During the WSOP Main Event we learned that eventual-runner-up Darvin Moon had never played online poker. Did not, in fact, even have an email address. And many people treated this news with the same amount of incredulity as they would if Darvin said he lived, well, on the Moon. We live in a wired world, where WiFi and 3G and smartphones and laptops keep us continually connected with the virtual reality of the internet. Many people spend more time with their Facebook friends than their “real” friends (the word “real” now requiring quotation marks) and of course you’ve already encountered folks at some spectacular event who, instead of enjoying said spectacular event, are instead hunched over their phones texting or Tweeting about it. Maybe, once or twice, you’ve done this yourself.
We’re broadcasting the minutiae of our lives to the world, baring our souls for anyone who cares to tune in. And this at a time when many governments around the world have decided that granting ANY privacy rights to their citizenry is simply too dangerous in these scary times. And so you have the odd spectacle of Big Brother watching over your shoulder…while you’re happily showing BB the Halloween party pics you posted to your blog.
But there are those who would rather keep the world at a remove, and others still who want to keep their “real” and virtual lives separate. And you can do that online, of course–create a new name, a whole new persona, and live a double (or triple, or quadruple, depending your bandwidth) life. Remaining anonymous can be a challenge, especially when thousands of cyber-sleuths around the world can quickly pool resources and brainpower to suss out who you really are. People love a good mystery, and right now a very compelling one is playing out in the poker world. About three weeks ago a player named Isildur1 appeared as if from nowhere and sat down at some of the high-stakes Hold-Em and PLO games.
There aren’t THAT many folks who play at those stakes and so an unknown interloper was quickly noticed. Especially as he posted positive results against some well-known cash-game monsters at the $100/200 PLO and $200/400 NLHE tables. But the story aquired new life when Isildur1 moved up to the super-nosebleeds and took on some of the biggest cash-game players in the world. He played against Cole South, Brian Townsend, David Benyamine and Illari “Ziigmund” Sahamies, posting some wins (and some losses) and leaving Ziigmund so spooked by the new player that he quickly quit the field.
But the Isildur1 locked horns with Tom “durrrr” Dwan. And as those two battled with millions of dollars on the table the poker forums blew up with people speculating on who the heck this mystery man was. Was this the same player who, a few months ago, had appeared out of nowhere under the name “martonas” and taken on the best in the world? It seemed that Isildur1 was from Sweden–could it be Viktor “Blom90″ Blom, another cash-game wunderkind with a name like a Bond villain? As Isildur1 posted a THREE MILLION DOLLAR win in just a handful of sessions against durrrr people started speculating that this implacable poker machine must be just that–a machine, a bot, a computer playing extremely well and running insanely hot. Was this possible? Was the best humankind had to offer being obliterated by lines of code?
It was under these ominous conditions that Patrik Antonius climbed down from his Olympian perch and sat down with Isildur1. Antonius won a few pots to take the early lead…and then won the biggest pot in online poker history. Playing PLO the two each put a fortune in the center of the table after the turn with each hold top two pair. But Antonius had the nut flush draw and a gutshot to boot and it was the gutterball that struck as the river brought the 8d and won the…wait for it…the $878,958.50 pot for Antonius.
From there Antonius went on to post nearly a three-million dollar win. And while sharks do not typically hunt in packs when there’s blood in the water they swim up from miles around. With Dwan having returned to the online felt after traveling to London for an event, Isildur1 last night took on durrrr, Antonius…and Phil Ivey. AT THE SAME TIME. Playing seven different tables against, arguably, the three best online cash-game players in the world was an epic act of either courage or lunacy. Antonius again got the best of him, Ivey less so, but the fact that Isildur1 is still a net winner after taking on the titans of online poker is remarkable in and of itself.
And the question remains–who is Isildur1. Can we get a hint from his screen name, which comes from The Lord of the Rings. Isildur was the warrior who, after cutting the Ring from Sauron’s finger, refused to throw it into the fires of Mount Doom. Bad call, that. How that figures into Isildur1’s identity is unsure, though one wag at Two Plus Two described him as the “Lord of Ring Games”. Nice.
