PokerStars Meets With VIP Players

PokerStars Meets With VIP Players

Tuesday, 26 January 2016

PokerStars has held a meeting with several top professional players to discuss recent contentious changes to its VIP policy that have been designed to stamp out cheating and create a fairer environment for more casual competitors.

The policy alterations brought in since the start of 2016 have not been welcomed by all as these often involve a reduction in the amount of benefits VIP players can earn.

Amid mounting protests, PokerStars welcomed high-stakes professional players Dani Stern, Isaac Haxton and Daniel Dvoress to the Montreal headquarters of its parent, Amaya Incorporated, on January 18 for a chat about the changes.

The meeting was also attended by Shawn Nikolaev, Operations Vice-President for Amaya, Eric Hollreiser, the Canadian firm’s Corporate Communications Vice-President, and David Baazov, Amaya’s Chief Executive Officer, and they highlighted the reasons for the recent changes before listening to the pro’s concerns.

Following the meeting, for which the players were required to sign non-disclosure agreements with regards to any financial information they were shown, the three posted their reactions.

After outlining the mechanics of the discussion, the pros stated that they had been unable to make any real progress and that the executives seemed intent on continuing with their current plans.

“As far as we could tell, PokerStars’ goal going into the meeting was to convince us that, one, there are problems with the current ecosystem and that, two, the VIP changes will address those problems,” read a joint statement from the trio of professional poker players.

Although the three players reportedly suggested a number of ways PokerStars could help reduce costs while maintaining a happier player base, these ideas appear to have fallen on deaf ears.



Tags: PokerStars, Dani Stern, Daniel Dvoress, Amaya Incorporated, Isaac Haxton, David Baazov, Eric Hollreiser, Shawn Nikolaev, Montreal