PokerStars just hangs out in the poker news these days, and a few times now it has related to them cutting back on their Team PokerStars Pros. They’ve come back into the news once again, and it’s for that same thing, but it’s one player who is very well known on the live poker tournament circuit. John Duthie is well-known in the poker game all around the world actually, but especially in Europe, where he created the European Poker Tour (EPT). In a week that features Stars in the news for their recent changes to their site, including a change to their VIP program that featured protests all over the site; this news just comes on the top, and leaves many players asking if Duthie’s leave from the site has to do with the recent changes.
What makes this story even more interesting, is that quite a few players went onto the popular poker forum Two Plus Two, and voiced their opinion that the separation between Duthie and PokerStars had something to do with the protest between the players and the site this past week. Many players feel strongly about Duthie, and the fact that he has made poker huge in Europe because of his creation of the EPT. These rumors that were floating around though were quickly put to rest by Duthie after they began though. He went onto the forum and stated that the split between the two had nothing to do with the situation that was currently going on, and also that the protest had nothing to do with this either. The split also totally up to Duthie apparently, who decided that he had no interest in renewing a contract with Stars for the upcoming year.
Duthie’s creation of the EPT was just the start for the big named player, as he also has a total of $2,774,963 in live tournament winnings, with 13 World Series of Poker cashes under his belt as well. Duthie jumped onto the scene back in 2000 when he took down the Poker Million, and a pay day of over $1.4 million for his efforts. You can bet that we’ll still be seeing him on the live poker tournament scene in the coming years as well.