One other poster came up with a fictional comparison that I thought of as well–Keyser Soze, the mysterious, all-powerful crime lord from the film The Usual Suspects. Asked about Keyser Soze, one of his betrayed pawns (played by Kevin Spacey) says, “He was supposed to be Turkish…some say his father was German. Nobody believed he was real.” And, later, when asked if he thinks Soze will ever reappear, Spacey says, “You think a guy like that comes this close to getting caught and sticks his head out? If he comes up for anything, it will be to get rid of me. After that… my guess is you’ll never hear from him again.” Chances are Isildur1 will reappear, maybe even tonight, to battle at the highest stakes in the world. But will we find out Isildur1’s identity before, like Keyser Soze, we’re left saying “And like that…he’s gone”.
There have been so many transitions the last two weeks around here. Obviously, the main transition as far as UB is concerned is the big rebranding. Ultimatebet.com is now UB.com and that is really exciting…mainly because everyone always called Ultimate Bet UB anyway and, honestly, there are fewer ways to mistype it in your browser now! Seriously, that is not for nothing because I am the worst with the typos because I type so fast. There are so many ways to screw up Ultimatebet: Utlimatebet, Ultimeatbet, ultimatebte…you get the piture. How am I going to screw up UB.com? Especially now that Firefox automatically corrects misspellings of “com”!
Anyway, I am really exciting about the rebranding. I think it is such a positive change for UB.
On the not so positive side, I am really sad about Jeffrey Pollack’s departure from the World Series of Poker position. Jeffrey has been Commissioner there since 05 and has really done amazing things with that brand. I don’t think people remember what the WSOP was like before Pollack got a hold of it. Of course, prior to the brand being bought by Harrah’s, the WSOP was being run at Binion’s by the Behnen family who had acquired it from Jack Binion. When Jack ran the WSOP it was amazing in terms of how player friendly it was. I mean, sure, the structures sucked but tournaments were being completed in one day then so they kind of had to. But juice was incredibly low, less than 5% and the main event had ZERO juice. Comps flowed freely as well. If you were playing the events you basically never paid for any food during the whole tournament and that included at the yummy Binion’s steakhouse. Those were the good old days for sure (except that hardly anyone was playing poker tournaments back then lol).
When Becky Behnen took the tournament over from Jack the player friendly days were over. Juice went up and up and up. Comps no longer abounded. I was so upset personally about the direction the WSOP that I didn’t even play in 2002 except for exactly just the main event. It would take an army to keep me away from the WSOP and that year there is apparently an army keeping me away because of the way I thought players were being treated.
Now in walked Harrah’s and right from the start it looked bad. Still no comps, higher juice, no relationship with the players and, here was the worst thing, all of a sudden every tournament at the WSOP was No Limit Hold’em. Every day it the tournament was NLH and in the $1500 buy-in range. It was like Harrah’s knew nothing about poker at all and was taking its lead only from what was on TV. The rich tradition of the WSOP is supposed to be about all of poker, not just the small part of it that is NLH. We were losing the ability to reward Omaha play, split game play, limit play and all the other games that make up the rich world that is poker. For all intents and purposes, the WSOP might as well have been called the World Series of No Limit Hold’em.
Now, at the same time as this was happening at the WSOP, the WPT was also acting as a very poor partner to the players. At the time, the WPT set structures at the final tables to accommodate 6 hour windows (apparently after 6 hours they would have to pay overtime). Setting structures by how long you want to film rather than what is good for the players who paid the entries and the fees is preposterous, of course. What that meant was that you could have a tournament that leading into the final table had smooth 90 minute levels with no doubles ever and at the final table the levels would revert to an hour with the blinds doubling each level. At heads up, the levels went to 30 minutes. That is as player unfriendly as it gets and was directed by the WPT’s attitude that the Poker itself was the star of the show and the players were completely interchangeable. With that attitude there is no reason to treat the players well at all and it showed in the way they treated us.
