On Thursday, online poker room Ultimate Bet announced that it had signed World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet holder and top online poker player Matt “mattg1983” Graham to its roster of Star Players. He joins Tiffany Michelle, Tracy Scala, James “P0KERPR033” Campbell, Adam “Roothlus” Levy, “Hollywood” Dave Stann, and Michael Binger.
Graham’s WSOP bracelet came after a grueling heads-up match against Bodog pro and “Survivor: China” contestant Jean-Robert Bellande in a $1,500 buy-in Limit Shootout event last year. Graham’s win was worth $278,000, solidifying his name as a major force in both the live and online poker worlds. Graham also took down a $5,000 buy-in event held during the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic in December for $320,000, besting David Matthew heads-up. Finishing in the top ten of that tournament were a talented group of pros including David “The Dragon” Pham, Hafiz Khan, Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, and Marco “CrazyMarco” Johnson.
In a statement released by the Tokwiro-owned online poker site, Annie Duke welcomed her new colleague to Ultimate Bet: “I am so thrilled to have Matt Graham on the team. Matt epitomizes the all-around poker player. He has great results in all of the games, live or online. Matt is an amazing addition to the UltimateBet.com team.” Duke and Phil Hellmuth serve as the primary faces of Ultimate Bet, which makes its home on the USA-friendly CEREUS Network. Late last year, the site combined its member base with that of Absolute Poker, creating the popular Network.
Michelle was the last woman standing in the 2008 WSOP Main Event, ultimately finishing 17th and taking home $334,000. Scala won the first season of “Best Damn Poker Show,” a reality series on Fox Sports Net pitting Duke and Hellmuth against each other to see who can groom poker’s next superstar. The second installment of “Best Damn Poker Show” just wrapped up and was won by Patrick Karst.
Campbell is one of the top online players and can be found battling it out under the alias “P0KERPR033.” Levy finished fifth in the World Poker Tour’s Festa al Lago event last year, banking $266,000. Stann was a contestant on “Best Damn Poker Show” Season One and is well-known for his skills at the blackjack table. Binger has nearly $5 million in career WSOP earnings, although he has not yet won a bracelet.
On his new employer, Graham noted, “I look forward to the opportunity to represent UltimateBet.com both online and in the live arena. I never would have thought I would be a site pro when I began my online poker career at UltimateBet.com four years ago, but now here I am. I am very excited to be a part of the future of this site.” Online, the poker prodigy took down the Sunday Second Chance on PokerStars in August for $53,000. In the same month, he also won the PokerStars $100 rebuy, one of the most challenging tournaments in all of poker, for $38,000.
According to PokerScout.com, which ranks online poker traffic, CEREUS sits at number seven worldwide with a seven day running average of 2,400 real money ring game players. Its 24 hour peak, which occurs during prime time hours in the United States, is 3,321. The CEREUS Network is the third largest that accepts players from the United States, trailing only PokerStars (24,400 cash game players on average) and Full Tilt Poker (11,000). Both Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet are owned by Tokwiro Enterprises. The Network’s Bad Beat Jackpot was hit last week for over $800,000 when a Royal Flush defeated a jack-high Straight Flush.