Phil Hellmuth Fires First Shot at Harrah\’s

\”Mark my words,\” he says.

Phil Hellmuth — fresh off the announcement of his coaching relationship with Harrah\’s-hater Jeff Shulman and apparently still on tilt about having to pay for his own room at the WSOP this summer — appeared on the Hardcore Poker Show today (on the internet and Sirius 98) to reveal a Glenn-Beckish unease amongst some big-time pros about the WSOP\’s intent to launch its own online poker site … and hints that Full Tilt, PokerStars, and Ultimate Bet might be talking about colluding cooperating to start their own WSOP alternative … a move he suggests could make the WSOP \”worth nothing\”.

Phil Hellmuth on Hardcore Sports Radio – excerpts
Sep 23 2009

\”There\’s a huge battle brewing …\”

[audio:/hellmuth-harrahs1.mp3,/hellmuth-harrahs3.mp3,/hellmuth-harrahs2.mp3]

Find the whole interview here.

In addition to the warning, Hellmuth calls out Harrah\’s for \”not giving any of [money] back to the players\” and takes a pop at Jeffrey Pollack for not reassuring him that everything is gonna to be alright; but it seems, without naming names, that his fear and vitriol is really directed at Mitch Garber — FTP, Stars, and UB\’s old rival at PartyPoker, who\’s never really played nice with any of them before.

My question: How did UB outplay Doyle\’s Room for third position in the unofficial alliance of American-friendly online poker rooms?