Prior to the start of this year’s World Series of Poker (WSOP), UB.com announced an expansion to its sponsored players roster, signing adult entertainer Samantha Ryan to a limited contract.
While Ryan has no cashes in the tournament poker world, she has been involved with the game for the past couple of years. During the 2008 WSOP, Ryan joined poker professional Maria Ho in cheering on Tiffany Michelle to her 17th place finish in the $10,000 Main Event. Most recently, Ryan has played in many charity events, including current National Heads-Up Poker champion and Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Annie Duke’s recent tournament benefiting the After School All Stars at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles. Ryan now joins Michelle and Duke on Team UB, which features some of the top players in the game today.
Led by 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, Team UB also features Duke, recent European Poker Tour (EPT) San Remo champion Liv Boeree, Adam “Roothlus” Levy, Brandon Cantu, and Bryan “badbeatninja” Devonshire, among others. UB.com has demonstrated that it looks outside the “poker” box with its sponsorships, as Anthrax’s Scott Ian a member of Team UB who frequently participates in tournaments on the site.
Ryan is one of the most decorated adult entertainers in the business. She has won at least one AVN Award – the adult film industry’s version of the Academy Awards – in each of the last four years and has appeared in approximately 140 films. Some of her more innocently titled features include “War of the Girls,” “All By Myself,” and “French Confessions.”
Apparently, the UB.com deal has been in the works for at least the last couple of weeks. Ryan, Ho, and Michelle are close friends who Tweet continuously and the possibility of a sponsorship deal was first discussed by Ryan. Back on May 25th, she responded to a fan’s question of whether she would be in attendance at the WSOP by Tweeting, “I’ll be around 4 sure! Not sure about WSOP events.”
Three days later, Ryan excitedly announced over her Twitter feed, “So it’s official! I WILL be playing in 5-6 WSOP Events sponsored by @ultimate_bet! A million thanks @RealAnnieDuke! C my fans there!” According to Ryan, her first event will be Friday’s $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament, Event #11 on the 2010 WSOP schedule.
So far, UB.com sponsored players have joined in every event played at the WSOP. Hellmuth ran deep in the $50,000 Player’s Championship, albeit missing the money. “I’m out,” Hellmuth commented on Twitter after his departure, “I deserved so so so much better. Stunning, & scary how bad I ran! I wanted it so bad & I played so hard. Feeling srry 4 myself.” \\Michelle has also been in action in Event #3, a $1,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament, but was dismissed early on Day 1B.
Joining Michelle in action for Event #3 was UB.com’s Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin, the reigning CardPlayer Player of the Year. The tournament will restart at 3:00pm PT this afternoon with the final 41 players. Baldwin currently sits in eighth place with a chip stack of 479,000 and is looking to earn his second WSOP bracelet in as many years.
