Apparently having signed 2011 World Series of Poker champion Pius Heinz has given PokerStars a little wiggle room when it comes to the worth of their other Team PokerStars from Europe, and two of those players have seemingly been let go by the site: JP Kelly from the UK and Juan Maceiras from Spain. Both players have been removed from the Team PokerStars roster and their bios have been deleted.

Kelly is a double WSOP bracelet winner and is considered one of the top young UK poker players (which makes him one of the top young poker players) while Maceiras is #3 on the all-time money-list in Spain and one of the country’s most well-known poker players(which drops off considerably after Carlos Mortensen).

No reason has been given by either the players or PokerStars, and the decision likely came down to the sides unable to negotiate a new deal –considering both players are still fairly active and successful. Maceiras has career tournament earnings of over $1 million and Kelly’s career earnings exceed $1.6 million.

My guess is that neither player will be out of a sponsorship deal for very long, so it will be interesting to see where the two players land. Maceiras’ sister Maria Maceiras is sponsored by Everest Poker, so Juan may end up joining her on the Everest Poker roster. Kelly will likely have many suitors, considering he is a double bracelet winner who recently finished 26th in the 2011 WSOP Main Event.

Considering PokerStars has added Pius Heinz recently, and PKR Poker has added Jake Cody, there is still a solid market for sponsorships –Learn how to get the best PKR Rakeback for your chance to take on Triple Crown winner Jake Cody and the rest of Team PKR Poker.

Tags: Career Earnings, Carlos Mortensen, Heinz, Jp Kelly, New Deal, PKR, poker players, PokerStars, rakeback, Sister Maria, Sponsorship Deal, Suitors, Time Money, Trims, Triple Crown Winner, Wiggle Room, world series, World Series of Poker, World Series Of Poker Champion, WSOP Main Event

This entry was posted on Monday, November 21st, 2011 at 9:14 am and is filed under Poker News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.