WSOP COMMISSIONER RESIGNS - Author: KatA 

After five very successful years as WSOP Commissioner, Jeffrey Pollack has announced he’s stepping down. The 45-year old told the press that after accomplishing “everything he had set out to do” in the role, he wanted to go out on top. And go out on top he will. Since Pollack has been commissioner, WSOP participation has increased by over 300% and its prize pool now exceeds $155 million. During Pollack’s time as commissioner, the WSOP has also undergone some major transitions. Many of these changes have come at the hands of Pollack himself and have done great things for the game of poker. Of all these changes though, he’ll most be remembered for moving the Main Event final table to November. Holding the final a few months after the rest of the Main Event now allows marketers to hype it up much more. ESPN has been able to build great marketing campaigns around the November nine, dramatically increasing the event’s popularity. The event now draws huge ratings and has become a major event at the Penn & Teller Theater at the Rio. Explaining why he made such a major move Pollack told reporters “It was a calculated risk. But in my career I have never been afraid to experiment or try different things if I thought they would be beneficial in the long run." However, demonstrating why he’s been so popular over the last few years, Pollack is quick to share the credit for the move: "I ultimately made the decision to green light the November Nine, but the idea was generated by a lot of different folks, including ESPN, the Player's Advisory Council and Harrah's, so they all deserve the credit.” This down to earth attitude is just one of the many reasons Pollack was so quickly embraced by the poker community. He put the players first and they respected him for it. Phil Hellmuth responded to Pollack’s resignation on his Twitter account posting: "Jeffrey Pollack was a terrific WSOP Commissioner, and he is a fair and reasonable man!" Annie Duke did the same, writing: "I don't think people know how much Jeffrey Pollack has done for the players. Our biggest defender and protector is gone from WSOP." High praise for a man who claims he was quite a novice to poker when he took the position. Although Pollack says he says he didn’t find that fact daunting at all: "When I started Sports Business Daily 15 years ago, I didn't know anything about publishing or the sports media in general, but I liked the concept and just this year they celebrated their 15th year of existence. When I went into NASCAR (as Managing Director of Broadcasting and New Media for NASCAR Digital Entertainment) I had never watched a NASCAR race from start to finish and when I started to work with the NBA on their Collective Bargaining Agreement, I didn't know much about it. So I knew I could be successful as the WSOP Commissioner, even though I didn't know much at all about tournament poker." The role of WSOP commissioner was actually created for Pollack and so far he has no successor. The WSOP released a statement of Friday saying that they had no intention of replacing the Commissioner role at this time. Pollack leaves behind a great legacy at the WSOP that he seems very grateful to have been a part of. Sending a final goodbye message via twitter he posts: "Thank you for allowing me to be part of the WSOP these last few years. I will always be a fan and friend to the poker community…" Jeffrey Pollack