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The New UB – Raise. Stack. Own.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009 - UB Marketing

UB-Raise-Stack-Own

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.

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The Ultimate Work In Progress

Tuesday, November 17, 2009 - ProductMan

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!

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New UB TV Commercials

Thursday, November 12, 2009 - UB Marketing

A few of us from the creative team spent the week in LA, CA for the shooting and production of our upcoming TV spots. I of course can’t fill you in on too much detail until they come out but it was a great experience with the team and production company we worked with. The process was great leading up to the shooting days, an awesome change from experiences we’ve had in the past.

The funniest part about the week was seeing us warm-weathered folks freezing our you-know-whats off in LA in the evening. The night we arrived and the following night during shooting it was 40 degrees and crazy-windy. Yikes! Good thing we had space heaters and blankets.

It’s amazing how much work and coordination goes into three :30 TV spots. I mean, after all is said and done,  I imagine the total number of man hours spent on these were over the 1,000 hour mark. CRAZY! With the creative team, marketing and brand team, agency, production company and all the editing I was amazed to see these spots come together so well. These will for sure be the best TV ads we’ve ever had, and I can’t wait to share.

While we’re on the topic of great TV ads, I’d like to share a few of my recent favorites:

Bisquick – Keep Your Leftovers Alive

Kleenex - Let it Out

Volkswagen - Rumor

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The Downs, The Ups

Friday, October 9, 2009 - Gene Bromberg

The eliminations keep on coming. We’ve been playing a bit over 90 minutes and the field has decreased from 36 to 22. As you might expect playing six-handed is creating more confrontations and that’s driving the pace of eliminations. Here’s who’s been eliminated in the last half-hour or so:

23 $ 16,130 Jon Favaloro
24 $ 16,130 Victor Ng
25 $ 13,820 James Czarnecki
26 $ 13,820 Kevin Kaikko
27 $ 13,820 Matt Vengrin

James Czarnecki was eliminated when James Mordue turned the nut straight and Czarnecki check-raised holding a pair of Queens. Not the best timing. Victor Ng was knocked out when, holding Ad-5h and the board reading 5d-4d-3d, got all the money in against Brent Roberts and his 2d-4h. The turn was the 9c, fine, but the river was the 4c, and that brutal beat sent Ng out of the Classic. Jon Favaloro went out when he was racing with K-Q to Ty Reiman’s pocket sixes…and a six hit on the flop.

The other big news so far today has been the resurgence of Brock Parker. Parker has doubled up twice, once with pocket Aces to Eric Baldwin’s Ace-King, and he now has over 300,000 chips. Tournament Director Matt Savage reminded the crowd that Parker won two WSOP bracelets this year, one in six-handed Limit Hold-Em, one in six-handed No-Limit Hold-Em. Need I remind you we’re playing six-handed the rest of the way?

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Day 3 Chip Counts

Thursday, October 8, 2009 - Gene Bromberg

We’re about 15 minutes away from the start of Day 3 of the 2009 Aruba Poker Classic and 86 players will drag themselves off the beach and take their seats in the Radisson ballroom. Robert Mizrachi returns to play today as the chip leader, boasting a monster 353,000 stack. Jon Favaloro came into play yesterday as the chip leader and continued his strong play, as he now sits second with 255,000. Defending champion Matt Brady is still in the hunt, as is 2007 winner Travis Rice, and players such as Phil Hellmuth, Shawn Rice, Scott Ian, Matt Vengrin, Gavin Smith, Eric Baldwin, James Mordue, Zachary Clark and Johan Storakers will take their seats at noon.

Here are the complete chip counts, and when play resumes the blinds will be 800-1600 with a 200 ante We’re going to play today until the field has been reduced to 36 players.

