Is this a thread where I can speculate and start wild rumors???

Does anyone have any idea why they merged?

Oh, I don't know if Hellmuth hurts them any. He's just not enough to overcome by himself the massive star power of Full Tilt and the everyman rags-to-riches appeal of Stars. Those two sites have great marketing hooks and they're not afraid to use them. UB's marketing has been half-hearted at best and Absolute's is non-existent. I don't think UB's struggles have anything to do with Hellmuth.

What do you think of when you think of UB? You think of a shitty bonus and its longtime reputation of having tough competition (whether or not it's true, that's always been its rep). I think those things are customer-repellant, not that they have Hellmuth as a spokesman.