maybe he's just sour because all that powerup poker streaming with playmoney was now completely in vain

5*

I may or may not be the only one who didn´t get that joke immediately, so here goes ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambassadors_(TV_series)

Hopefully this is the start of a new chapter for him. Going from Starcraft pro to poker pro makes him pretty cool in my book. I even caught his stream from time to time on Twitch and he was entertaining. Though I haven't seen him online in a long time. Possibly because of the issues he had with Stars lately.

Agreed that this statement probably wasn't worded well. Very passive aggressive.

Regardless, best of luck to him in the future.

the first supernova on pokerstars and 13 million in live cashes , no respect from kids these days..... 2016 join date wow

I've been playing online poker since the first client, Planet Poker, way way back.
I've been on poker forums since the rec.gambling.poker days on the newsgroups when that was the ONLY forum around.

Having a join date 2 years ago at 2 + 2 means nothing...it's not my first account.

So, yes I've heard his name a lot and I know he was a Stars pro, I just don't know anything about him except I've never heard a bad thing about him. That's a good thing in my book.

From what I remember, he did get to Supernova Elite while being a huge losing player at >$200+ buy-in SNGs. Not sure how this is a thing that should be admired.

I was his fan during Starcraft
he had some great podcasts over the years
His challenges and outlook are amazing
Shouldn't take long to get sponsorship (and that's what travelling live pros need with all the taxes and expenses right)

might mean something if he stepped down 3 years ago and spoke out about rake changes and other greedy changes from Amaya instead of whining about them after being cut off the tit of amaya money

Seems like an honest and quality statement by Elky to me as long as I read it correctly.

It seems PokerStars is going a different direction and severing ties with some of the sponsored pros. Elky would have liked to continue the same relationship and didn't want a diminished role but it wasn't going to happen. So he thanked PokerStars for the time he had there and was looking foward to doing new things.

Am I missing something?

Yes. The tone.

Locked is almost certainly an incorrect term here. That's the issue. If he had problems, address it and leave if not figured out. Or take the money, finish out the contract, then rip them as you leave.

ElkY's statement lines up with what I believe most in the community (myself included) have finally come to realize: (a) that TSG is simply going to go in the direction its decision makers want, and (b) that we were naive to think our feedback/experience in the industry would eventually sway TSG execs from taking the site in the direction it has.

IMO it has taken some time for this reality to sink in for players, sponsored pros, Twitch/YouTube personalities, media reps, forum contributors... a large percentage of all of us, myself included. I think all of us have thought to ourselves more than once over the past 3+ years something along the lines of, "surely they won't take Stars in this direction. They'll listen to me, my ideas, or someone will whisper in their ear, share their knowledge and the direction TSG is heading will shift."

And that's not to say that TSG isn't "receptive" to ideas/criticism or what have you. It's just an observation. The top people at TSG are going to take their company and corresponding products in the direction THEY want to in the end, and THEY will have the final word, period.

You can get a feel for what I'm referring to in Rafi Ashkenazi's (The Stars Group CEO) Aug 11, 2017 Bloomberg interview here:

Poker Site Wants Card Sharks to Fold So The Rest of Us Can Win

Take a look at the Twitter reaction thread (involving TSG reps, Ike Haxton and poker media) a few days after that interview was published.

https://twitter.com/pokerprojones/st...34794365698049

At first, even media and PokerStars' staunchest supporters were re-arranging the CEO's rhetoric b/c they couldn't believe what he was telling Bloomberg was fully accurate, or in line with TSG's vision, or the communication it wanted to relay. And that's not a "shots fired" call-out of any of my colleagues in "poker media" circles... I'm equally guilty of being just as "naive" as the next longtime PokerStars player/fan/affiliate content producer. But as you can see, TSG rep Eric Hollreiser responded in that Twitter thread and made it clear that Ashkenazi's communication (that Stars wants withdrawing players to go away) was accurate (albeit "inarticulate" and "insensitive").

So I think ElkY pretty much thought like so many of us did... that sooner or later TSG would come around to a different way of thinking on some of the bigger decisions... and we were all wrong about that in the end. And again, that's not to say that TSG hasn't made some adjustments here & there based on feedback, or hasn't made some recent decisions that benefit the "recreational" poker playing community they so adamantly claim to "protect" (bailing out PKR, creating the Platinum Pass concept, and limiting online satellite winners to 1 entry for live tour events come to mind). It's just that the final decision on what to do -- whether you, me, or anyone else agrees with it -- is going to be made by TSG decision makers, and that's that.

This goes as far back as DNegs thinking he would convince (then-CEO) Baazov and other top execs to hold off another year on abruptly removing the SN/SNE cashback programs -- to Mason Malmuth telling Joey Ingram on the Poker Life Podcast that he hoped TSG and SN/SNE players could eventually work out a deal -- to Doug Polk being surprised when TSG continued to make changes unfavorable to pros in 2016/2017 -- to Joey Ingram's recent frustration regarding HS cash games -- to pretty much everyone... me, you, posters on this forum, media reps, players, personalities, sponsored pros, etc.

So to summarize a long story, I believe ElkY's statement simply communicates that he was naive about the influence his experience/knowledge/expertise would have on TSG's bigger decisions just like so many of us were.

thought so too until I played him HU a few years ago. His ranges were off (obv) but otherwise, as far as MTTers at HU go, he was cream of the crop.

Best of luck to him in whatever he chooses to do next

Just stop it and keep waiting for an excuse (temporary good move) to jump on the nuts again.

Elky wasn't naïve and neither was anyone with half a brain. The difference is Elky cashed that check every month until they axed him and the half brainers didn't.
Period.

I don't know you're role in the industry but you come across as an apologist. Call a spade a spade for once.

he's a tournament player. who gives a **** if he signs or not.. cash are all that matter, as far as pokerstars is concerned. I am a tournament player.. at heart.. but only because i suck. hence, elky sucks. how many wsop bracelets does he even have? he doesn't matter.

The difference is people like ike, kanu and Vicky Coren put their integrity before their check.

Some things are worth more than money.

I don’t really see a problem here. It’s certainly reasonable to have negative thoughts about/disagreements with your employer while also collecting money from them. He stated his piece without completely trashing the company as he walked out the door. The Vicky Coren route is commendable but I doubt that it’s the most +EV exit strategy available.


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Nah, Elky basically was there where it was a career for him, he was sponsored by them for a long time. For him it was like being married to a chick, for the others it was like dating. I can see why Elky stayed on the roster, he was there so long it would be hard to leave. If you can't see that then you just don't see the history between Elky and Stars.


There is a thing called loyalty that is also part of integrity........ The dude might be the longest sponsored pro by Stars, if you can't respect that then go make sweet love to your mother.

probably the only good post itt, of course it doesn't get a response.

What about my joke?

I've been amusing myself here for 6000 posts and finally I think of something that is funny to someone other than myself.