Twitter Freerolls
Thursday, October 15, 2009 - smokin_aces
Can you solve an online scavenger hunt to get into an exclusive freeroll?
That’s all you have to do to get your shot at $1000 in cash and prizes with ZERO buy-in. Some of you have asked why we’re making it a little bit tricky to get entrance to this freeroll. It’s very simple. This ensures the field will be relatively modest compared to the SICK prizes available. For example, normally to get into the Sunday 200K GTD you need to pony up $200+$25. That’s already a SMOKIN deal. In the UltimateBet’s Amazing Race freeroll, 1st AND 2nd place finishers will BOTH get 200K GTD buy-ins, with hundreds more in cash spread from 3rd to 47th.
Check out the rest of the payout structure in the UltimateBet game client.
If you think you can hack it, try to solve the scavenger hunt and get into the UltimateBet Amazing Race freeroll!
It goes down right here on Wednesday Oct 28 at 9 pm ET.
Follow this link to get all the details on UltimateBet’s Amazing Race Freeroll!
GL and happy hunting!
Aces
Tags: amazing race, Bloggers Tournament, freeroll, twitter tournament
Comments (5)
Friday, October 9, 2009 - smokin_aces
At UltimateBet, we enjoy producing Freeroll events that become more than just a really fun free poker tournament. For those of you that have been following the UB Blog or @ultimate_bet on Twitter, you’ve probably taken part in one of our fun events. We’ve recently had:
The Pocket Card Challenge
Twitter Is Our Middle Name
The Delicious Freeroll
The Golden Tweet
Twitter Up For Africa
…to name just a few.
The next phase is the evolution of our recent events. Normally each month we run a Twitter event and a Blog event separately. This time, we’re combining the two events into one, which means TWICE THE PRIZE POOL. It also means twice the fun, twice the memories and twice the poker action. 1st and 2nd place will receive a seat at the 200K GTD and cash prizes will be spread from 3rd place to 45th place.
So, you’re probably wondering what this one is made of. Do you like riddles?……puzzles?……scavenger hunts?…….what about UltimateBet’s Amazing Race? (for those that don’t know, our very own Tiffany Michelle is currently competing on the CBS show The Amazing Race alongside her pal Maria Ho.)
UltimateBet’s Amazing Race requires more than just a password or a Golden Tweet. You’ll need to traverse the web in search of clues that get you closer to solving the Ultimate question. UltimateBet’s Amazing Race happens right here on Wednesday October 28 at 9pm ET. HOW DO I GET MY CHANCE TO PLAY IN ULTIMATEBET’S AMAZING RACE?
Step 1
Click this link and go to UltimateBet’s Youtube channel at www.youtube.com/ultimatebetvideo. Rate 3 video’s on the UltimateBet youtube channel, then try to solve the first clue.
Clue number 1 – 0:30 / 6:58 – How many legs are at Caesar’s table?
Step 2
Go to UltimateBet’s Twitter page at www.twitter.com/ultimate_bet and Follow @ultimate_bet.
You are looking for a specific @ultimate_bet Tweet from a specific day in the recent past. Take the answer to clue number 1 and subtract 3. Now divide this by 3. The answer is the month of the Tweet you need to find. The answer to clue number one is the day. The year is 2009. Some of the posts on this date have links to UB Blog posts.
Clue number 2 – What did UltimateBet discontinue the use of?
Step 3
One of our UltimateBet pros finished 17th in the WSOP Main Event in 2008.
Clue number 3 – What is the “answer to clue number 2″ of this UltimateBet pro?
Step 4
If you were to ask a waiter at a restaurant in London, England for ‘the answer to clue number 3′, what would you receive?
Clue number 4 – The answer to this question is the password to the UltimateBet’s Amazing Race freeroll. With no spaces the answer is 11 characters long.
SPECIAL NOTE: Do not try over and over to enter passwords that you ‘think’ might be right. The game client will lock you out of the tournament if you try too many times with the wrong password. If this happens to you, email support@ultimatebet.com.
GL!
