A second PokerStars boycott by high-stakes and high-variance players is apparently failing woefully to produce a dent that is discernible at minimum on the site’s traffic numbers.

Around 1,600 players enrolled in the protest, according to organizers.

Per industry number-cruncher PokerScout.com, while traffic dipped on January 1st, the initial day of the attack, it actually rose on January 2nd, in comparison with the same day the previous week, while Sunday, January 3rd remained on par with figures from the same day the prior week.

Of course, it’s impossible to understand just how much the sudden dearth of high stakes players affects PokerStars’ daily rake, and whether all the players whom pledged to sit out have in truth proved real to their word.

The boycott, which is due to get rid of Thursday, January 7th, has been organized by several groups including WeArePokerPlayers.com and Tiltbook.com, in addition to a number of high-profile, high stakes players on the 2+2 forums, in protest towards a major overhaul to the VIP system, which took impact on January 1st.

PokerStars announced in November that these changes would consist of scrapping Supernova Elite rewards for 2016, despite the achievement of this status being a process that is two-year.

Boycott Backfired?

PokerStars claims that the modifications are created to improve the poker ecology, however they leave high-stakes, high-volume players high and dry.

While these players represent a few of the website’s avid that is most, long-lasting, and high-ranking players, they are usually net-withdrawing players rather than the hordes of net-depositors that the internet poker giant is anxious to attract.

The first boycott took place between December 1st and 3rd, with 2,600 players joining in the sit out. But that occasion clashed with the PokerStars Christmas Festival, so traffic numbers remained comparable, except that those high-stakes players were changed with lower stakes players attracted by low buy-ins and jackpot prizes.

While PokerStars is probably to have raked less through that period, it declared itself vindicated by the boycott december.

‘During the boycott that is three-day recorded the healthiest consecutive three-day ecosystem results of the season with steady net gaming revenue, despite the fact that our net-depositing players lost at a much lower rate than they’ve all year,’ wrote Eric Hollreiser, VP of Communications for PokerStars and Amaya.

More Boycotts Planned

The affected players remain undeterred, nonetheless, and are determined to exhibit PokerStars that they can make the operator’s life hard.

And more boycotts are planned into the future. WeArePokerPlayers.com has launched a campaign looking for 5,000 signatures to accept at the very least a month-long hit, while other protestors have actually recommended that a 10,000-player boycott could reduce PokerStars’ rake by as much as 30 percent.

On New Year’s Day, Ike Haxton became the second pokerStars that are high-profile to resign in disgust at the changes, following exemplory instance of Alex Millar, whom severed ties using the site right before the holiday period.

‘As a four time Supernova Elite, I understand what it takes to rake 1M VPP in a year,’ composed haxton on 2+2. ‘It’s a grind that is tough. For some of the players that do it, it is an all-consuming commitment more intense than most regular jobs.

‘Many of these have relocated far from their homes and families to pursue it,’ he included. ‘Finding out, just while you approach the finish line, that your efforts will never be rewarded as you expected them to be is brutal. I cannot in good conscience carry on to endorse a poker site that treats its players this real way.’