WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack

Did you know that the World Series of Poker has a commissioner?

All of the major sports have commissioners that oversee the league front offices and set a tone for all of the league's teams.  They also arbitrate issues that arise and become the final authority for any violations or penalties that need to be enforced to keep everyone within the rules.  Is poker a sport?  It certainly gets a lot of coverage by the Entertainment Sports Programming Network (ESPN).  But, they also cover competitive darts, tournament dominos and spelling bees.

Perhaps, poker as a whole, would benefit from having a commissioner, but that would imply a whole lot more coordination and cooperation of the professional poker enterprises.  The World Series of Poker is an event, albeit the largest and most prestigious one in this gaming industry.  It is not, in any way, some umbrella organization that controls a professional sport.  Do the other headline events in fringe sports/game/entertainment enterprises have commissioners?  Does the Kentucky Derby have a commissioner?  How about Daytona, Wimbledon, the Iditarod, National Rodeo or the Masters?  I dunno, maybe the do.  It seems to me that the WSOP is a bit presumptive, having its own commissioner.  

Certainly, the role for the job has to be a lot different than the responsibilities that rest on David Stern of the NBA, Bud Selig of MLB, or Roger Goodell of the NFL.  There is a circuit of WSOP events that last throughout the year, some sort of collaboration with a new European tour, and lots of similar functions that deal with television rights, marketing, etc, but there are not any real franchises or players unions to deal with.  So, what are the responsibilities of the WSOP commissioner?  

From my observation, he is instrumental in expanding the WSOP brand for Harrah's.  He develops the ties needed with all of the sponsors and sets goals for marketing ties and probably all of the media relationships as well.  In this respect, he seems to be a perfect fit for the job.  His background, coming from NASCAR, where sponsorships are fundamental and ever present,  seems to make him uniquely qualified to meet this need.  When I was first introduced to him (in a large group, of course) he humbly admitted to not being a poker player.  They brought him in from outside to manage the business of building business.  And that he has.  The Amazon room is chuck full of banners hanging from the ceilings, along spectator barricades, entrances, hallways for their many sponsors.  Players are encouraged to develop sponsor relationships, wear logos on their clothing and promote products at the table.  Last year Phil Helmuth showed up at the main event in a jumpsuit loaded with corporate logos, just like a NASCAR driver.  Robert Williamson III wore a blazer that was covered with no less than a dozen sponsor logos.  The poker tables last year had sponsor logos everywhere.  This year they seem a bit more controlled, but they are still present and dealers are trained to work around them so that the sponsors will get maximum coverage if the media captures images or video of the action.

He has also set up a players action committee to promote input from the real poker people.  Its a smart move and has engaged professional players and given them some ownership over changes and issues with regard to the format and structure of the WSOP events, as well as rules and how things are managed during the event.  It has resulted in a lot of improvements, but their have, of course, been a few missteps as well.  Last year's poker peek playing cards was quite the fandango.  I think the four month hiatus for playing out the final table of the main event might just turn out that way as well.  But I have to give him some props for being proactive in searching out input and contribution from the players, a large group with many diverse opinions and attitudes about how poker tournaments should be executed.

He has a blog, but like most blogs, its not consistently updated.  Another poker blogger, Michelle Lewis, captured his thoughts in a fine interview last year that gives some insight into what his role is, or should be.  There is a pretty good video over at Cardplayer to kick off this years event that covers many of the current issues, especially the final table hiatus.