Jaime Staples leaves Team PokerStars
Another Twitch streamer says goodbye to PokerStars and it looks like Barry Greenstein and Jake Cody may have left too.
Yesterday we brought you the news that prominent Twitch streamer Jeff Gross was leaving PokerStars.
Later yesterday an even bigger shock came as one of Twitch poker's pioneers Jaime Staples also announced he was leaving PokerStars:
This was a particular surprise to many because while Jason Somerville is considered the Godfather of poker on Twitch and Lex Veldhuis is the man of the moment, Staples was the first streamer to secure a PokerStars sponsorship based on the organic growth of his channel.
Last night he played his first stream as a free agent, which included a bunch of games on partypoker. This will no doubt lead to speculation he may be joining them in the near future (RunItOnce has also been suggested by poker forumites as a potential next step for him and Gross). Sponsorships tend to have a no compete clause of a few months, so don't expect any announcement soon.
Staples may not be the last person to leave Team PokerStars. Jake Cody and Barry Greenstein are now both missing from the Team PokerStars page on the main PokerStars website. Cody's Twitter profile no longer says he is sponsored by Stars but Greenstein's still does.
Before speculation runs rampant that this is a mass cull by PokerStars, a reminder that contract renewals have always tended to happen at the same time at PokerStars every year, so players leaving in quick succession is inevitable. Last year ElkY, Felipe Ramos, Vanessa Selbst and Jason Mercier all left PokerStars around the same time.
To lighten things up, WSOP host Norman Chad took to Twitter to make his position at PokerStars perfectly clear:
The rumors are true about me and PokerStars.
I address them here honestly and openly. pic.twitter.com/fULTxu8CVR— Norman Chad (@NormanChad) February 5, 2019
What will Jaime do next? Let us know in the comments:
