The head honcho of the World Series of Poker, Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack, will be the first to admit he’s not there to change the game of poker, but there to improve the business side of what he claims to be the best poker brand. He humbly acknowledges the World Series was a great poker tournament before his arrival, yet Pollack believes modernized directional growth was in need.
I had a chance to catch up with the "Commish" earlier this week to find out what’s new for the 2008 WSOP. And yes… I asked him (again) if strippers and Chippendale dancers would be attending the Gaming Life Expo.
Michele Lewis: How’s it going, what’s new with you? Jeffrey Pollack: I just got back from the Super Bowl this morning. I destroyed myself this weekend, it was great. It was probably the first weekend since the start of last year’s WSOP that I felt I could blow off some steam.
ML: I’m sure and I’m sure the Super Bowl was fun.
JP: Yeah, I went to the ESPN party on Friday night, Saturday night was a big dinner and the Sports Illustrated party was at the NFL Tailgate yesterday. I was at the Stadium for about ten hours yesterday, it was unbelievable. And my Giants won, so I’m happy.
ML: It was a great game. So, what’s the latest with the WSOP?
JP: Things are great; we’re starting to gear up for the World Series. We’re 115 days away, I may be off by a day or two but it’s sooner than you think.We’re excited; the schedule has been out for over a month, we feel really good about it. We have more events for the high-end and the amateur than ever before.There are eight $1500 No-Limit Hold’em tournaments which really draw the largest fields next to the main event.My pledge has always been to cater to everyone.This really is the annual Hold’em convention in the poker community and we want the pros to feel as though it’s interesting to them and the non-pros to feel that it’s open and accessible to them as well.They all come together in the events but we felt by creating these two tracks will help people feel as though there is more fun to be had.And as you know…we’re all about fun.
ML: Are you combining the celebrity event with media or the Ante Up for Africa Charity Event?
JP: Ante Up for Africa is back. It was a smash hit. Annie Duke and Don Cheadle wanted to come back; we wanted them to come back, so that will be our celebrity tournament.
ML: What other charities is the WSOP involved with this year?
JP: Ante Up, Queen of Hearts and the Nevada Cancer Institute. We will have the VIP players lounge again this year and that will benefit the NCI.
ML: Anything new this year with the Queen of Hearts Charity team?
JP: Lisa Tenner, who is the Queen of the Queen of Hearts, is still working with Ty Stewart on the details but we expect a bigger and better team this year.There are some in the poker community that don’t like that we continue maintaining the ladies only event but I’ve yet to be persuaded that we shouldn’t.I think it’s a fun event, I think it has to be viewed as an event that is responsive to a lot of customer demand.If women didn’t show up for this event we wouldn’t stage it. But the fact is, every year the numbers continue to go up. That to me says we need to keep staging it. Ultimately, we’re in the business of giving the poker player what he or she wants and I hear from a lot of women that this is what they want and I hear from some that it’s mildly offensive.I respect that view, I just don’t agree with it.
ML: I agree, to each his own, if you don’t like it, don’t play it.
JP: Right, it’s been likened to segregation and I’m not sure I would make that comparison.And it somehow smacks the women’s right moment, the right of women to vote and it doesn’t fit with women being equal to men.And I just don’t see it that way. Just as there is an audience for the WNBA as well as the NBA, I think its fine, I think it’s appropriate and bottom line it’s poker.There are plenty of guys I know that have a guys game during the week and plenty of women I know that have a women’s game during the week.So why not have a women’s only tournament?
ML: Technically is a man allowed to register and play in the ladies event?
JP: I would have to check but I think a man can.
ML: They can?
JP: I think so, I’d have to check.
ML: So there’s a chance Phil Hellmuth could win bracelet 12 in the ladies event?Bluff Media right?
JP: I think Phil would not enter the ladies event.
ML: Probably not, but it would be a first and it would be great marketing for him. We had some prop bets going on last year trying to get some guys to register but they didn’t go for it. How about a men’s only tournament?
JP: Nuns?Did you say nuns?
ML: No! How about a men’s only tournament?
JP:Oh. [Laughing] That I wouldn’t do.
ML: Why not?
JP: No one’s ever asked that of me.I can’t imagine there being a demand for that.But if that’s what the customer wanted, I’d have to take a hard look at it. But I don’t think that thought has crossed anyone’s mind, other than yours, Michele.
ML: [Laughing] The World Series once had a couple’s event or something like that. Would they do that again?
JP: That’s interesting, with Valentine’s Day coming up maybe we should be doing couple’s events.
