It appears as though UB and Phil Hellmuth seem to be in the middle of a power struggle of sorts over his sponsorship deal with the online poker site.

PH hasn't worn UB logos for almost a month and didn't again at this weeks NAPT bounty shootout which was televised for ESPN. It appears(speculation) on the surface as though UB can no longer afford to pay PH what he demands to rep the site.

This poses several questions.

1) Would PH ever leave UB permanently?
2) Would another major site sign him to a deal?
3) Would PH'e ego allow him to sign with a major site and be one of a stable of pro players rather than the marquee player promoted?
4) Would an online network give him his own skin similar to Doyle's Room/Unabomber Poker?
4) Are PH's sponsorship demands realistic in the current landscape of online poker?

As this story unfolds there is also the fact that Phil has been part of UB before, during and after the entire scandal.

IF, and it's obviously a major if, Phil did have any connection to or even knowledge of the scandal that has been kept hidden up to this point, that could certainly be used as a bargaining chip by either side in making sure that he doesn't go anywhere else.

The fact that he is friends with both Russ Hamilton and Greg Pierson combined with the bizarre incident where he was shipped the winning pot with a losing hand on the site, has always left some questions attached to his name but no real accusations of any kind.

5) Could unreleased information about the UB scandal come to surface (from either side) if this current standoff ends in divorce.

Should be interesting to watch/ popcorn.gif.

Maybe he's just decided to go Darvin Moon.

Wow, that WILL be interesting to watch. Pretty much the entire 2p2 community hated on phil for STILL representing that company, what do you think the prime choices will be? I highly doubt full tilt would add him to the roster because they have every other big name pro, and don't really need him. I think if stars snapped him up, him and DN would be better friends haha...

Also, does anyone think there is a chance he goes unrepresented for even a little while? I give it a few months tops, if anything he already has a deal in the works and is waiting until the UB stuff is final before he annouces anything. Great post though Mikey

I think the biggest loser here would be Phil. None of the big sites would give him as much money/tv time/importance as UB so he'll probably end up with his own site as Unabomber Poker. However, I DO see PokerStars signing him as they did with DN. PH is a huge huge name amongst average-American-don'tknowhowtospellpoker-male so he is worth some big bucks (although not as much as he thinks)

Haha I thought that as well, but I really think its unlikely. He is just a smart business man, and why would he turn down money to do what he does so well? (get ppl to look at him)

First of all,breathe and wipe the saliva from your mouth.

You have always made your hate for UB and Hellmuth well known but I think that somebody in your position should know a hell of a lot better than to lower yourself into posting the bolded.

If he leaves UB he can sign with any other site he wants.

wtf are you talking about?
it's a reasonable point.

cheers

phil is sponsored by aria, we will probably see more pros taking big deals from casinos/card rooms instead of online rooms. id imagine aria pays him a lot. at wsop, he was wearing his own ph13 hat, but just kept an aria hat on the table with him.

I think there is no way he ends up on team full tilt, his ego is too big to be the 3rd or 4th biggest deal on a site, that only leaves Pokerstars

Pros:
Already on the big game, probably the 1st or 2nd biggest draw to the show alongside Tony G
Says/Does tons of stupid stuff that gets publicized endlessly

Cons:
UB Obv
Phil has a deal with the Aria to provide publicity, the aria kicked the big game out with 36 hrs notice and recently allowed full tilt to shoot poker after dark there. It's unlikely stars would allow both deals to run concurrently
Daniel and Phil hate each other

I have long wondered why UB, despite being a company stupid enough to allow the biggest cheating scandal in online poker to happen right under their nose and then relaunch their site with new software which claimed to be the most secure software yet, which had absolutely no encryption on the raw data being sent to the client, despite being that stupid....how could they go even further and still continue to promote Phil Hellmuth, pay for all his BS lady gaga dancers private buses nascards to crash while the guy has made a total ass out of himself at every available opportunity and been crushed consistenly on almost every single TV appearance he has made in the past 5 years or so....especially when playing alongside the real best players in the world who don't need to tell themself and the rest of the world that line every 7 seconds....UB's rep can't get any worse but PH finds ways of doing it!!!

With his prominence in the poker community: i.e. bracelets, WSOP entrances, PAD, etc., this separation could mean he has decided to go solo. Look out for the launch of "Hellmuth's Room"

It might very well be a reasonable point but it's not one that should come from a person who holds a well known role within the poker community unless it's coming with some evidence and certainly not in a media like NVG.

Not remotely true. Bothsay they are good friends and have known each other a long time.

I was always under the impression that PH and Annie Duke both owned pieces of UB on top of their sponsorship deal. Was this false or did they get bought out during one of the different ownership changes?

did I not say 'if', 'speculation' or 'gossip' enough times in the post for your liking?

i wonder if PH is considered to be so associated with UB that the big 2 will sponsor him his well publicized Europe comments wont do him any favors so that leaves a cake or merge skin...none of which really have the $$ for him.

although stars coming leftfield would be pretty LOL

I thought DN and PH were actually good friends and the needling was just good for tv? DN posted here that he dislikes a few well known pros but PH isnt one of them.

since when do you need "evidence" to SPECULATE over a potential scenario? lack of evidence is the basis of gossip/speculation.

if you went into the thread knowing it was a gossip thread (which it clearly states in the title), then you should have no issue with what was posted at all.

anyway... i'm sure PH will re-sign with this hack of a site. i couldn't imagine him anywhere else. they're too perfect for each other.

I don't know about PH, but I did hear a rumor that PokerH0 and Debo were cut loose last week. Debo was patched up when I saw him at Hammond a couple of weeks back.

I really cannot see him with Full Tilt because he doesn't really fit their image but I can see him on the Cake Network eith his own Skin or PokerStars (although if Daniel kees criticising him this might be a problem)

he'd go with wsop.com fwiw people and I hope he leaves UB but I think he will end up getting a deal he cant refuse, realize that sounds more shady then it is even tho its UB but wasnt intended as that.

can you not read?

shall be interesting, if he moves away from UB i will actually like him (cause he is lawlz on tv with his amazing lines)

fwiw, even if he isn't considered the best player in the world or if he is i really don't care but looking it from this perspective you get to sign MJ in b-ball or some random player who you take ? or Michael Schumacher or your every day taxi driver who do you pick? My point is simple, market value. Just because one make X bb/100 hands one really hasn't got that much market value. That i think is the main question for big company's like FT or PS or any other company for that matter.

Bad english i know, excuse me not a native speaker.

The only problem with this guess is that he currently has some kind of arrangement with Aria. Aria=MGM, WSOP = Harrah's. Can't imagine he could do deals with both at the same time. Now if MGM plans to launch an online site themselves, then it gets really interesting.