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Yearly UBOC

We are a few weeks into 2011 already – how time flies. If you want play on US friendly poker sites in the New Year, definitely consider UB because UBOC 6 is rapidly approaching. Included in 2011’s UB Online Championship is 29 events including the $1 million Championship Event and a $750k High Roller event. Winning one of the events nets you a special UBOC watch, and there is even a Tournament of Champions for the winners of UBOC 2010. If you were planning on trying flash Texas Holdem, now is definitely the time!

Everything got started on January 16th with a No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack event for $500+$30. Those that watched a poker video to improve at Omaha were able to put themselves to the test yesterday in the first Omaha event. If you are best at heads-up games, you have Event 13 to look forward to, but register as soon as possible because it won’t be possible to register late for this tourney.

For those with huge bankrolls, the High Roller tournament is on January 23rd for $2.1k. The Championship Event is on January 30th and features a $1,050 buy-in. If you are inexperienced on the best US poker sites and don’t want to commit to these stakes, you can opt to play satellites. The satellites start as low as 10 cents!

Another solution for those new to the top Texas Holdem sites is Mini-UBOC. Mini-UBOC mirrors the UBOC events but the stakes are a fraction of the size. While you won’t win a special watch, the prize pools will be large and the excitement of a final table will be there in spades!

A lot of people have been waiting extremely impatiently for UBOC 6 to finally come around, so be sure to take advantage of it. If you have an Apple laptop, you do not have to worry since they made Ultimate Bet for Mac. Good luck winning one of those championship watches!

Former UB Pro: Annie Duke

Originally this entry was going to describe another UB pro, but it turns out that as of today, Annie Duke is no longer part of UB. I am going to write about her still, however, since she is one of the most successful women in poker, and also because she still openly advocates US friendly poker sites.

Among the most successful lady poker players of this time, Duke earned a WSOP bracelet six years back in an Omaha Hi-Low tournament. She grew up in New Hampshire with her brother and sister. Her brother, Howard Lederer, is a pro on the Full Tilt download.

Duke’s career with UB started in 2000 and, as stated earlier, ended today. Her poker portfolio is rather impressive, as she has won over $4 million playing live poker in casinos for USA players. Her highest cash in the WSOP Main Event was 10th in 2000, the year she started with UB and the year she also had her 3rd child. She’s cashed in the World Series an impressive 37 times for a total of $1.1 million, and she won $2 million in the WSOP Tournament of Champions back in 2004. Earlier this year she was victorious in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, winning half a million dollars.

Duke isn’t famous just because she’s a female poker player. She actually tutored Ben Affleck the year he won the California State Poker Championship back in 2004. It is safe to say that her tutoring was better than any poker video he could have obtained! She’s been on the Colbert Report (the first poker player to do so), she participated in the game show 1 vs 100 not just once but three times, and Deal or No deal hosted her once. She is also well known for participating in Celebrity Apprentice just last year where she came 2nd behind Joan Rivers despite raising three times more money for her charity, Refugees International.

Duke is a big advocate of online casino gambling, and she’s not afraid to voice her opinion. She publically dislikes the restriction that people are not permitted to represent poker sites on their clothes during some live MTTs. Regarding the subject, she boldly said, “We are not even slaves. We're people paying to pick the cotton.” Duke acknowledges the fact she’s one of only a few successful women in poker, but she thinks it’s silly that women have their own exclusive tournaments. In her words, "Poker is one of the few sports where a woman can compete on a totally equal footing with a man, so I don't understand why there's a ladies only tournament." It doesn’t come as a surprise that as a result, she refuses to participate in ladies only MTTs.

Annie Duke is a good spokesperson for poker all-around. When people see her on TV, it encourages them to play on the best US poker sites. Everyone deserves to play one of the best games around!

Do you want to be Phil Hellmuth?

A high profile professional poker player that makes money via US friendly poker sites would be Phil Hellmuth, a UB representative that has gained and kept fame due to his World Series of Poker accomplishments and outbursts at the tables. Born July 16, 1964 in Wisconsin, Hellmuth was the first of five children and went to school at the University of Wisconsin. Hellmuth married his wife, Kathy, and they moved to California where they have two sons.