ML: You know, I think Doyle Brunson has a WSOP bracelet in a couple’s event from the 70’s. They didn’t call it a couple’s event, it was something else.
JP: Pairs?
ML: Maybe, something like that. Are you going to have additional room to replace the tent?
JP: Yes, we’ve expanded our footprint inside the Rio. It’s bigger than it’s ever been this year but not as big as it will get. There will be no poker played in any tent, anywhere at the World Series this summer. Not a wedding tent, not a Bat mitzvah tent, no poker in any tent ever again.
ML: You didn’t end up getting the bus or igloo?
JP: No igloo, no poker bus, no van, no poker tent.
ML:Will you have live poker, satellites and the tournaments in the same room again?
JP: It may not be all in the same room.That goes back to the footprint but we will have live poker and satellites. Got to have live poker and satellites.
ML: Yes, you definitely do.But will there be strippers at the Gaming Life Expo?
JP: There will not.There will not be anything close to nudity at the Gaming Life Expo.
ML: So that means you won’t be having the Chippendale dancers?
JP: Uh, were they there last year?
ML: I didn’t see any.
JP: I don’t think so.
ML: Maybe they should be there for the Ladies event.
JP: [Laughing] See, now you’re just being a trouble maker.
ML: Of course I am. What is a day at the office like for the WSOP and Jeffrey Pollock?
JP: Gosh, no one else would want to experience it. No, I love what I do and I feel very fortunate to have the job that I do. Honestly, everyday is different. I can’t think of two days that were similar. A lot of it is focused on meeting with the teams that bring life to the WSOP.The teams do the hard work along with the people at the Rio. Some personnel news is that Gary (Thompson) is leading the WSOP full time.He’s moved back to our corporate communications group. Seth Palansky will be our new director of communications. He is currently the top communications executive for the NFL network under NFL President and CEO Steve Bornstein.Seth is a very seasoned sports and entertainment communications executive and he’s going to be an awesome addition to the team. I now have two former NFL executives (Ty Stewart) working on the WSOP and fresh from the Super Bowl, I will tell you that no one does it better than the NFL. And having that training only bodes well for the WSOP.
ML: That’s a great lead to my next question.You were with the NBA which, like the NFL, is such an established entity in regards to media and being a dominant force in the sports industry. And while the WSOP has been around for a long time, it is new to the boom and media explosion.Did you find it challenging with new development and adjustments?
JP: The funny thing about the WSOP is that it now has this 39 year tradition and history, yet when I got to the WSOP there wasn’t a lot of business behind it. It was a big tournament that was doing very well and the most important tournament.And I don’t want this to sound the wrong way but it was just a poker tournament. Not just any typical tournament but a tournament that was a business.And what we’ve done in the last 2 ½ years is modernize the WSOP in a way that was, frankly, overdue.
My specialty is start ups.I like taking a sheet a paper that still has some white space on it and coloring that in. And that’s what we’ve done with the WSOP. The (WSOP) canvas wasn’t blank and what was already on the canvas was pretty damn good but it sort of stopped at a certain point. We’ve picked up from that point and grown the WSOP in a way that no other poker brand has ever been successful with growing. We have more sponsors than any other poker brand, better media distribution and players who are associated with us are enjoying more endorsement opportunities from the sponsors than any other poker brand has been able to deliver.There are all kinds of rumors about how wealthy, how robust our partnerships are. I will tell you our business isn’t close to the scale of the NBA, NASCAR, NHL but we’re really just beginning. We’re only about 30 months into a new type of management approach for the WSOP. So, it really is like a start up. I think in the next three, five, ten years you’re going to see poker as industry mature or grown in a way it hasn’t before.
Our job is to make sure that poker isn’t perceived as just a fad. Frankly, most sports marketers think that it’s a fad that’s already over.So our job is a tough one because we’re selling to an inherently skeptical audience on Madison Avenue. We’ve been successful; it’s a lot of a hard work and taken more time than I thought it would but we’re getting there slowly but surely.I think the playing community will hopefully continue to be patient with us as we bring more money into the poker economy.Ultimately, that’s what it’s about.
ML:Speaking of playing…are you keeping the same blind structures this year?
JP: We haven’t announced the blind structures and I don’t want to tip off what we’re doing there.
ML: When will you make the blind structure announcement?
JP: In the next couple of weeks.
ML: Are there any changes in the media room for 2008?