Aces
Tags: blog freeroll, Bloggers Tournament, freeroll, Tiffany "Tiffany M" Michelle, twitter freeroll, ultimatebet's amazing race
Comments (78)
Thursday, September 17, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
A few years ago I got together with a bunch of college buddies for an impromptu reunion/bender. We spent the days wake-surfing and jet-skiing and the nights playing poker and dramatically reducing our life expectancy through drink. After a marathon sit-n-go that ended around 5AM (I won) we all decided to sit on the dock and watch the sun come up. We set our camp chairs in a circle, put the cooler in the middle, and cracked open our thirtieth beer of the day. Once upon a time these late night (or early morning) bull sessions would center around girls, cars, girls we’d like to…date, profanity-laced comedy routines, and girls we’d…dated and wish we could date again.
But this night was a bit different. We were older now, established, living out some manner of the American Dream. We all had normal, respectable jobs (except for me, maybe). Many of us had loving spouses who cared about us so much they nagged us constantly about our drinking and refused to let us eat bacon for breakfast every morning. We all had mortgages, whose crippling terms left many of us in a financial state resembling indentured servitude. The American Dream.
The conversation ranged over topics from the sublime (Scarlett Johansson or Jessica Alba?) to the ridiculous (the vagaries of auto insurance). We talked about how much our lives had changed from the days when we did our drinking in dorm rooms. Dawn broke, the cooler emptied, and the conversation lagged as exhaustion and Yuengling took their toll. The mood turned philosophical, even a bit melancholy, and then my friend Rick said, “I guess you never know when you get there,” he said. “You never know when you’ve officially ‘made it’. When you’re officially a success.”
“There are signs, mile-markers,” I said. “The corner office. The Benz.”
“When you’re secretary has a secretary, you’ve made it,” said Matt.
“If you have staff, if you have ‘people’, then you’ve gotten somewhere,” agreed Scott. And the conversation revived as we started coming up with more and more ridiculous, petty, narcissistic ways of showing the world that you’ve clawed your way to the top of the pyramid.
“You appear on the cover of People magazine.”
“Screw People. Time magazine.”
“They’re basically the same thing. Nah, you’ve made it when you have a perfume named after you.”
“Yes. If you have your own frickin’ fragrance, then you’ve made it.”
“Even for a dude?”
“Especially for a dude.”
“No no,” I said, crushing yet another hollowed-out can, “you know you’ve made it when the house you grew up in becomes a National Landmark. Where there’s a plaque on the wall and people buy AAA maps to find out how to get there.”
“That’s not bad,” Matt said.
Yeah…not bad at all. I like the idea of some historian recreating my bedroom in precise detail, of some guy in a Smokey-the-Bear hat leading a tour and saying, “This, ladies and gentleman, this is where Gene Bromberg slept (pause for the popping of flashbulbs). Here’s the quilt his mother made for him when he was ten…and here (lifting the mattress) is where he used to hide his illicit copies of Playboy magazine…” My goodness, that’d be AWESOME.
The sun creased the horizon and the brilliant light felt like needles boring into my skull. We decided to adjourn for the night morning but before we left Matt said, “Know how you can tell when you’ve screwed up in life? I mean, REALLY screwed up??” There was a pause and then he said, “When people refer to you by your entire name, middle name included. ‘Lee Harvey Oswald’. ‘John Wilkes Booth’”.
“Mark David Chapman,” Scott said. “Yeah, when the media is reporting your entire name so they don’t get sued for libel by people with the same name, you effed up bigtime.”
“John Wayne Gacy.”
“James Earl Ray.”
“George W. Bush,” I said. Eyes rolled and I said, “Hey, you don’t think his dad was calling reporters and insisting they use the “W” to make sure people didn’t confuse the son with the father??” There was some shrugging and, with that, we all staggered to bed.
Middle names are like the middle child–often ignored. We all have enough names to keep track in our heads without adding words to the string. Middle names look nice on a wedding invitation, they add girth to a monogram, but beyond that they’re somewhat superfluous. Unless you wanted to play in last night’s Twitter freeroll here on UltimateBet. With our freerolls we’ve been trying to have a bit of fun with our followers, instead of just tweeting the password and having the Twitterhordes descend en masse we’ve tried to engage in some educational games (hopefully that isn’t an oxymoron). This time around a clue to the password was given out in advance–it was the middle name of one of our pros. That gave those with too much free time to build a dossier on the complete Team UltimateBet roster, before it was revealed that the player in question was one Phil Hellmuth Jr.
