Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke, the two long time highly visible poker pros, have announced their departure from UB. First, Annie Duke delivered the news in her blog and Twitter feed that she got engaged on Christmas to long time boyfriend, actor Joe Reitman. He delivered the ring in the bottom of her Christmas stocking. Then Annie announced her departure from UB "After some thought, I made a decision to leave UB.com because I would like to explore other avenues of business and personal growth. I realized I needed to spend my time on other things.” She indicated she won't be signing with another poker room immediately.
UB.com then that Phil Hellmuth would also be leaving the UB pro team on Thursday. Phil Hellmuth recently gave an interview with Jesse May, at the Aria Casino that gave no indication of his intentions. Despite his mixed reaction in some poker communities, the 11 time bracelet winner would be a welcome lead promotional pro on a lot of poker sites. Both visible poker players had been at UB over many years and dealt with numerous scandals and swings in fortune at the site.
Joe Sebok, likely the most prominent of the remaining poker pros associated with UB, indicated on his blog "These two legends in our industry have, quite literally, helped to build UB into what it is today. Phil and Annie have been the face of the company for years now, and we thank them for their unbelievable contributions and bid them the utmost in success moving forward. With that said, we look forward to 2011, and I believe it will be the finest year that we have ever had at UB.”
It has been rumored that Annie Duke could end up at Full Tilt where her brother is an owner. Some have also speculated that Phil Hellmuth could be a lead pro at the eventual WSOP.com if the US market ever gets regulated and licensed. Such prominent players coming and going are major news in the poker world.
