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Pollack Defends Harrah’s
17th 2005f November 2005
Harrah’s had an image problem, according to recent reports on ESPN.com. The World Series of Poker’s Tournament of Champions, won by Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, was a qualifier, not an invitational, yet the top three players in the world were invited to play.
Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson , according to ESPN.com only got to play because Pepsi had stepped up with $2 million to sponsor the event, and they were important to their marketing.
Jeffery Pollack called the ESPN writer to explain; "First of all, if there was poor communication around the fact that there could be and would be sponsor exemptions, I take full responsibility for it and apologize to the players for it. That's the first thing.” Pollack, who is the VP of Sports and Entertainment for Harrah’s, also explained his second point, saying that sponsorship exemptions, which resulted in the invitations being sent out, have been a standard practice all along, and that the whole problem comes from it not being communicated up front.
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