The rumors swirling over the last day or two were true: Viktor “Isildur1” Blom and Gus Hansen (pictured) are no longer sponsored pros of Full Tilt Poker. There had been reports of their likenesses being removed from the Full Tilt website, so the rumors were strong, but no public statement had been made as to whether it was just a site redesign or if, in fact, the two players were really not part of Full Tilt anymore.

PocketFives reached out to Full Tilt and the online poker room confirmed that Blom and Hansen are no longer serving as the site’s pros. The brief statement is as follows:

“We can confirm that Full Tilt’s sponsorship of Viktor Blom and Gus Hansen has expired. This follows a year-long review of the Full Tilt brand and a decision to move away from Pro-centric advertising to focus on the experiences and stories of the vast majority of our players. Full Tilt will celebrate the excitement, fun, and intrinsic enjoyment of playing our poker, blackjack, roulette, and slots games. A new TV campaign will launch imminently, representing this new approach. There will be more news on this later in the week. We would like to wish Viktor and Gus all the best in their future endeavors.”

The reaction to the initial rumors was slightly mixed in the poker community. People were generally disappointed that the two big names would possibly be leaving the nosebleed-stakes tables at Full Tilt, but at the same time, the move by Full Tilt made sense.

As poster “Karcsi” on Two Plus Two put it, “Let’s be honest,Viktor has practically no marketing value at all since he is not doing any interviews or promoting the site or even the game itself more to the public.”

When Full Tilt Poker re-launched in late 2012, it did so with three men as the face of the site: Hansen, Blom (pictured), and Tom “durrrr” Dwan. Called “The Professionals,” they were three of the biggest high-stakes draws in the game, players who fans regularly logged in to watch. Dwan left Full Tilt in December 2013 after his contract was up.

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