Rumblings around the Amazon Room, site of the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, have Liv Boeree and UB.com parting ways. However, Poker News Daily can independently confirm that the two sides are actively renegotiating Boeree’s contract.
Boeree made waves in April after taking down the European Poker Tour’s (EPT) San Remo Main Event for $1.7 million. She bested the largest European EPT field ever of 1,240 in the process and defeated Sweden’s Jakob Carlsson heads-up. Boeree’s win was the latest in the so-called Year of the Woman, which also included Annie Duke winning the National Heads-Up Poker Championship and Vanessa Selbst taking down the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) Mohegan Sun Main Event.
Poker News Daily has learned that Boeree’s contract has expired, but the two sides are pursuing a new deal. A UB.com spokesperson explained on Thursday, “Liv’s contract has expired. We are in contract renegotiation discussions now.” The negotiations are expected to come to a head within a week.
Meanwhile, the 2010 WSOP Main Event is playing out at the Rio in Las Vegas. Boeree played on Day 1B on Tuesday, running into a set of kings during the first level to cripple her stack. Then, she was poised for a much-needed double up with pocket jacks, but an opponent with pocket eights found a set. Boeree has never cashed in a WSOP tournament with a buy-in greater than $2,000. This year, she turned in three in the money finishes for $8,000 total.
Boeree, who is dating fellow poker pro Allie Prescott, still appears on UB.com’s website as a sponsored pro. The U.K. native was born in 1984 and, 21 years later, appeared on “Ultimate Poker Showdown.” There, she received instruction from Annie Duke, Phil Hellmuth, and David “Devilfish” Ulliott and the rest, as they say, is history. Duke and Hellmuth now front Team UB, while Ulliott serves as the namesake behind the Entraction Network site Devilfish Poker.
In May 2008, Boeree took down the Ladbrokes Poker European Ladies Championship for $42,000. Then, she final tabled a preliminary event held during the Aussie Millions in 2009 for another $13,000. The same year, Boeree took 37th in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship at the Bellagio for $40,000, nearly doubling her $25,000 buy-in. Her crowning glory remains her win in San Remo, where she became just the third woman ever to win an EPT title, joining Vicky Coren (EPT London in 2006) and Sandra Naujoks (EPT Dortmund in 2009).
Besides Hellmuth, Duke, and Boeree, UB.com’s roster of sponsored pros also includes former “Poker2Nite” host Joe Sebok, “Amazing Race” contestant Tiffany Michelle, two-time bracelet winner Brandon Cantu, and Anthrax’s Scott Ian. In early June, Cantu re-signed with UB.com for one year. UB.com pros were spotted at the site’s get-together at the Mandarin Oriental bar at CityCenter in Las Vegas on Monday. The night ended with a shotgun wedding as part of a site-sponsored prop bet contest.
Recent player signings include David Williams and Vanessa Selbst inking agreements with PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker site. In addition, PokerStars is sponsoring the stable of pros belonging to Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy and Eric “sheets” Haber during the Main Event, which includes well-known players like Nick “fu_15” Maimone, and Jamie “TheNew” Robbins. Back in May, Amanda Musumeci joined the ranks of Bodog, which parted ways with Williams, Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo, and Jean-Robert Bellande.