JP: We’re going to have a special announcement about that but it’s going to be bigger, better and more fun than before.The hint I’ll give you…imagine a press box in a sports stadium, like your right in the venue watching, you’re watching the game. So, that may be the direction we’re heading in but we haven’t announced anything. Making conditions better for the media is a top priority this year.As well as, better servicing the long term guest at the Rio, there will be a WSOP Concierge desk set up, improve the food offering again. Everything we touch the goal is to make it better.
ML: I’m excited about some new food.
JP: New food, baby! New eats.
ML: Can you give me any scoop on the new food? I need better trail mix.
JP: [Laughing] I don’t know that trail mix has made it onto the menu for improvement but I will send a note to our head chef immediately. Michele’s trail mix. If you have a trail mix recipe, send it and maybe we can work off of that.
ML: I do. I make my own from Whole Foods right out of the bins.
JP: Actually, I do that too. I love it.
ML:The WSOP is still working with
JP: Bluff will continue on as our internet and radio partner. We’re still sorting through ways to balance Bluff’s presence and accommodate all media, so there will be some announcements on that as well.
ML: What changes are you most excited about this year?
JP: That’s a good question.I think the expanded footprint inside the Rio.We’re finally headed towards the type of physical presence we deserve at the Rio and that’s exciting.But as good as it will be this year and as improved as it will be, I’m not done yet. It will keep getting bigger. I’m excited about this year, except for my incredible laryngitis from partying way too hard this weekend.
ML: So, now that the merger has closed, is there are any plans to move the WSOP?
JP: No, no.I love the fact that we are at the Rio.It is becoming a better home for the WSOP and as the footprint expands inside the convention center, it’s really going to click.I actually thought tent aside, the Rio was a very good home last year and in 06’ as well. With the ease of the parking into the convention center it has the infrastructure that we need and the task is to build on that infrastructure. The team at the Rio is very passionate about the WSOP.I’m not thinking at all about a different location for the WSOP.
ML:Are you concerned about the first event having the long line like last year? I didn’t play just because of the line.
JP: No I’m not because we’re going to have a soft opening with some non-bracelet events, registration is going to open earlier, you can go to the cage anytime between now and the WSOP and register.
ML: So, how was Europe?
JP: Oh, that seems like a lifetime ago. It was great. Most of the great players showed, Betfair was very happy. The T.V. coverage hits globally in March. We’ll announce the Schedule for this year pretty soon. We will probably increase the number of events in Europe.
ML: Any WSOP Asia news?
JP: I’m looking forward to going over the next few months. Our top priority is to improve Europe. But we are looking at Asia and Latin America.
ML: Would the Caribbean be included in Latin America?
JP: Hmm, no one has asked me that before.We have a property that is going to open in the Bahamas. One day we may have an event there. What I’m thinking about with Latin America right now is South America. But yes, I would include the Caribbean in Latin America.
ML: Will there be more programming on ESPN this year?
JP: There will be 32 hours this year.
ML: OK, same as last year?
JP: Yeah, and to that, I don’t know that more is always better going forward. One of the things that I’m going to be looking at over the next few months with ESPN is whether or not they are overexposing the World Series of Poker.I think we need to be focused on quality more than quantity.They do a good job but I think there’s a theory to be explored about exactly which events they cover, why and in what detail.We may find that it’s better to have a little less on television with ESPN, but to better promote the shows and make the shows only special occasions, if you will. And I don’t know if that’s happening right now.
ML: Right. ESPN did a good job in the past when they explored the room more and focused on several tournaments or tables as opposed to just one table. It gives the viewers a better idea of what it’s like to be at the WSOP.
JP: Right, yep.
ML: Have you been playing any poker yet?
JP: A little bit but I haven’t had a lot of time.
ML: Are you going to play any WPT events?
JP: [Laughing] No.That would be funny though.You know, you actually just gave me a new project to work on. I think I’m going to have to get ready for that. That’s an interesting idea but only if I make it to a televised final table.
ML: You have to play the main events.Then you can take a picture with your WPT bracelet with Lyle Berman and his WSOP bracelets. You guys could put the picture up in the poker room.That would be cute.
JP: That would be funny.
ML: You need to get working on your poker skills.
JP: Maybe if I find some time I’ll have you teach me.
ML: Ha, right. Get in line.Yeah, you should pick me over Hellmuth or Brunson.
JP: What’s so funny?You know what you’re doing.
ML: I do all right. Hey, then you could play the Ladies event.
JP: That won’t happen. I’ll host. I like hosting the Queen of Hearts dinner, that’s my job.
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