Cliff Josephy, better known as Johnny Bax, is a prominent online poker personality having a successful poker career both on and offline. Winning a WSOP bracelet and the recent FTOPS X Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo event with a $46K cash payout, he generates quite a bit of buzz in the online poker community. His popularity got him a deal only six months ago with the online poker room, Ultimate Bet, who wanted him as a redline pro on their team. UB was hoping to improve its image by recruiting pros like Bax who has a great reputation for having positive attitude at the table and is just an all-around nice guy. In June 2008 Johnny Bax and Ultimate bet made a deal. The arrangements that the deal entailed are unknown, but Bax has been associated with the UB name and has been promoting the site for the last six months.
But, just the other day, Bax announced on 2+2 Forum that he would no longer be representing UB. What followed was a buzz of curiosity about why the partnership was so abruptly cut off. Finally, with the permission of Bax, one of his friends was able to clear it up, somewhat. A member on 2+2 Forum, “sheetsworld,” posted that Bax broke off his engagement with the Ultimate Bet website because UB had backed out of their agreement without any explanation. So, the only option Bax had was to cut ties with the group and will no longer be a redline pro member at UB nor represent the website at live events.
Since May of 2008 Ultimate Bet has signed quite a few pros to cushion their reputation, including Eric “Rizen” Lynch (who has since left the UB team), Tiffany Michelle, James “POKERPRO33” Campbell, Michael Binger, Tracy Scala, Adam “Roothlus” Levy, and “Hollywood Dave” Stann.
No one is certain of the fate of UB, especially after being absorbed into the Cereus Network along with Absolute Poker. They may be black sheep of online poker, forever known as the site that broke their players’ trust by allowing their hole cards to be seen, ending up at the center of a major collusion scandal. In any event, Johnny Bax probably made the right decision, breaking connections with Ultimate Bet.
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