Phil Hellmuth Gives Ultimate Bet Scam Figure Greg Pierson a Gold Bracelet

Phil Hellmuth, the renowned poker player, has revealed that he gave one of his 17 World Series of Poker gold bracelets to Greg Pierson, a figure linked to the Ultimate Bet scam. Hellmuth, who won his 17th gold bracelet this week, has kept his inaugural bracelet from the 1989 Main Event victory and has given away several others to family members, rich friends, and now, notably, to Greg Pierson.

Greg Pierson, a software engineer and high-level executive at Ultimate Bet, was involved in one of the biggest cheating scandals in online poker history. The Ultimate Bet scam involved the creation of superuser access that allowed cheating, enabling figures like Russ Hamilton and Scott Tom to see opponents' cards and siphon an estimated $22 million before being uncovered.

Phil Hellmuth was formerly an Ultimate Bet sponsored pro alongside Annie Duke. Dan Cates, known as Jungleman, called out Hellmuth's alleged involvement in the scandal, to which Hellmuth responded by claiming he instigated and forced the investigation at Ultimate Bet. Greg Pierson, however, has claimed that audio tapes purporting to reveal him discussing ways to minimise the hit UB would take, were taken out of context.