, wihle the poker players actually put up their own money."

Marketting

Pollack is known for his aggressive marketing. Since becoming the Commissioner of the WSOP, he has negotiated partnerships with ESPN, Sirius radio, GLU Mobile, Bluff Media, AOL, and Betfair.com. He also arranged sponsorships with Miller Brewing Company, Planters 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 believes that the strength in the WSOP lies in its tradition and legacy. He wants 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 wants to "grow the popularity of the World Series of Poker," said Pollack. "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."

In an effort to reduce complaints about marked cards, the WSOP entered into a partnership with United States Playing Card Company (USPC). USPC introduced a new high quality "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 wore on, this resulted in cards that were essentially marked.

The training of WSOP dealers was also heavily criticized in past tournaments, in an effort to forstall 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 it started with! Another effort to reduce that risk was the introduction of new chips for the main event. These new chips, however, caused another controversy as they were designed in such a manner that players could not differentiate between the values.