So enter Jeffrey Pollack. Jeffrey had a completely different idea, a revolutionary idea even . He felt that the WSOP could not succeed without the players. That when folks watched the coverage on ESPN they were there to see the players and their personalities and that could not be disconnected from the poker. He understood that the folks who actually buy-in and pay those entry fees are human beings, poker players even. So he reached out and really created a partnership with the players, most notably by forming the Players Advisory Council, which I was proud to be a member of. The PAC had tremendous say in the schedule and the structures of the tournaments and I think the WSOP now has a schedule that really represents the whole of what poker is with structures that are amazingly player friendly. Jeffrey, with the PAC, really brought the WSOP back from the brink of becoming the World Series of No Limit Hold’em.
Outside of his hand in insuring that the poker at the WSOP was great, he always worked hard to make sure the experience of the players was great, too and that the players who had endorsements could fulfill their obligations and the ones who didn’t could still get a logo deal if they were lucky enough to get to a final or featured table. That, of course, is all good for poker. Jeffrey really has been a generous partner to the players and, in a very real sense, the players’ protector and defender at that brand. So I am sad and a concerned to see him leave the brand. I fear for what the relationship with the players will look like in the future if the people remaining at the WSOP don’t take the lesson from Jeffrey that success at the WSOP must be a partnership with the players.
Here’s hoping the powers that be at the WSOP and Harrah’s have taken note of the legacy of Jeffrey Pollack. His success comes from his bridging the gap with the players. His egacy is that of a great friend to the community and that is an amazing legacy to leave.
Well Foxwoods is over and no WPT title for me this time but it was a lot of fun. My first day I had Lee Markholt to my right along with Ted Ely, Terrance Chan who were also on my table. I lost a big pot very early on to Terrance with 88s where I bluffed one too many streets but made it back to starting stack and then won a decent pot where I turned the nut flush and had my opponent bluff of a significan amount on all three streets (I check to him each time as he had position) and he took the bait on the river with an over pot sized bet – as the board was paired I was only gonna call and it turned out he had King high – lovely! I ended up finishing day 1 with around 40k which was pretty comfortable. Day 2 looked like it was gonna be really good as I had a pretty soft table of unknowns (except for Brock Parker on my left which wasn’t fun) however I lost quite a big pot to a lady who flopped the nut straight vs my top pair top kicker (yes, she called a raise out the BB with 10-7 off) and it came J 9 8 and then I whiffed every other hand after that resulting in me getting short and reshoving over an aggressive late position raiser that didn’t work out my way… Anyway, after that a group of us WPT rejects headed on a roadtrip which has now just bought me to NYC where I am presently. On the way we stopped off in Boston and had a raucous night involving Uncle Kracker and Train (don’t ask) at the House of Blues and then a long ass bus journey to NY. I need a night off!! Coming up next week is the USPC and a deepstack tourney at the Borgata in Atlantic City which will be my first time there too, can’t wait!
Have you noticed the new tournaments we now have available in the lobby???. WOW this is almost 1M prize every week just in guaranteed tournaments!!! We now have over 30 new additions, some of them are:
- A Monthly Special, $128K Guaranteed, $1,000+50 buy-in HU Event at 13:00 ET capped at 128 players, and held the first Sunday of every month.
- A branded New $500+30 buy-in $75K Guaranteed Deep Stack, Tuesdays at 20:30 ET.
- Saturdays at 15:55 ET we will have a $20K Guaranteed PL Omaha Deep Stack, $200+15 buy-in.
- Six Seated $50K Guaranteed tournament with $500+30 buy in every Sunday at 18:30 ET
- 2 NEW $100 Re-buy $35K weekly Guaranteed Tournaments on Wednesday at 21:05 ET and Sunday at 17:30 ET.
