UltimateBet.com has signed a deal with thrash metal band Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian to represent the company as its newest online pro.

“We’re thrilled to add Scott Ian to our roster of online poker professionals,” stated UltimateBet.com spokesperson George MacLean. “Scott represents a new breed of poker player that both Texas Hold’em and music fans can relate to.”

Ian’s poker career began—and took off—after he won VH1’s Rock Stars of Poker tournament and secured a trip to Aruba to play in the 2007 Aruba Poker Classic, UltimateBet’s signature land-based poker tournament. However, according to Ian, it was anything but skill that led to his domination of the charity poker tournament.

“I had no idea what I was doing,” concedes Ian. “My first tournament win was mostly because I had amazing cards. My instinct was all I had.”

Today, the story is a dramatically different one. It was while spending a week with 11-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth and world poker champion Annie Duke in Aruba that Ian was able to elevate his skill to a professional level.

And that was just the beginning. According to Ian, he’s received the equivalent of 10 years of poker lessons from UltimateBet.com’s online pros in less than a year. Today, he joins the likes of P0ker H0, Debo34, Shawn Rice, and KrazyKanuck as an UltimateBet.com online poker professional.

Hellmuth agrees that Ian’s lessons have paid off. The UltimateBet.com pro invited Ian to his 2007 Holiday Bash at The Palms in Vegas, a testament to how much he values Scott Ian as a professional poker player.

As a member of the team, Ian will be featured every Sunday in UltimateBet.com’s 0,000 Guaranteed poker tournament with a bounty on his head. The online poker player that knocks the Anthrax guitarist out of the tournament will win their 5 buy-in back.

Scott Ian can be found at UltimateBet.com’s online poker tables and will be playing at the 2008 Aruba Poker Classic and other land-based poker tournaments.