Former PokerStars Pro Ike Haxton Criticizes PokerStars Power Up

Isaac Haxton was once one of the most hardworking PokerStars pros in the roster, now he is Star Groups' harshest critic. 

PokerStars released a brand new poker variant that lives up to their promise of combining video games and Poker - PokerStars Power Up.

The reception has been lukewarm,  many regular players worry that this would drive rec players away from the standard games with its silly gimmicks. 

The PokerStars Blog Twitter account tried its best to mitigate these fears, but one former PokerStars Pro was having none of it. 

Just a few years ago, Isaac Haxton was one of the most in-demand representatives of the PokerStars brand. He never missed a chance to promote PokerStars in and outside of poker media, going on the Joe Rogan Podcast as a guest. 

His popularity was such that PokerStars produced a short documentary on his life by Bet Raise Fold director Ryan Fripo. 

Haxton isn't someone to just put in front of a camera to parrot talking points, however. He is an admired top-level poker player who has helped PokerStars improve on their product many times. He even helped them develop the Shark Cage TV Show, which itself featured a gimmicky form of poker. 

So what happened? Well, Ike Haxton isn't a respected poker player just because of how good he is at poker, but also because of his unrelenting honesty. It was that same honesty that did not allow him to continue making appearances on behalf of a company he no longer believes in. 

He broke ties with Stars Group (then Amaya) on early 2016 after PokerStars announced they would not honor their Supernova and Supernova Elite loyalty programs as promised.

Since then he has become one of Stars Group's most vocal critics and he had a few choice words for the new Power Up format. 

While he's echoing the concerns of many in this community, condemnation for PokerStars Power Up was far from universal. 

Pokercast Adam, for example, had this to say about Isaac's tweets:

While many hoped for a popcorn-worthy Twitter beef, it actually sparked a worth-reading conversation between the two personalities and their mutual followers.

What do you think of the new PokerStars Power Up? Have you played it?  Let us know in the comments.