After PokerStars officials announced plans to expand into casino gaming, leading UK poker player Victoria Coren Mitchell made a “quick decision” to end her seven-year affiliation with Team PokerStars Pro. In a recent announcement, she wrote, “I can’t hang around, sleep on it, have meetings and talk myself into staying, when my gut tells me that the right thing is to walk away.”
By “walking away,” Mitchell is leaving the world’s preeminent poker organization. Drawing elite poker players from nearly every corner of the world, Team PokerStars Pro features champions from the most prestigious tournaments in the industry. The team’s current roster includes international sensations such as Jonathan Duhamel, Chris Moneymaker, Ivan Demidov, and Angel Guillén.
Mitchell stresses that her sudden departure is in no way a criticism of the PokerStars organization or its administrative team. “They are providing a new service that people want,” she added, “and I know they intend to abide by some key principles of responsible gaming.”
A poker purist, Mitchell simply doesn’t want her name associated with casino games. “Poker is the game I love,” she wrote. “Poker is what I signed up to promote.”
Mitchell’s devotion to the game of poker has paid big dividends for the Hammersmith native. Currently ranked 25th on England’s all-time poker money list, she simultaneously writes weekly columns for The Guardian and The Observer newspapers and authors regular columns for magazines such as GQ and Elle. A popular media personality, she currently hosts the radio comedy series Heresy and the BBC television quiz show Only Connect.
Although she is waiting to see how the company handles its new casino gaming rollout, Mitchell is not opposed to working with PokerStars again “on something which is pure poker.” In any event, she is certainly not giving up the game that she loves. “Players and gamblers of the world,” she promises, “I’m sure I’ll still see you all across the occasional baize table.”
