Kristen Bicknell Leaves partypoker: Why Are Poker Sites Losing Sponsored Players?

Kristen Bicknell, a prominent Canadian-born professional poker player, recently announced her departure from partypoker via Twitter. In her heartfelt post, Bicknell expressed her excitement to continue promoting the game globally and her pride in being a role model for female poker players.

Bicknell's departure from partypoker is just the latest in a series of high-profile poker players leaving major poker sites. Between 2018 and 2020, PokerStars saw several of its sponsored players leave, including Daniel Negreanu, Jason Somerville, Aditya Agarwal, Jason Mercier, Liv Boeree, Igor Kurganov, and Leo Fernandez. Negreanu, who had been with PokerStars for 12 years, joined GGPoker after his departure.

In late 2020 and early 2021, partypoker also experienced a significant exodus of sponsored players, including Chris Moneymaker, Celina Lin, Philipp Gruissem, Anatoly Filatov, Roberto Romanello, Ludovic Geilich, Renato Nomura, Richard Dubini, and Josip Simunic. The trend of sponsored players leaving major poker sites coincides with a shift in focus towards non-poker gaming and casino endeavors. PokerStars, for example, has been pouring more resources into non-poker online gaming and casino endeavors since being purchased by Amaya for $14.9 billion in 2014.