The fact that Hellmuth holds some incredible tournament poker records helps the site attract players to take advantage of Ultimate Bet for Mac. The most impressive record is that he has won 1st place in a whopping 11 WSOP tournaments, winning the first one back in 1989 when he was just 24 years old. His most recent bracelet was won in 2007. He created the record for cashing the WSOP (75) and the most final tables with 41. He ranks in the top ten for total WSOP winnings with $6.1 million won so far in his career. It’s interesting to note that Hellmuth has never won a World Poker Tour (WPT) event in casinos For USA players  even though he’s made the final table 3 times. In WPT tournaments he’s cashed 11 times and his total winnings is $691k. All these accomplishments caused him to be elected to the Poker Hall of Fame in 2007.

It’s Hellmuth’s tournament success that caused him to become famous, but especially to those new to the game, he is most well known for throwing huge temper tantrums while playing at the tables. The success he’s had over the years has caused him to believe he is the best online poker player in the world, and nothing upsets him more than a couple bad beats. He frequently berates players when they get lucky versus him, insulting them with childish names and calling them stupid. He even received a penalty from the floor in the 2008 WSOP for verbally abusing a player that showed a big bluff he made against Hellmuth. His multiple tantrums and overreactions over the years have earned him the nickname of “The Poker Brat”.

Leave it to Hellmuth to make money off his nickname, though. He started a clothing line using the name Poker Brat, and if you want to get into his head, you can read his thoughts in the book titled Poker Brat. It is to be expected that he has made a poker video or two, but you might be surprised to find out that he also helped make a mobile phone poker game. He’s written several newspaper columns called “Hand of the Week” where he details interesting hands that he’s encountered during his career, and he blogs for both CardPlayer and UB. Add all his TV appearances and coaching opportunities, and it’s clear that Hellmuth is cashing in at more than just playing cards.

You hear so much about Full Tilt and PokerStars, but it’s worth your time to also try out some of UB’s poker tables. Join Hellmuth at the tables and earn a deposit bonus if you haven’t already done so. Players everywhere dream of accomplishing as much as Hellmuth has accomplished in his career, but you cannot do it without plenty of practice in online poker rooms. If you would like to see what else UB has to offer, be sure to go back to my previous entries.

UB Championship Series

So far in my articles we’ve discussed the benefits of using US friendly poker sites, the UB referral code, the nitty gritty of clearing the bonus, and information about RAI$E, their VIP program. In this article I intend to discuss the tournaments hosted by UB, particularly the UB Online Championship (UBOC) series. The fourth UBOC was hosted at the start of this year, featuring 18 events over twelve days.

The players that decided to download free poker at the start of the year probably earned tons of Status Points towards their bonus during the series because they were able to play for a total prize pool of over $4 million. However, you weren’t left out if you couldn’t afford the large buy-ins because there was also the Mini-UBOC, a series that had the same events as the regular UBOC but offered buy-ins for the micro-stakes player.

Because UB is one of the top Texas Holdem sites the series had mostly Hold Em events, but the site ensured that UBOC also featured several different types of poker. Other poker options included HORSE, mixed games, and Pot Limit Omaha. Hold Em players got to choose from standard full ring games, rebuy events, short handed tournaments, and even a heads-up contest. And as a bonus, the site also gave out a special watch to each event’s winner as a gift for being the tournament champion. Most online poker rooms give these exclusive gifts to their winners to mimic the WSOP bracelets.

You could buy-in to events from $109 to $2,600 while individual tournament guarantees were anywhere from $30k to $1 million. MTT poker pros such as Annie Duke and Brandon Cantu were asked to host the events, similar to the Full Tilt Poker download and FTOPS. Some absolutely huge prizes were won, including $361k in the Deepstack No-Limit Hold Em 6-max event and $279k in the Championship Event.

With poker growing more and more every day, you can be assured that UBOC should only get better and better. You’ll need to wait until they announce the next UBOC to play in these tournaments yourself, but maybe it will give some people some time to download UB so that they can participate too. If you’re one of those that isn’t already using Ultimate Bet for Mac, feel free to read my older entries for reasons explaining why it might benefit you to do so. Until next time, good luck at the tables!