- 2 $10K Guaranteed four seated tournaments with a $40+4 buy in every Monday and Wednesday at 20:35 ET
What are you waiting for? If I were you I would be registering them all right now. Easy money! Check the Tournament Lobby, you can also find further information at our Tournament Schedule located at:
Again, this is the schedule of our Main tournaments:
Sundays
• 14:00 ET $100K Guaranteed, $500+30
• 16:00 ET $200K Guaranteed, $200+15
• 16:35 ET The Dime, $10K Guaranteed, $10+1
• 17:30 ET $35K Guaranteed $100 rebuys
• 18:30 ET $50K Guaranteed 6 max, $500+30,
Tuesdays
• 20:30 ET $75K Guaranteed Deepstack, $500+30,
Wednesdays
• 20:30 ET $150K Guaranteed, $1,000+50
• 21:00 ET Sniper $80K, $200+15
• 21:05 ET $35K Guaranteed, $100 1R+1A
Saturdays
• 14:55 ET $50K Guaranteed, $300+20
• 15:30 ET$15K PL Omaha 8/better Deep Stack, $150+12
• 15:55 ET $20K Guaranteed PL Omaha Deep Stack, $200+15
Also, if you have any questions, contact your Personal VIP Host. We will be more than glad to clarify and discuss any questions, suggestions or comments you might have, our team is at your full service.
Have a good one, and good luck with the new added tournaments!
I think my co-worker said it best when interpreting our new tagline:
“What is poker? Poker is a game of skill, a game of strategy, patience and controlled aggression, a game where you must exploit your opponents weaknesses and make sure you don’t have any. Poker is an individual game where you want to destroy everybody else at the table, poker is war. I will raise you. I will stack you. I will own you. – This is how winning players approach the game, no mercy.”
This is the mentality of our company and how we will forever be moving forward to give our players the tools they need to own their opponents. So, why re-brand, you ask? Well, we knew we weren’t doing our players justice the way we were in the past. It’s time for us to step up our game and really set ourselves apart from the other poker rooms. We’ve pumped up our software and tournament schedule and created an environment and community like no other.
We’ve spent the last I-don’t-know-how-many months working on a new company direction and learning from our players. We’ve research, tweaked, tested and launched a new brand and company focus that revolves around our players. We’re launching a poker news show on FSN called Poker2Nite and will be reporting on poker live and online so you won’t miss a beat. It’s hosted by our own Team UB pro Joe Sebok and Scott Huff, the poker journalist, who calls it like he sees it and stirs up some controversy.
Every move we make from here on out will be with our players in mind and we’ll be dealing directly with you guys to help shape what you see and interact with every day. We’re listening and want feedback on our new stuff right here on our blog. Please comment, share and let us know how you’re liking or disliking our new direction.
Recently while playing in a WPT event, the World Poker Finals at Foxwoods, I came across a very interesting scenario. The blinds were 100 200 with a 25 ante at a full table of 9 players. The starting stack was 30,000 chips and by this level (level 2) I had managed to increase my stack to around 69,000 chips. Early position raised to 600, (a known younger successful live and online player) and has been playing reckless early on trying to build a stack. This is a standard three times the big blind opening raise at this point. A European man to his direct left that had been playing many pots but not 3-betting often or anything too crazy just calls the raise. The action folds around to me on the button and I look down at QQ.
Typically, QQ warrants a raise a good majority of the time but early on in the tournament I elected to just call as well for multiple reasons.
1. I had not 3 bet yet and in doing so may show great strength and cause both opponents to fold.
2. The aggressive player who I know was continuation betting more than 75% of the time and I figured the same would happen here as he was out of position and I could extract more chips that way on a good flop.
3. By just calling I am completely under representing the value of my hand and can get in cheap but create a great pot post flop on great boards due to the hidden strength of my hand.
The flop comes 2 3 9 rainbow.
This is a great flop for my hand a good majority of the time. Hands like A9 suited, 45 suited, 910 suited, 1010,jj, etc. are all dogs in the hand. Surprisingly the aggressive initial raiser just checks. The European man leads for 1,000 chips into a 2,325 chip pot. I decided to raise it up to 3,000 even. The initial raiser quickly folds and the European man thinks before making it 8325….. This is the point in the hand where several things start going through my mind: 1. The European was playing lots of pots, had not shown down a monster hand and would probably re-raise a big pair pre-flop so I don’t feel that KK or AA is very likely. 2. He also knows that the aggressive player was splashing around a bit and if he called to hit a set, he may get paid off so 22 33 and 99 are all in his range for sure. 3. He could also have 1010 or JJ which he may put in another raise with, which I do beat. If I elect to call his raise here, the pot is going to be the 2325 pre-flop + 16,650 which is around 19,000 chips. He is out of position and will likely be betting anywhere from 9,000-15,000 give or take. If the turn is another blank and I call a bet the pot is now 40,000 at minimum and I would have a bit more than a pot size bet left. I believe he only started the hand with 50,000 so if he decides to not shut down, I am going to be confronted with calling off most of my 350 big blinds in a beyond marginal spot on a board that may look great originally but more than likely drawing to two outs.