For some reason I thought I knew Phil’s middle name, I thought maybe Norman Chad had taunted Phil using his full name once on ESPN or maybe I’d written something using his complete moniker. But as the freeroll grew close and people started tweeting in desperation for the info I just couldn’t come up with it. I decided to see what Wikipedia had to say on the subject. And learned that Phil Hellmuth’s middle name is…Jerome. Huh. You could’ve given me a thousand guesses and I wouldn’t have gotten that. And here’s a bit of trivia that I at least found interesting–when Phil Ivey started out playing poker in Atlantic City he had a fake ID that gave his name as…Jerome. He was actually nicknamed “No Home Jerome”. Synchronicity at work.
Anyway, to the tables! We had an even 500 players in last night’s freeroll, with the top 21 adding a bit of money to their purse. First prize was a ticket to Sunday’s $200,000 Guaranteed tournament–still waiting for a freeroller to win that tourney so I could write up a kicking post about it. Get crackin’, folks.
There was some man-on-man action as we approached the money bubble, but it was the unfortunate BIRD_MAN13 who missed the money and the aptly-named LUCKY-MAN who squeaked into a $2.12 cash. Once the bubble burst the field quickly boiled down (though not as quickly as some of our previous freerolls) and soon we were down to ten players battling for the nine spots at our final table. It looked all but certain that ATOMICTOM would be the odd man out as he had just a few chips and some lint sitting in front of him, but he doubled up once to reconnect his life support machine and then he played a hand that I thought was a bit odd at the time. It was folded around, MIKEYYY44805 (try saying that three times fast) raised and ATOMICTOM, sitting in the big blind, went into the tank. Now, it was odd it took so long for him to call because he only had like a few hundred left–he pretty much HAD to call, with anything. Seriously, even if he’d only been dealt one card and a Saltine he’d have to call. Eventually he did and turned over…Ad-Qs. Which is a stupendous hand when you’re in the big blind and down to nothing. MIKEYYY44805 called and showed a dominated As-Js, but he flopped a gutshot draw that hit on the turn and sent ATOMICTOM to the rail.
“Aha!” I said. “Karma! Slow-rollin’ your big hand and the Poker Gods did smite you!” However, my analysis might’ve been a bit hasty. First of all, it’s possible that ATOMICTOM was just having a little connection problem and that was the reason his call was tardy. Second, after his elimination the final table popped up and…there were only eight players seated. It turns out that NICKIONE, sitting at the other table, was eliminated just seconds before ATOMICTOM and actually ended up in 10th place, missing the final table. I thought we were playing hand-for-hand but it’s possible there was an overlap and that ATOMICTOM had the clarity of thought to check out the other table, see what was going down, and pause to witness poor NICKIONE’s fate. Only after seeing that his rival had been sent to the rail did ATOMICTOM make what proved to be his final call. If that’s what went down, I simply must applaud ATOMICTOM’s cool head and icicled heart. Maybe he never took a seat at the final table, but he made it, and boosted his winnings by 40% by thinking before he acted. Well done.
For much of the tournament CHI_SOX27 was the chipleader, but he was the first at this abbreviated final table to go busto when, after seeing his stack eclipsed, he made a move with J-10 and ran into the pocket Kings of DIRTYCHECKNO. A player who never really built up a big stack was MIKEDEPIETRO, who bobbed and weaved his way deep into the tournament while engaging many of his opponents in the talking of the smack. The big stacks were liberally attacking the blinds of the shorter players and MIKE didn’t like that too much. At one point he challenged about half the table to play a heads-up match for any stakes they wanted…a brief aside here–wouldn’t a TV show called HU4ROLLZ!! be a ratings smash? Get angry people to liquidate all their assets, bring the cash to the studio and play heads-up against their mutual tormentor. It’d be awesome.