A Close Look at the UB VIP Program

Welcome back! This time I’d like to give a more detailed description regarding the VIP program on UB, one of the best US friendly poker sites. In my last article I mentioned that you get Status Points to clear your deposit bonus, but you’ll also be eligible for so much more than that because of the RAI$E program. Basically there are five levels in the program and the highest levels receive the best rewards. Every player automatically becomes part of the RAI$E program when they make an account.

When you first start playing at UB, you’re called an Ultimate Member and you’re at Level 1. Surprisingly, Ultimate Members still receive benefits such as entries to freerolls, the option for reload bonuses, and refer-a-friend bonuses. These little extras are nice for doing nothing, but as with the VIP program on the PokerStars download, you should still increase your level sooner than later. This is because Ultimate Member doesn’t even begin to compare to the higher levels.

If you earn 50 Status Points in one month, you become an Ultimate Player. Level 2 allows you to keep the Level 1 perks such as the refer-a-friend bonus, but you also receive a few extra perks. Number one, you are given an UltimatePoints multiplier that multiplies the number of Status Points you earn by two so that you save up points at double the speed. Similar to the points you receive when you download Full Tilt Poker, your Status Points can be spent at the UltimatePoints Store on whatever you wish. Even more points can be earned by playing in special UltimatePoints tournaments.

You become an Ultimate Contender at 500 Status Points, and you can receive up to $50 cash per month for Points. If you have had the chance to download PokerStars, you might know that their VIP cash bonuses are similar. You are given access to special items in the store and your UltimatePoints multiplier becomes three.

You must collect 2,500 Status Points in one month to reach Level 4, Ultimate Legend. You’re going to have to play a large number of hands to get to level 4, but you will agree that the benefits do well to reward the best online poker players. You’ll receive an UltimatePoints multiplier of four and even an additional 10% discount in the store to boot. You receive more cash for Points at this level, $250 instead of the previous $50. If that isn’t enough, Ultimate Legends also get a VIP host, a personal concierge, and exclusive freeroll entries. Sometimes there are special auctions to participate in or you'll get the occasional VIP treat.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Level 5, where you become an Ultimate Icon, gives the best benefits. You will need to earn a whopping 10,000 Status Points per month on this poker flash site, but UB will reward you handsomely. Firstly, your UltimatePoints multiplier increases to five and you have the choice to get up to $1,000 per month for your Points. You will receive a 9% interest rate on your account balance if you keep it over $1,000. Furthermore, UB will give you invitations to play in tournaments around the world such as the WPT! You should find it pretty tough to get benefits superior to these in other flash compatible casinos. You are required to receive an average of 10,000 Status Points over 6 months before you become an Ultimate Icon, and then you must keep this average going to keep going at Level 5.

UB made this VIP program to reward the people that play there all the time and to entice new players to play at UB. You should be aware that reaching the highest levels in their RAI$E program is extremely difficult and time consuming. If you're a low stakes player and you decide to make it your goal to become an Ultimate Icon, you’ll almost for sure have to put in all of your online poker at UB to accumulate the needed points. You might not have time to download Roulette if you want to become an Ultimate Icon. Reaching Level 5 is well worth the trouble, though, if you can do it.

Earn a UB Deposit Bonus

For my very first post, I gave some information about one of the US friendly poker sites, UB. I wrote about their player base and VIP program, but probably most importantly, I mentioned the UB referral code. If you use a UB referral code, you can grind out a very generous deposit bonus. I'm writing this next entry to teach you how to clear this bonus because it might not be as easy as when you cleared your Bingo codes.

Here's the simple info. First things first: use your computer and download free poker from UB’s website. Now that you've got the software, you can go to the cashier. When you make your initial real-money deposit, UBPoker gives you additional dollars equal to 111% of the cash you banked, up to $1100. These extra dollars are not yet let go. In order to release the additional dollars, you need to acquire Status Points. These points are similar to VPPs from the PokerStars rakeback program. You get Points when you play hands in real cash games, whether it be cash or MTT poker.