In retrospect, I should have never raised QQ on the flop with the intent to fold if he came over the top. I didn’t plan in my mind what I would do in the event that the worst case scenario happened and it did. I was more worried about the initial raiser with a super wide range of hands potentially getting there on the turn and ended up raising the European to force the aggressor out. I played it slow pre-flop and should have just called the flop bet and played in position and reevaluated on other streets.
Maybe I had the best hand, who knows. It was not worth finding out with one pair for around 350 big blinds in this early marginal spot. The bottom line is that I cost myself a decent amount of chips and maybe a great pot by making a small mistake on the flop. By not thinking one step ahead and thinking about potential moves on future streets, I forced myself into having to fold a very valuable showdown hand if he has merely an unimproved 9 or the other potential hands that I have stated besides a set.
Take your time with decisions like this in tournaments and try to reason all possibilities out. Try to put your opponent on a range of hands and the best way to play yours against it in the most unpredictable way. Think strategy, and THINK AHEAD.
UltimateBet has been dominating the poker scene for over a decade. When we first started dealing digital cards, the internet was a vastly different place. It was all about 56K modems, Windows 98, and something called a Pentium. Since then the internet has been moving at light speed. Could you have imagined twitter, youtube, facebook, podcasts, and blogs back in those days? The fact is things are always evolving, especially in the world of technology. Perhaps the only thing that’s stayed the same is that we still have cards at our core.
We’ve added tons of great features over the years like avatars that let you add an extra dimension to your poker personality. Our hand history improvements let you relive your glory and learn from your mistakes. We brought you blackjack 3 years ago and don’t forget our unbelievable 7 Deuce and Horse tables. We’re proud of our new table schemes and popular promos like our Bad Beat Jackpot, RAI$E, and our lucrative Tournament Leaderboards. Let’s not forget the extra tourneys and players we added through the CEREUS network a year ago.
You can expect tons of exciting changes before the year is out. Stay tuned and let us know what you’d like to see. You can always post your feedback into the blog. It’s almost 2010, so you should probably get in the blogosphere, or whatever they’re calling it these days. We love hearing from you!
This months freeroll promo has an ABSOLUTELY great twist. Any guesses?
Many of you have been following the UB Blog since the beginning and our monthly freeroll promos now attract thousands of participants. This time, we’re showing some brotherly love to our sister site on the Cereus network. For those that don’t know, the Cereus network is made up of UltimateBet and Absolute Poker. So this month, please follow me over to the Absolute Poker blog at http://blog.absolutepoker.com and follow @_absolutepoker on Twitter.
Your boy smokin_aces is hosting the freeroll event you’ve come to love, but this time in an all new location.
There is one other interesting enhancement to this months freeroll as well, and you’re gonna want to listen up because it involves MONEY FOR NOTHING AND BIG POTS FOR FREE!
So follow me to the Absolute Poker blog to get all the details on this SICK PRIZEPOOL!
Here’s your weekly roundup and Congratulations go out to DONKEYBREAD, FRANK1THETANK, PRINCESSDONK, YOD0UG623, LS2_POWER, ABSOLUTEKID , HASTY, AAAAOWNS, CRACKTHESET, MATTGRAHAM, JAYHOVAHVOL1, SALTTHEEARTH and VBILLER for taking down the big guarantees and to our Deal Makers BELLAXOXO, VIETCONG01 and SCHAPPUSCHA!