Anyway, MIKEDEPIETRO tripled up once when he flopped an Ace in a four-way pot and that was enough to ensure his survival. The banter grew a bit more good-humored as JERSEYLOVE27 and MR FRANK MO each built up massive stacks, and then JERSEYLOVE27 went on a three-hand rampage that liquidated half the table. On consecutive hands JERSEY eliminated MIKEYYY44805 when the latter’s A-4 ran into the former’s pocket Aces; eliminated MIKEDEPIETRO when JERSEY’S K-10 out-turned MIKE’s A-J; and then crusherated the very short KWARK’s J-3 with A-7 (the Ace on the flop all but sealed the deal).
We were three-handed but DIRTYCHECKNO had a microstack compared to the big boys. It looked like he might get a much-needed double-up when his A-7 had MR FRANK MO’s A-4 dominated, but the board double-paired, both Aces played, and a pot DIRTYCHECKNO desperately needed was chopped up. A few hands later he shoved with 8-10 and was called by JERSEYLOVER’s A-9, and after a no-help flop DIRTY turned an eight and again looked set to double up. But no–the river cruelly brought an Ace, the pot was shipped to JERSEY, and we were heads-up.
JERSEYLOVER27 had about a 70,000 chip lead over MR FRANK MO, so the match was still very much up for grabs. JERSEY extended that to a nearly 2-1 advantage until a hand where his pocket Jacks were outflopped by FRANK’s Qd-8d. The money went in after that Queen-high flop and the tables were turned 180 degrees in FRANK’s favor. He extended his lead until calling a preflop re-raise and then folding to a JERSEY shove on an As-Qh-4d flop that brought JERSEY back into contention. He chipped up, chipped up, finally taking a small lead that he extended when he won a big pot with a hefty raise on the river that chased FRANK. The end came on the very next hand, as the two traded raises after a 5h-7d-8c flop. FRANK flopped top pair with 8h-10s, but JERSEY hit top two holding 7s-8s and when the board blanked out the victory, and a ticket for the $200,000 Sunday Guaranteed tournament, went to JERSEYLOVE27. While MR FRANK MO saw a tidy $49.23 go into his account…huh, “MR FRANK MO”. First name, middle name, last name. I wonder terrible thing he did…
Comments (0)
Thursday, September 3, 2009 - smokin_aces
Twitter Is Our Middle Name
UltimateBet’s Twitter only Freeroll is back and as usual, there’s a twist. We’re not just giving out the password this time……you have to find it. Just what is it that you have to find? It’s one of our UltimateBet Pros’ middle names. This Saturday at 7 pm ET we’ll be tweeting which pros’ middle name you’ll need to enter this freeroll. Then it’s your task to hunt down that middle name by being creative. Here’s a hint: with few exceptions, all of our UltimateBet Pro’s use Twitter. 
Check the categories on the blog to see a list of UltimateBet pros.
This tournament is limited to 500 players and the prize pool is SWEET. So it’s in your best interest to track down the password asap to ensure you get your seat and a chance at the attractive prize pool. For those that want to ensure their seat, the password is already valid in the Poker Room, so start sleuthing now and you’ll get a two day head start on all those that wait for our tweet on Saturday night!
The prize pool is $450 total. First place is a seat at the 200K GTD with cash prizes for other top finalists.
What is the event called?
-Twitter Middle Name Challenge
When does this all go down?
-Wednesday Sept 16 at 9pm ET
Do you need to be following @ultimate_bet on Twitter to play?
-YES! It’s the only way you’ll be able to figure out the password. We will tweet which Ultimate Bet Pro’s middle name is the password Saturday Sept 5th at 7 pm ET.
How do I get the password?
-Watch for our tweet on Saturday and then be creative to find out that Pro’s middle Name.
The prize pool is as follows.
Ultimate Bet Pros
Adam “Roothlus” Levy
Annie Duke
Billy Kopp
Brandon Cantu
Bryan Devonshire
Debo34
Phil Hellmuth
Hollywood Dave
Liv Boeree
Matt Graham
Michael Binger
Phil Hellmuth
P0ker H0
Scott Ian
ShawnRice
Tiffany “Tiffany M” Michelle
GL !
Aces
Tags: freeroll, Smokin Aces, twitter freeroll, Twitter Middle Name Challenge
Comments (22)
Thursday, August 6, 2009 - smokin_aces
Play for free in an exclusive freeroll with a very sweet prize pool and only 1500 competitors. Make sure you’re following UltimateBet on Twitter so you can catch ‘The Golden Tweet’. The Golden Tweet will be released on Twitter one hour before the tournament start time next Wednesday evening. This tweet will contain the password required to get entry to the Golden Tweet freeroll.
