Alex "Kanu7" Millar quits Team PokerStars online due to upcoming VIP system changes

We reported about players boycotting VIP system changes at PokerStars both online and recently at EPT Prague, but there is one individual that stands out with his actions and principles. Alex "Kanu7" Millar resigned yesterday from his position as a member of "Team Pokerstars Online", as he is against upcoming VIP changes. Millar, who is considered one of the top No Limit Hold'em cash game players in the world, is the first player to take such a drastic actions in order to show his disapproval for the changes and the way they were communicated to players.

Here is what Millar had to say via his Twitter account (@kanupoker):
"I'd like to apologise to the players for my complete failure to be able to help in any way with the recent pokerstars VIP changes (1/2)"
"With @RealKidPoker eventually failing as well I no longer feel I can represent the company and I have now left Team Pro Online (2/2)"

Kanu7 is 12th on the list of biggest poker winners tracked by HighstakesDB. His total cash game profits amount to $3,294,787.

This is actually the second time similar situation happened to PokerStars. In 2014, Team PokerStars Pro, Victoria Coren-Mitchell, quit the team to show her disapproval of how parent company of PokerStars, Amaya Gaming, was pushing PokerStars towards casino gaming and sports betting.

Respek

On December 17 2015 21:26 TimDawg wrote: Respek

wheres baal at

baal would be busto w/o whoring our rake money

considering all cuts they're making in promos as well i doubt sponsored players didn't get a cut as well, but yeah its about time you all tell them to fuck off, let em promote the game with people like Neymar which will tear their skin off when it comes to payments

boss

On December 17 2015 21:34 handbanana21 wrote: wheres baal at

Imi here

^better do not type and rather use both hands to hold onto your contract

On December 18 2015 01:38 dogmeat wrote: ^better do not type and rather use both hands to hold onto your contract

Agreed.

What this guy did might be cool but personally i would do like Baal 100%

respect

Frankly, given the amount of money he's taken from the games and Pokerstars I don't really respect the decision at this point in time. Victoria Coren was the first to leave and that was a long time ago. I understand she's far from short of money, but she saw what was coming and took a moral stand, she acted purely on morals and that's not how I feel about Kanu's actions at all at this point in time. I feel like Kanu has just read the public opinion and made this decision to get "respect" from the crowd... If he was really against Pokerstars' business plan that much he could have left when Victoria did, they all must have had a clue about the future. He's just the same as the rest of them - self serving. But he's acting as if he isn't to get praise like he's a pioneer and deserves positive attention. I don't buy it. Fuck him. #hadafewbeers #mightnotagreewithmyassessmenttomorrow

Classic example of damned if you do, damned if you dont. I think thats pretty unfair midian. Its impossible to know his intentions, but from face value, he made a bold move, whereas everyone else is choosing to let it blow over. Hopefully bigger names will follow suit. (nanonoko for one, given he used to represent the ultimate grinder)

yeah what does he stand to gain from this "respect"

maybe he didn't feel strongly about things before but just reached a point where he couldn't stomach staying?

On December 18 2015 03:42 ToT)MidiaN( wrote: Frankly, given the amount of money he's taken from the games and Pokerstars I don't really respect the decision at this point in time. Victoria Coren was the first to leave and that was a long time ago. I understand she's far from short of money, but she saw what was coming and took a moral stand, she acted purely on morals and that's not how I feel about Kanu's actions at all at this point in time. I feel like Kanu has just read the public opinion and made this decision to get "respect" from the crowd... If he was really against Pokerstars' business plan that much he could have left when Victoria did, they all must have had a clue about the future. He's just the same as the rest of them - self serving. But he's acting as if he isn't to get praise like he's a pioneer and deserves positive attention. I don't buy it. Fuck him. #hadafewbeers #mightnotagreewithmyassessmenttomorrow

I think its 2 different things.

Victoria did it because of casino/sport bets
He did it because of the VIP system.

I personally don't mind the whole sport betting thing, i'm actually happy about it =)

On December 18 2015 03:42 ToT)MidiaN( wrote: Frankly, given the amount of money he's taken from the games and Pokerstars I don't really respect the decision at this point in time. Victoria Coren was the first to leave and that was a long time ago. I understand she's far from short of money, but she saw what was coming and took a moral stand, she acted purely on morals and that's not how I feel about Kanu's actions at all at this point in time. I feel like Kanu has just read the public opinion and made this decision to get "respect" from the crowd... If he was really against Pokerstars' business plan that much he could have left when Victoria did, they all must have had a clue about the future. He's just the same as the rest of them - self serving. But he's acting as if he isn't to get praise like he's a pioneer and deserves positive attention. I don't buy it. Fuck him. #hadafewbeers #mightnotagreewithmyassessmenttomorrow

i fail to see why how much money he's won from the games has anything to do with this decision

in some alternate universe if Vicky Coren had been a High Stakes crusher at the time of her decision, would it have been less bold/respectable? I don't think so

I see what you're saying but I just don't really think it applies here

On December 18 2015 03:42 ToT)MidiaN( wrote: Frankly, given the amount of money he's taken from the games and Pokerstars I don't really respect the decision at this point in time. Victoria Coren was the first to leave and that was a long time ago. I understand she's far from short of money, but she saw what was coming and took a moral stand, she acted purely on morals and that's not how I feel about Kanu's actions at all at this point in time. I feel like Kanu has just read the public opinion and made this decision to get "respect" from the crowd... If he was really against Pokerstars' business plan that much he could have left when Victoria did, they all must have had a clue about the future. He's just the same as the rest of them - self serving. But he's acting as if he isn't to get praise like he's a pioneer and deserves positive attention. I don't buy it. Fuck him. #hadafewbeers #mightnotagreewithmyassessmenttomorrow

This guy won a lot, but it's worth a mention he is down like $135k this year (so probably break even at best with SNE).

If he continues at this trend next year, leaving Team Online means he will be basically losing player with new SNE rakeback and without extra bonus that every team online member gets. So I don't think this is a case of "yeah, I earned my cash, so let's get some fame".

On December 18 2015 02:30 Floofy wrote: Show nested quote + On December 18 2015 01:38 dogmeat wrote: ^better do not type and rather use both hands to hold onto your contract Agreed. What this guy did might be cool but personally i would do like Baal 100%

I will give u sarcasm detector for xmas

But nobody is expecting baal to quit, esp given how much he sucks at poker

Just relax, everything is the same

Kanu7 is a great guy. Maybe Pro players received cuts as well, maybe he was about to get kicked, maybe he uses this to gain anything from the community. I guess all options are possible albeit very unlikely. Kanu7 is a class act and I think his morals and ethic forced him to take a stand, instead of debating his motives we should celebrate his integrity.
There is 0 reason to believe otherwise and I think it is a terrible thing that people belittle others that do the right thing for maybe not doing "enough". Like why did Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg donate so much money, how can we find evil in that and make them look like sociapaths that want to use it as a marketing gig to do X.

Being analytical and discussing various alternative reasons why someone does something is fine, but like trying to discredit Mother Theresa or Ghandi without a good reason just seems douchy.
Midian I know you for many years and you are a cool cat but I think your post came of quite douchy/didn't receive enough thoughts. Not an attack just saying

Midian is drunk, clearly his post is dumb and should be ignored and no, Kanu obv had no ulterior motives he did it based on integrity, pretty remarkable.

BTW it appears that unlike Gates, Zuckerberg didnt donate shit, he set up a typical tax-evasion charity scam and Mother Teresa was a cruel hypocrite sociopath that only spread death and suffering in Calcuta, all you think about her is a lie, look up Hithcens book about her, or if you are lazy his documentary.