It seems with poker that every time we get good news it’s countered with some bad news as well. And that happened this week as well–just a few days we all tuned in to ESPN to watch Joe Cada win the Main Event WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack announced that he was stepping down. Pollack helmed the World Series of Poker the past four years and in that time the WSOP enjoyed record-breaking attendance every year, even in the face of the UIGEA and a global economic meltdown. More than just about anything poker players love to complain, but the last two years people were often hard-pressed to come up with something to bitch about. Pollack always seemed to keep an open mind and was receptive to new ideas, proof of which can be found in the positive changes that took place under his watch.
First and foremost of those changes was the decision to delay the Main Event final table until November. That wasn’t exactly a popular move when it was announced (I wasn’t a fan at the start) but there’s no denying that the November Nine brought far more attention to the final table than it enjoyed in years past, the TV ratings jumped dramatically, all the players who made the final table got to enjoy a flurry of media attention (and the chance to score some endorsements) that were often enjoyed by just the final few at the end. There are still those who don’t like the delay but Pollack and his team took a chance, tried something different, and from the scene at the Penn & Teller theater you can’t deny that it generated a lot of excitement.
Pollack often stressed the word “WORLD” when discussion the World Series of Poker and he helped take the brand international with the World Series of Poker-Europe. Moving the WSOP across the Pond was another controversial move that has paid big dividends, with stellar fields and huge prize pools that attracted many European pros who don’t come to Vegas for the Series. Not that fields at the Rio lacked an international flavor–during last year’s Series players from 115 different countries took to the felt. Those countries, and their triumphant native sons and daughters, were honored thanks to another change that occurred under Pollack’s watch, the daily bracelet ceremony where the previous days winners were brought up on a dais in the middle of the Amazon Roo, introduced to the crowd, and then everyone stood for their national anthem. It was a cheesy-sounding idea that ended up being, to my mind, a huge success. It gave the fans a chance to take pics and gawk at the latest poker champion and when the anthems were played just about EVERYONE stood. Don’t discount how remarkable it is to see 2,000 poker players doing the same thing willingly, especially an act of respect.
But for those who aren’t as enthused about such touchy-feely moments Pollack oversaw some changes that had some real meat to them. A few years ago some players complained that the WSOP was turning into the “World Series of Hold-Em” many non-Hold-Em game were added to the slate, including the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event. There were a number of mixed-game events, some of them with low buy-ins to attract more players to these games. If I recall correctly the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. event (where my friend Lana bubbled the final table) had close to 800 players. 800 players for a H.O.R.S.E. tournament, that’s remarkable.
From a personal standpoint Pollack was always a friend to the poker media. Many poker scribes have a slightly, ah, irreverent take on the poker world, yet Pollack not only let us do our thing, he actually seemed to enjoy the freewheeling aspect of much of the coverage. And he wasn’t one to duck the media when things weren’t going good–on what Pollack described as the most difficult day of his career, the day when Harrah’s had to turn away hundreds of players on Day 1D of the Main Event, Pollack walked over to Media Row after the contentious meeting with the shut-out players to chat with us about what all went on. He talked about the decision to not allow alternates, or an impromptu “Day 1E” at night, or to squeeze the players into any open space they could find. And he was very resolute when he said, “This will not happen again next year. We will find a way to fix this”.
And so it’s too bad that Pollack won’t be around next year to see that those changes are made. In their initial statement Harrah’s said that there were no plans to replace Pollack, which to my mind in ominous. As I’ve already said Pollack was always open to new ideas and was responsible for some of the major positive changes to the WSOP over the last four years. If there’s no plans to replace him, that could mean that Harrah’s either thinks that the WSOP is good enough as it is and is content to coast, or that they think innovation isn’t something the WSOP no longer needs. Jeffrey Pollack brought more than an almost Continental-chic to the role of WSOP Commissioner, he brought a creative and entrepreneurial attitude to a game that is often quite hidebound. In an interview he did with Wicked Chops Poker Pollack said he wasn’t sure if he would stay in the poker industry, and it sounds as if he won’t have to wait long before taking on whatever challenge catches his fancy. Hopefully the World Series of Poker won’t find itself missing Jeffrey Pollack more than he misses it.