For full details, check out the first Golden Tweet post here.
I look forward to seeing you all compete for another chance at cash and a 200K GTD entry, FOR FREE!
GL
ACes
Tags: freeroll, golden tweet, Twitter Freerolls
Comments (2)
Monday, August 3, 2009 - smokin_aces
It’s Twitter Freeroll time again for all those in UltimateBet land. Join us in The Golden Tweet Freeroll Wednesday August 12th at 9 pm ET. The details are as follows.
Will The Golden Tweet be open to just anyone?
Of course not, where’s the fun in that?
How do I get into The Golden Tweet?
You need to use the right password.
How do I get the password?
Ah, that’s the million dollar question. Although you can already see the The Golden Tweet in the tournament lobby (scheduled for Wednesday August the 12th at 9pm EST) you can’t register just yet.
To get the password you need to be following @ultimate_bet on Twitter.
How do I follow UltimateBet on Twitter if I don’t use Twitter?
It’s fun and simple. Go here http://www.twitter.com and take a minute to create an account. If you don’t think you’ll use Twitter, consider this: Getting a Twitter account and following @ultimate_bet gives you access to tournament insights you can’t get anywhere else. Try it….you just might profit from it!
Ok, i’m following @ultimate_bet on Twitter but I don’t see the password anywhere. What gives?
We will release The Golden Tweet containing the password by Tweeting it on Twitter ONE HOUR before the tournament start time. To be clear, watch for The Golden Tweet at 8pm ET Wednesday August 12. Tournament start time is 9 pm ET Wednesday August 12.
What is the total prize pool for The Golden Tweet?
The prize pool totals $450 with a sweet 200K GTD buy-in for 1st prize. Cash payouts for top finalists.
How many people can play?
To make The Golden Tweet extra attractive by increasing your odds to cash, only the first 1500 players to catch The Golden Tweet and enter the password will be allowed entry. So get there first!
That means you need to be following UltimateBet on Twitter and be paying close attention one hour prior to the tournament start.
Follow UltimateBet on Twitter and catch The Golden Tweet!
Tags: freerolls, golden tweet, twitter freeroll
Comments (5)
Wednesday, July 15, 2009 - smokin_aces
Tonight is the Twitter Up For Africa Freeroll, and we have BIG news.
Although we didn’t hit the goal set out initially (which was to get 2000 new Twitter followers), we’re so grateful for the outpouring of support that we’re still going to pay out as if we had hit the goal. Half the money goes to charity so it’s a great cause!
We started with 1500 followers and now just over 2 weeks later we’re at 2600. Pretty great!
To be clear:
WE ARE STILL HAPPY TO GIVE $1000 TO ANTE UP FOR AFRICA AND $1000 IN PRIZES TO TONIGHT’S FREE ROLL.
So let everyone know this event is gonna be huge!
Password is tufa3500
Here’s the Twitter Up For Africa payout structure:
* 1st Place - Seat at the $200K Guaranteed ($215 Value)
* 2nd Place – Seat at the $200K Guaranteed ($215 Value)
* 3rd Place – Seat at the Sniper 30K ($130 Value)
* 4th Place – Seat at the $15K Guaranteed ($55 Value)
* 5th to 38th Place – Seat at the Saturday $7K Guaranteed ($5.50 Value)
* 39th to 74th Place – Seat at the Sunday $7K Guaranteed ($5.50 Value)
Keep those followers coming and see you tonight in the Twitter Up For Africa freeroll!
GL
Aces
Tags: Twitter Freerolls, Twitter Up For Africa
Comments (3)
Monday, July 13, 2009 - smokin_aces
Please help us reach our Twitter goal!
Just over 48 hours left until the Twitter Up For Africa freeroll. You can read all the details here.
We set an ambitious goal of trying to get 2000 new Twitter followers during the lead up to this tournament. If we hit that goal, we’ll give $1 for each new follower to the Twitter Up For Africa pot. From there, $1000 would go to Annie Duke’s amazing charity Ante Up For Africa, and $1000 would go towards the payout structure for the freeroll.
