It happens around the end of a year or the beginning of a new one. Sponsored pro poker players sometimes exit their contracts, whether at the behest of the online poker operator or their own free will. The end of the year always brings some changes. And this year, they all seemed to happen to partypoker.
Team partypoker has undergone a number of changes in the past year. Around this time in 2021, we found out that several team members parted ways with partypoker, including Anatoly Filatov, Ludovic Geilich, Roberto Romanello, and Philipp Gruissem. Bigger names left later in the year. Jason Koon followed Filatov out of partypoker and over to the GGPoker roster. Partypoker also cut ties with Kristen Bicknell.
Isaac Haxton
Known informally as Ike, Isaac Haxton joined partypoker at the beginning of 2018. At that time, he joined names like Koon and Holz on the team. “I’ve been very impressed with their growth over the last year or so,” he said at the time. He noted that the improved software was a plus, as were new partypoker LIVE events and more game offerings.
Over the years, Haxton has amassed more than $27.6M in live tournament earnings, which doesn’t even include the millions he has won online. He started his poker career during the poker boom as an online poker crusher and continued to play on the virtual felt – often in high-stakes cash games – through the years. His penchant for high-stakes poker took him to Triton and EPT events for high rollers prior to the pandemic. Since then, he racked up quite a few cashes in virtual events like the WSOP Online and WPT Online.
On December 31, 2021, Haxton tweeted a brief goodbye to partypoker. He noted that the four years had been fun and wished the operator the best.
https://twitter.com/partypoker/status/1477005458061803524?s=20
Louise Butler
In the past decade, women have been few and far between to obtain online poker sponsorships. Louise Butler was one of them. When she joined partypoker in 2017, Butler was already known as an Irish grinder online. Perhaps that’s why partypoker signed her as a member of their Team Online and Team PartyPoker Ladies. The latter has since dissipated, and Butler became a member of the general team of sponsored pros.
Butler has played some live events since signing with partypoker. Some were obviously in Ireland, but she also trekked to locations like Las Vegas to play in the World Series of Poker and the Bahamas for the partypoker MILLIONS. She racked up more than $30K in wins at the live tables, but that doesn’t compare to her $823K in online earnings. The past few months, she has been very active on PokerStars…though there is no indication that she is signing with Stars.
But on January 3, 2022, she tweeted her goodbye to partypoker. “After a fun four years,” she wrote, “I’m leaving partypoker. I hope I was a good ambassador during this time – especially for women who play.”
https://twitter.com/LouiseB555/status/1478009498375708673?s=20
https://twitter.com/LouiseB555/status/1478025368070406144?s=20
Joni Jouhkimainen
Another four-year member of the partypoker team was Joni Jouhkimainen, who tweeted about his departure on December 29, 2021. He joined the team at the age of 26. The Finnish poker pro had been crushing online for years and was already sixth on Finland’s all-time money list for live tournament earnings. He had been playing since he was 15 informally and 18 in Helsinki casinos.
Jouhkimainen’s first major win was the Main Event of the European Masters of Poker IV in 2012. But he went on to final tables from the EPT to WSOP. Most recently, he traveled to the WSOP in Las Vegas amidst Covid restrictions and final tabled the $5K PLO-NLHE event. But it was back in Europe at the WSOP Europe where he made two final tables…and finished in second both times. Those were tough, being so close to a WSOP bracelet in events that happened within days of each other.
On the bright side, last year was the best of Jouhkimainen’s career in live poker thus far, and he sits with more than $4.6M in live tournament earnings thus far. He has also moved up to third on the Finnish list.
https://twitter.com/Jouhkb/status/1476261145162010630?s=20
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