These next paragraphs describe, in detail, how the bonus clearing works. It is just like clearing the bonus you got with your Full Tilt Poker bonus code. For every 20 Status Points that you get, $1 of your extra money is released. Every time you get 100 status points, you get a deposit of $5 placed in your account. If you make a first deposit of $1000 (and thus receive $1100 extra dollars), you have to pick up 22,000 status points to let go of the full $1100. Be careful though: you only get 60 days to earn all of your bonus dollars before you lose the ones that remain unreleased.

So how do you get Status Points? For tournaments, you win one status point for any $0.30 of entry fee (so in a $30+3 tournament, you'd obtain 10 status points). Like on other money poker sites, the Points you obtain depend on the stakes you play. Here is a chart to help out:

No Limit
$0.01/0.02 - 1 point per 15 hands
$0.02/0.04 - 1 point for every 10 hands
$0.05/0.10 - 1 point per 10 hands
$0.10/0.25 - 1 point for each 5 hands
$0.25/0.50 - 1 point for every 3 hands
$0.50/1.00 - 1 point for each 2 hands
$1.00/2.00 - 1 point for each hand
$2.00/4.00 through $5.00/10.00 - 1.5 points for every hand
$10.00/20.00 and higher - 2 points for each hand

Limit
$0.01/0.02 - 1 point per 20 hands
$0.02/0.04 - 1 point per 20 hands
$0.05/0.10 - 1 point per 15 hands
$0.10/0.20 - 1 point per 15 hands
$0.25/0.50 - 1 point apiece per 10 hands
$0.50/1.00 - 1 point apiece per 5 hands
$1.00/2.00 - 1 point apiece per 2 hands
$2.00/4.00 - 1 point apiece per hand
$3.00/6.00 - 1.5 points per hand
$4.00/8.00 and up - 2 points for every hand

So, for example, you'd have to participate in 22,000 hands of $1.00/2.00 no-limit poker within 60 days to clear the full $1100 bonus. If you're playing lower stakes like $0.10/0.25, you'd be required to see 110,000 hands. When you think about the bonuses on the best US poker sites, this requirement is not so much of a stretch. The good news is that because you get the bonus in $5 allowances, you can deposit any amount you would like and not need to worry about being unable to clear the bonus. You might not earn the maximum amount, but some free money is better than losing all of it.

Lastly, here is a word of caution: for new players especially, the temptation to try to earn the extra cash quicker by playing higher stakes is always present. Don't forget about bankroll management! At the lowest stakes the UB deposit bonus is more tedious than any Roulette bonus, but trying to gamble higher than your bankroll will allow will almost always hurt you more than it will help you in the end.

Try Poker at UB

Hello and welcome to my new site. I am a huge fan of online poker in North America. I live in Canada, so I mostly play on US friendly poker sites. Today I am going to describe UB and go over their rewards program and player base.

UB's VIP program clears your UB bonuses while also granting you extra rewards. The “RAI$E” points system has you earn points which give you monthly redeposit bonuses, similar to other download free poker sites. The most exclusive status level is achieved once you earn 10,000 points per month, and this allows you to receive the biggest cash bonuses, discounted store merchandise, 9% interest on account balances greater than $1,000, and even poker trips to live tournaments! You won’t find these perks on a Fulltiltpoker download. Climbing the status ladder can yield some fantastic benefits.

It's true that UB isn't blessed with the same traffic as the PokerStars download, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t get any traffic. The CEREUS Poker Network actually ranks third in the world for traffic, thanks largely to the fact that it’s still one of the best US poker sites. Whether you play cash games, single table tournaments, or multi-table tournament poker, you’ll encounter several tables if you play small or medium stakes. One slight problem is that if you’re looking for some high to nose bleed stakes, sometimes you might be waiting a while for some action.

Overall, if you’re wanting to get in a bunch of poker at small to medium stakes and you don’t need free poker no downloads, UB is a solid option. Earn your deposit bonus, earn tons of Status Points, and you’ll be earning lots of money playing poker on UB in no time!