This morning we officially got our 1000th new follower during the timeframe of this event which is absolutely amazing. There are a lot you out there who can share credit for this feat, and we all thank you.
Our challenge now is to come together in one final push towards glory. Please take a second to email blast your friends, retweet us on Twitter, text your contacts and anything else you can do to help us reach this goal and give to charity and the freeroll.
We need your help and so do the people of Darfur!
The password for the Twitter Up For Africa tournament is tufa3500. Get your friends to follow @ultimate_bet on Twitter, and come play in this amazing freeroll!
GL
Aces
Tags: Annie Duke, Ante Up For Africa, freerolls, Twitter Freerolls, Twitter Up For Africa
Comments (2)
Thursday, June 25, 2009 - smokin_aces
A Freeroll With A Higher Purpose
As poker players and fans of competition in general, we like to make things fun. In response to the overwhelming and continued support of the Ultimate Bet community and beyond, we’re launching our most exciting Twitter event yet. It’s not just any Freeroll tournament. This one has what you might call, a higher purpose.
Remember the Follow Friday Freeroll? Fun right? Well this next one makes that look like 3 Card Monty.
The next Ultimate Bet Twitter Freeroll is happening right here on Wednesday July 15 2009. To make the payout extra sweet we’re asking for your help. We NEED to reach 3500 Twitter followers by the time this Twitter Freeroll happens. We’re currently at 1500, so we need your help to get 2000 new followers.
For each new Twitter follower we get between now and then, we’ll add $1 to the pot. If we hit the goal of 3500 Twitter followers by July 15, you will have helped us increase the total pot to $2000. To make us all feel extra special, we’re going to donate $1000 of the cash to our good friend Annie Duke’s charity Ante Up For Africa. The other $1000 will be used to create the payout structure for the tournament. If we hit that goal, the Freeroll payout structure will reward EVERYONE who finishes from 1st to 74th. WHAT? 74TH! That’s right, it’s getting crazy.
Potential Twitter Up For Africa Payout Structure (It’s ‘potential’ because we need to hit 3500 followers for this to pay out)
- 1st Place - Seat at the $200K Guaranteed ($215 Value)
- 2nd Place – Seat at the $200K Guaranteed ($215 Value)
- 3rd Place – Seat at the Sniper 30K ($130 Value)
- 4th Place – Seat at the $15K Guaranteed ($55 Value)
- 5th to 38th Place – Seat at the Saturday $7K Guaranteed ($5.50 Value)
- 39th to 74th Place – Seat at the Sunday $7K Guaranteed ($5.50 Value)
But remember, this is a contest that has us all working together to increase our Twitter followers to 3500 by July 15, the date of the Twitter Up For Africa tournament. When we hit that target WE ALL WIN, and so does one of the world’s finest charitable organizations. So help us out and we can ALL win TOGETHER, while literally helping to make the world a better place.
There will be many more updates to follow, but for now, spread the word on your blogs, Twitter pages, Facebooks, Myspaces, text and email your friends, forward this blog post and help us connect with more amazing people like you.
Here’s the link to this post:
http://blog.ultimatebet.com/2009/06/twitter-up-for-africa
Here’s the link to the Ultimate Bet twitter page:
http://www.twitter.com/ultimate_bet
If you don’t yet use Twitter, this is the reason you’ve been waiting for to join the UB Twitter party! It’s so easy to get an account! Just sign up and then ‘follow’ @ultimate_bet
The countdown begins NOW. Oh and look, we’re at 1516 followers at last check. That’s already $16 in the pot!!
But remember, we need to hit that target for all this good stuff to happen.
So Let’s TWITTER UP FOR AFRICA!
The code for this tournamant is tufa3500
GL!
Tags: Ante Up For Africa, freeroll, Twitter, Twitter Up For Africa, ultimate_bet
Comments (18)
Saturday, May 16, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
The most obvious difference between live and online poker is that when you play online you ain’t physically sitting at a table with other people. And that can be a good thing–say, when someone you’re playing with is violently ill. Last year at the WSOP I was sitting at a low-limit table a few days before the Main Event when a gent who looked like he hadn’t slept in a week sat down. His salt-and-pepper hair was slick with sweat, his flannel shirt had various stains of indeterminate origin, and his watery eyes were bloodshot.
