Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke Part Ways with Ultimate Bet

Ultimate Bet has parted ways with Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke ending the long-term partnership between one of the largest online poker sites and two of the most well-known faces in poker. Both players had been associated with Ultimate Bet since the site first opened in 2001.

Ultimate Bet released a statement announcing the end of their relationship with Hellmuth:

“The poker pro who is famous for his grand WSOP entrances is making one final exit. Today we are announcing that UB.com and Phil Hellmuth have mutually parted ways. It has been great working with Phil over the last decade and we know we’re with the rest of the poker world when we say that we look forward to Phil’s next move on the world poker circuit. While Hellmuth is no doubt an instantly recognizable poker personality, Team UB will continue to be stacked with young, aggressive poker professionals who today’s passionate online poker players can really identify with.”

Duke made the announcement on her website, saying that she planned to “explore and pursue other business opportunities on a full-time basis.”

While Hellmuth and Duke were certainly the most prominent names on the site, “Team UB” still features many professional players who help promote Ultimate Bet. Some of the best known include Joe Sebok, Bryan Devonshire and Tiffany Michelle.

Hellmuth’s departure had been speculated on for some time, in part due to television appearances where he was seen wearing patches for the WSOP Academy and Aria Casino, but no Ultimate Bet apparel. As for Duke, she has plenty to spend time on in her personal life; in addition to playing an important role in organizing the Ante Up for Africa charity tournament, she recently became engaged to her boyfriend, fellow poker player Joe Reitman.

On her website, Duke stated that she had no intention of leaving the poker world as a whole any time soon.

“While I will no longer be a part of UB,” she said, “I will remain a part of the online and offline poker community and am confident that we will continue to cross paths playing this amazing game that we all love.”