1 Robert Mizrachi 353,200
2 Jon Favaloro 255,300
3 Ty Reiman 226,900
4 Matthew Ross 222,300
5 James Mordue 207,700
6 James Czarnecki 197,300
7 David Perkins 191,500
8 Eric Baldwin 166,400
9 Max Greenwood 152,800
10 Ryan Caldwell 146,900
11 Brandon Hall 129,900
12 Travis Rice 128,600
13 Zack Clark 127,000
14 Tristan Wade 126,300
15 Alex Wendell 119,200
16 Krystian Pinzon 117,900
17 Matt Vengrin 116,700
18 John Venturini 115,500
19 Dorian Rios 114,300
20 Andy Rich 113,600
21 John Clancy 112,500
22 Vassil Kararadov 112,100
23 Jamie Armstrong 111,200
24 Brent Roberts 111,200
25 John Strzemp 107,600
26 William Cruz 101,500
27 Brock Parker 95,600
28 Adam Boghosian 94,500
29 Victor Ng 92,500
30 Kevin Kaikko 90,900
31 Kazu Oshima 88,000
32 Barry Hamilton 84,700
33 David Sands 82,400
34 Tyson Marks 80,600
35 James Jewett 76,200
36 Joe Le 76,000
37 Michael DeGilio 75,400
38 John Hayes 74,100
39 Antonis Poulengrus 73,600
40 Elias Haikal 72,200
41 Charlie Hook 71,000
42 Marc Levy 70,500
43 Scott Brewer 69,400
44 Justin Truesdell 64,400
45 Anthony Angora 62,300
46 Larry Sharp 60,300
47 Elliott Flint-Petersen 56,300
48 Jonathan Lessih 55,600
49 Anthony Kastelic 54,500
50 Vincent Moscati 53,100
51 Jeffrey Vanchiro 53,100
52 Tony Callom 52,000
53 Johan Storakers 50,600
54 Ryan Howard 50,300
55 Ryan Schmidt 50,200
56 Mike Collins 48,200
57 Roch Cousineau 47,300
58 Katherine Cagle 47,000
59 Gavin Smith 45,700
60 Alessandro Nocerino 45,100
61 Sol Bergren 43,400
62 Al Riccobono 42,000
63 Phil Hellmuth 41,600
64 Scott Ian 40,300
65 Brandon Terry 38,400
66 Joe Rohinsky 37,800
67 Matt Brady 34,500
68 Jose Roberto Santos 34,500
69 Howard “Tahoe” Andrew 34,400
70 Vanessa Peng 34,400
71 Frank Hernandez 32,900
72 William Sheridan 32,200
73 Scott Stewart 30,500
74 Casey Kastle 30,400
75 Oscar Esteban 30,300
76 Tom Braband 30,100
77 Anton Talle 29,700
78 Tim West 29,400
79 James Honeybone 29,000
80 Hans Bennett 27,300
81 Shawn Rice 23,500
82 Susan Moncek 20,600
83 Chase Steely 19,900
84 Joseph Knight 19,400
85 Hunter Frey 18,500
86 Joe Mosca 8,400

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Day 2 Chip Counts

Wednesday, October 7, 2009 - Gene Bromberg

Day 2 of the Aruba Poker Classic has begun and 263 players braved the rain to return to the Radisson tournament room. Among those who are still in the hunt for the title are several members of Team UB, including Phil Hellmuth, Adam Levy, Michael Binger, Brandon Cantu, Bryan Devonshire, Shawn Rice, Gary DiBernardi, and Tiffany Michelle. We’ll play five 90-minute levels today, the same as we did during the opening days of the tournament. And here’s where the chip counts stood at the start of play today:

1 Jon Faualoro 88,575
2 Robert Mizrachi 80,600
3 Casey Kastle 78,300
4 Matthew Ross 75,100
5 Ryan Caldwell 74,475
6 Chase Steely 73,525
7 William Cruz 70,050
8 Tristan Wade 64,450
9 Justin Young 61,700
10 Gylbert Drolet 59,375