Now someone looking like that really isn’t THAT unusual for a Vegas cardroom, especially in July when a few minutes under the desert sun would leave Pierce Brosnan looking disheveled. What was unusual was the guy constantly coughing and hacking into a hankercheif he kept pulling out of his front pocket. Polite as it might’ve been to use that disgusting strip of cloth, I don’t think the Center for Disease Control considers a hanky an acceptable way to prevent the spread of germs.
Especially as the guy kept reaching for chips with fingers that had to be swimming with bacteria and virus particles. You never see a sick guy at the poker table playing tight, do you? No, they’re the ones raising every hand, tossing clusters of droplet-spattered chips into the pot to mix with everyone else’s checks. And that’s what this guy was doing, raising and re-raising almost as much as he was gobbing into his hankercheif. It took me about a minute to realize that I wasn’t sitting at a poker table so much as a felt-lined Petri dish. I racked up, bid my tablemates good night, and ran to the bathroom to wash my hands. Up to the elbows.
What does this have to do with anything? Well, last night was UltimateBet’s Follow Friday Freeroll–if you aren’t on Twitter, and don’t know what Follow Friday is, then it’s time to emerge from the cave and get with the times! Twitter has been the big thing in social media for the last month or so and last night was the first freeroll tournament for the folks following UltimateBet on Twitter. And a stunning 564 players took the virtual felt last night, myself included. Even though I’ve been battling the flu for the last two days. To say that I couldn’t have played last night had it been a live tournament is a gross understatement–I’ve been so sick that getting off the couch to get a glass of water seemed a more difficult task that rowing across the Atlantic.
But I was able to roll over on my side and log on last night to play. It’s hard to play inspired, aggressive poker when you want to die, but I did manage to execute one brilliant bluff (making a pot-sized bet on the river with four clubs on the board and nary a club in my hand) before I was sent to the rail in 76th place. I had pocket 7s, DOCGB2000 held A-Q, and the flop came K-J-10. It’s never a good thing when your tournament life hangs in the balance and the other guy flops the nuts, and that was especially so for me last night.
After getting bounced I checked the leaderboard and saw that WHOJEDI was at the top. I knew that nickname, as it belongs to poker journalist Jay Newnum who, as it turns out, wrote an article a month or so ago about how Twitter is changing how poker is covered. He also maintains a list of poker players/personalities/writers on Twitter that would no doubt be of interest to poker fans. I confirmed that this was indeed Jay (through Twitter, natch) and followed along to see if he might be a most-appropriate champion for our initial Follow Friday Freeroll.
Alas, it was not to be, and it was a cruel hand that derailed his chances. After winning a huge pot with pocket Kings against ACTION_JON’s pocket Queens, Jay was all-in with Ah-Kh to DRAWZ1977′S Ad-Kc. A split pot, right? Divvy it up and let’s get back to it. Well, no…
Ugh, the ‘ol runner-runner club flush. That left WHOJEDI will just a few thousand chips and he eventually went out in 15th place–but in the money. Attrition tooks it’s toll and before too long we’d set our final table:
As you can see several of the players were talking about Twittering the fact that they’d made the final table–which is exactly as it should be. The field was thinned down to three players and it looked like KIBLOUCHA would go out in third after he flopped a set of sevens…when DEFEDOG1 flopped a set of Kings. That left KIBLOUCHA with just 50,000 or so but he battled back from the brink and after DEFEDOG1 took out DJFOG86 when the latter’s straight and flush draws didn’t connect after the money went in, we were heads up. And it didn’t take the final two long to discuss making a deal, which seemed an agreeable way to end the evening’s festivities.
So now our beloved readers can follow us on the UB Blog and on Twitter and keep up to date on news and promotions and freerolls. And we’ll be posting even more fantabulous content once the World Series of Poker kicks off in a bit more than a week.
Tags: poker freerolls, poker twitter, Twitter, ub, ub freerolls, ub twitter, ultimatebet, ultimatebet freerolls, ultimatebet twitter
Comments (0)
