From December 1 to 3, several players in the poker community, including a group of Russians and Dani ansky451Stern (pictured), are planning to boycott PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker site. The reason: a cut in benefits to high-stakes and high-volume players.

Stern wrote on 2+2, “This is a demonstration of force and an effort to show PokerStars that we are a body of players, not just individuals.” He told PocketFives on Twitter that “Team Russia started the protest” and Stern was trying to gather as much support as possible. Among those he was able to recruit: fellow high-stakes pro Phil OMGClayAiken Galfond.

To that end, Stern, who once appeared on the G4 reality series “2 Months, $2 Million,” wrote on 2+2, “PokerStars/Amaya has announced an aggressive overhaul of the 2016 VIP system. They have deceived SNE players about benefits they would receive, are discontinuing the SNE program, and they have completely removed all rewards for high stakes ($5/$10+) cash games.”

Stern added, “While PokerStars claims the changes are to provide relief to recreational players, there is no such change happening. They are telling their players outright lies and we will not stand for it. Beyond that, it follows an ongoing trend that PokerStars/Amaya has been taking in recent years. A site that was once clearly for the players has completely lost sight of that.”

There are reportedly 1,200 people signed up for the strike thus far and Stern told PocketFives that he would not be surprised if that number climbed to 2,000. He appeared on a podcast with Joe Ingram on Friday, the shopping Black Friday, to discuss it.

Stern and others have been Tweeting up a storm about the strike from December 1 to 3. Here’s a sampling of what he has been saying to the community:

We are striking/boycotting @Pokerstars from December 1st-3rd. I hope everyone who cares about the future of our game will join us.

— Dani Stern (@TheRealAnsky) November 27, 2015

Does @pokerstars forget that pros are the most obvious marketers for them? Who among you didn't get into poker to pursue the dream?

— Dani Stern (@TheRealAnsky) November 27, 2015

Don't play tournaments. Don't play sit and goes. Don't play cash games. Don't log on December 1st-3rd. Games will be soft, resist the urge.

— Dani Stern (@TheRealAnsky) November 27, 2015

He added, “I firmly believe that these changes will harm recs greatly as well,” perhaps giving micro- and low-stakes players a reason to join.

Among the forthcoming changes on PokerStarsare a capping of VIP Club rewards, a new VIP Steps program, and no VPPs awarded for higher-stakes games. PokerStars has also clamped down on advanced third-party software.

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