PokerStars: Fatima Moreira leaves the Team Pro

Team Pro: small is the new black

Fatima Moreira's departure from PokerStars Team Pro doesn't lie in her role for the site. Hockey isn't a trendy sport, and Fatima's name wasn't known outside her homeland. In fact, many players in the room didn't even know about her existence.

She worked under a contract with the site since 2009, was active in social networks and participated in poker events as much as possible. During this time, she cashed 51 times and won about $600,000. For a non-professional player, those are not bad results.

Moreira was the last non-poker player member of the PokerStars Team Pro.

Now the team is composed of 13 players, who have successful careers as professional poker players; among the members, perhaps the most famous is Chris Moneymaker.

Fatima's departure from the team reminds us that PokerStars isn't focusing on poker rock stars like Daniel Negreanu, but also on local players who could attract players from certain countries or region.

Now, the Team Pro is dominated by English-speaking streamers (5 people). Still, even in this area, some players have left the team, for example, Jason Somerville, who announced the termination of his contract on January 1, 2020.

Most likely, PokerStars is only reducing fixed costs by reducing the size of its team of professionals. Right now, only partypoker has a big Team Pro, and many people consider it a waste of money.

What are PokerStars competitors doing in this matter?

All other PokerStars rivals have a team of professionals of different sizes:

• GGPoker: Daniel Negreanu, Bryn Kenney, Felipe Ramos;
• Winamax: Sixteen players, including Adrian Mateos, Leo Margets, and Davidi Kitai;
• partypoker: More than 25 players including Isaac Haxton, Jason Koon, Sam Trickett, Timofey "Trueteller" Kuznetsov, and Jaime Staples. The site divides its team into three categories: Player Panel, Brand Ambassadors & Sponsored Pros, and Team Online;
• 888Poker: Ana Marquez, Chris Moorman, Martin Jacobson, Dominik Nitsche, Jackie Glazier, among other players.

In short, PokerStars can still reduce its Team Pro much more or focus on local markets instead of having world-famous players.

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