Daniel Negreanu’s Resignation Threats Revealed in 2+2 Feud

A chatlog featuring Daniel Negreanu reveals that PokerStars’ top ambassador told players concerned about the SuperNovaElite disgrace which blighted the site three years ago that his resignation was on the table if his paymasters didn’t fulfil their promise.

The revelations were made in a thread devoted to Negreanu on the 2+2 forum, the Canadian’s ‘intentions’ exposed by 2+2 owner Mason Malmuth after another well-known Negreanu critic, Thomas ‘SrslySirius’ Keeling, claimed that Negreanu had managed to get screenshots of the chatlog “scrubbed from the internet”.

Malmuth, however, had saved the chat and it makes for very interesting reading – the poker community at the time up in arms over PokerStars reneging on their 2-year SNE commitment, leading to player boycotts and masses of bad press for the industry leaders.

“He promised a concerned group of players that he would give stars his resignation if they didn't make it right. There used to be screenshots of him saying this, but he managed to get them scrubbed from the internet”, wrote Keeling, adding, “Obviously Daniel never intended to do any such thing. Strange act of cowardice from someone that preaches so much about integrity”.

Malmuth, then produced a Negreanu update on his discussions behind the scenes at PokerStars HQ, the Canadian explaining:

“I’ve been on calls 6-8 hours a day, about half of those one-on-one with CEO David Baazov. We’ve covered the wide spectrum of issues, but ultimately my main focus is getting him to implement these changes starting Jan 1, 2017 and honor the SNE commitment.”

Negreanu: “My resignation is obviously in play”

Claiming to have made headway with his paymasters, Negreanu then stated:

“Again, please don’t share this publicly, but my resignation is obviously in play as much as I’d hope it doesn’t have to come to that”, adding “That would be even worse for the players because as of now there is no one else within the company working towards a reversal of these changes”.

“2+2 is run by scumbags”

Negreanu and Malmuth have ‘previous’ of course, dating back at least to 2012 when Negreanu supported a charity event which Malmuth would not allow to be advertised on his forum, Negreanu writing a blog post on his Full Contact Poker website entitled ‘2+2 is run by scumbags’.

Charity scam leads to falling out

The charity event became embroiled in ‘scam’ claims after the main person behind it used some of the money raised for his own gambling, leading to an ‘I told you so’ from Malmuth and anger at the lack of any kind of apology from ‘DNegs’.

Later, as we all know, PokerStars didn’t go back on its plans to screw over its SNE players and Negreanu didn’t resign over the issue, a fact which angers poker players and fans to this day.

‘All Hail Circe’ wrote one of the more printable posts:

“I was a HUGE fan of him back in the day and thought he was the best ambassador and represented everything good for the game. To see him now....makes me feel sick.”

Bans, more bans and banhammers

Poster ‘VideoPro’ brought up the issue of Negreanu blocking those he disagrees with, writing:

"Given Dnegs policy of blocking folks and 2+2, and making false and insulting posts, without apology even when proven wrong, IMO we should avoid posting videos produced by him unless they are to prove a point you wish to make. He doesn't deserve any free publicity over here".

Malmuth explained his own Twitter block by the PokerStars number one:

“Negreanu has publicly attacked me for my views on goal setting which recently appeared in a post …after my post went up, I tweeted at Negreanu to look at it. But apparently, while he can dish it out he can’t take it, and my Twitter was blocked”.

As your scribe here recently found out, the phrase ‘pot, kettle, black’ springs to mind when Malmuth says such things, his own 2+2 site quick to wield the banhammer when it suits…

…but nevertheless, the main story of Negreanu’s ‘resignation’ revelations over-ride any such petty squabbles.