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ElkY Announces His Resignation from PokerStars
Long-time PokerStars Team Pro member Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier has officially resigned from the company. This announcement took the poker world by surprise and has some wondering whether some statements by the popular Team Pro are indicative of deeper problems at the company.
ElkY Leaves PokerStars
In a bit of a surprise on Saturday, popular PokerStars Team Pro Bertrand Grospellier announced he has left PokerStars. ElkY has been one of the most prominent Team Pro members over the years and may be one of the most recognizable faces on the roster outside of Daniel Negreanu.
ElkY left a short message on Twitter that sums up his departure and makes a couple of interesting statements as to his departure.
— ElkY (@elkypoker) January 27, 2018
The first interesting tidbit is that “Team Pro used to be a core part of their strategy, but it became evident this was not the case anymore during the last few years.” It is true that anyone not named Negreanu has played second fiddle over the last couple of years especially, going instead with celebrity endorsers such as Kevin Hart, Ronaldo and Usain Bolt.
In addition, PokerStars’ shift in focus to recreational players has hurt the pro community in general. Many have left PokerStars or play a largely reduced schedule on the site.
The other statement of note was “I am happy to have been involved-except those last few years unfortuantely-on how PokerStars could offer the best Poker experience and improve players satisfaction.”
Whether this is a veiled dig at changes such as the elimination of high stake rewards, the regular raises in rake or the reduction in quality at live events, it’s hard to say. However, it is clear that there was enough going on to make him leave.
What’s Really Going on Behind the Scenes at PokerStars?
With ElkY’s departure, that makes four PokerStars Team Pro members that have left since the beginning of the year. When Jason Mercier left, I stated that change was a regular thing at online poker companies like PokerStars, but now one has to wonder what’s really going on.
In addition to ElkY’s departure, Jason Mercier, Vanessa Selbst and Philipe Ramos has all left the company. Mercier and Selbst may have happened regardless, but when you start seeing four or more pros taking off and then start hearing serious misgivings, one has to wonder what’s happening behind the scenes.
Daniel Negreanu has drawn heat in the past for continuing to support PokerStars and has even made statements that have befuddled players. For example, there’s a famous video floating around that pro Doug Polk likes to make fun of where it seems that Negreanu thinks that more rake is good for recreational players. While that sounds a bit absurd, some wonder why Negreanu is continuing to support a company that is blatantly making moves that seem counter-intuitive to growing poker.
If ElkY is the last of the PokerStars departures, then people will likely move on and just chalk his departure up to digruntleness. However, should we see additional departures, then it will be safe to say that there be some serious issues going on behind the scenes at the World’s Largest Poker Site.
