Negreanu Applauds Victoria Coren Decision to Part Ways With PokerStars

Outspoken professional poker player and recent entrant into the Poker Hall of Fame, Daniel Negreanu, has applauded Victoria Coren for leaving PokerStars on what she claims to be moral grounds.

Coren parted ways with Stars last week, issuing this statement:

“PokerStars.com announced that it will be rolling out online casino gaming alongside its internet poker. As a result, on Saturday morning, I terminated my endorsement contract with them.

“(But) I cannot professionally and publicly endorse it, even passively by silence with my name still over the shop. Poker is the game I love, poker is what I signed up to promote. The question I’m probably asked most often in interviews is about the danger of addiction, going skint and so on. I’m always careful to explain the difference between the essentially fair nature of poker, where we all take each other on with the same basic chance, and those casino games at unfavourable odds which can be (especially online) so dangerous for the vulnerable or desperate.

“Although PokerStars assured me I would not have to actively promote the casino arm, I know in my heart that continuing in my current role could risk helping to send people to a place where they would encounter something I think is dangerous. That’s not the way I want to make a living.”

Negreanu, a current Team PokerStars pro, responded:

"I both respect and admire Vicky Coren’s personal stance on online casino gaming.”

He went on to question his own stance when it comes to playing poker at the possible expense of others, more specifically gambling addicts.

He wrote on his blog:

Am I OK with playing poker in a casino that offers games of chance to people where the house holds an edge big enough to make sure they could never be long term winners?

Am I OK with eating dinner, or seeing a show in a casino where some problem gamblers are ruining their lives?

Well, the simple fact that I chose poker as a career and have been doing so for 20 years is answer enough. I’m aware of the dangers that exist for people when it comes to gambling. Whether it’s poker where the professionals fleece the novice players, or the casinos offering “fun games” that are unbeatable.

I would personally feel like a hypocrite if I justified that it’s OK for me to take money from problem gamblers, but it's not OK for the casino to do the same. if it’s wrong it’s wrong, no matter who profits. As much as we’d like to separate poker from gambling, poker played for money IS gambling. There will be some winners, and a vast majority of losers.

- Ace King, Gambling911.com