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11 Ryan Schmidt 59,350
12 Tara Nobui 59,175
13 Robbie Cunningham 58,975
14 Sean Murphy 58,250
15 Barry Hamilton 57,075
16 Randy Crow 55,925
17 Mike Adamo 55,850
18 Don Olzenak 55,075
19 Ryan Howard 54,100
20 Hector Morel 53,000
21 Kazuhito Oshima 52,325
22 Jamie Armstrong 52,175
23 John Clancy 52,075
24 Matthew Brogan 51,625
25 Majd Ibrahim 50,450
26 Anthony Angora 50,450
27 Nadim Aboud 50,400
28 Phil Helmuth 49,175
29 Tim West 49,000
30 James Mordue 48,800
31 Eric Baldwin 47,875
32 Joe Giannone 47,725
33 Matt Vengrin 47,550
34 Marc Levy 46,850
35 Kate Haindl 46,775
36 Alessandro Nocerino 46,700
37 Brent Roberts 46,325
38 Elias Mizrahi 45,725
39 Erik Fladseth 45,200
40 John Spadavicchia 45,100
41 Vinny Pahuja 44,700
42 Victor Ng 44,250
43 Robert McLaughlin 44,125
44 Johan Storakers 43,950
45 Tyler Cornell 43,800
46 Larry Rieder 43,750
47 Dorian Rios 43,750
48 Justin Rollo 43,100
49 Richard Freire 42,850
50 John Parker 42,250
51 Daniel Santoro 42,050
52 Mike Borchetta 41,625
53 Brandon Zaucha 41,400
54 Travix Rice 41,350
55 Joseph Mosce 40,650
56 Frank Hernandez 40,625
57 Scott Stewart 39,825
58 Max Green Wood 39,675
59 Ty Reiman 39,600
60 Johnathan Lessin 39,050
61 Hunter Frey 38,850
62 Jarol Espinoza 37,875
63 Rafael Belloso 37,700
64 Tom Braband 37,550
65 Susan Moncek 37,050
66 Jae-Sik Hwang 36,150
67 Joseph Elpayaa 35,400
68 James Czarnecki 35,375
69 Jason Koon 35,350
70 Anthony Kastelic 34,675
71 John Hayes 34,400
72 Jason Lee 34,125
73 Nemesio Carracedo 33,975
74 Dennis LaFountain 33,750
75 Lennart Konst 33,550
76 Joseph Knight 32,700
77 Tyson Marks 32,700
78 Austin Scott 32,700
79 David Zeitlin 32,650
80 Shawn Van Asdale 32,575
81 David Sands 32,450
82 Bijan Zahmat 32,150
83 Rivo Roose 32,100
84 Adam Levy 32,000
85 Michael Binger 31,325
86 Nicholas Caovette 31,175
87 Jean-Robert Bellande 30,925
88 Dan Goonin 30,725
89 Carl Restifo 30,650
90 Brandon Terry 30,600
91 Sol Bergren 30,125
92 Jon Green 29,700
93 Ryan Fisler 29,650
94 William Stradley 29,325
95 John C. Perry 29,250
96 Colin Leighton 28,525
97 Marc Davis 28,375
98 Joe Tehan 28,250
99 Adam Baghosian 28,125
100 Vincent Moscati 28,075
101 Scott Ian 27,925
102 Al Riccobano 27,900
103 Carlos Alarcon 27,850
104 Aaron Frese 27,775
105 Larry Sharp 27,775
106 Joe Rohinsky 27,750
107 Ivan Frietez 27,725
108 Bruce Heard 27,400
109 Aurel Bogdan 27,275
110 John Tollofsen 27,175
111 Elliot Petersen 27,050
112 Andy Rich 26,950
113 Brandon Riha 26,800
114 Legnard Ilario 26,650
115 William Sheridan 26,625
116 Justin Levy 26,575
117 Jean-Nicoles Fartin 26,575
118 Koen Berendsen 26,475
119 Justin Moodley 26,325
120 Joe Le 25,825
121 John Venturini 24,350
122 Jamie Rosen 24,175
123 Thomas Marchese 23,925
124 Johnathan Patrick 23,925
125 Brandon Cantu 23,800
126 Zach Clark 23,750
127 David McConnell 23,500
128 Howard “Tahoe” Andrew 23,325
129 Adam Croffut 23,325
130 Luis Yepez 23,175
131 Suzanne Fielding 23,100
132 Gavin Smith 23,100
133 Brion Maciel 23,075
134 Kevin Tanner 23,000
135 Scott Desveaux 23,000
136 Antonis Poulengeris 22,900
137 Leonardo Berti 22,850
138 Jeremy Symington 22,750
139 Joseph Chaplin 22,600
140 Mike Murray 22,575
141 Kevin Kaikko 22,475
142 Alex Nazario 22,375
143 Michael Collins 22,375
144 David Perkins 22,000
145 Garrett Beckman 21,600
146 Steve Karp 21,600
147 Jason Lane 21,300
148 Vanessa Peng 21,200
149 Kevin Bryniczka 21,175
150 Keith Lam 21,050
151 Todd Ofer 20,925
152 Chris Bell 20,525
153 Jose Severino 20,400
154 Jim Dalessandro 20,075
155 Heiko Dexler 19,975
156 Wrence Kall 19,925
157 Keystian Pinzon 19,525
158 Charlie Hook 19,500
159 Tiffany Michelle 19,375
160 Vassil Kakaradov 18,975
161 Matt Brady 18,825
162 Gary DeBernardi 18,500
163 Rosemary Sauter 18,250
164 Martin Cabanes 18,175
165 Sam Murphy 17,975
166 Kyle Hegeman 17,575
167 James Boyle 17,500
168 Joezer Tadger 17,475
169 Mickey Seagle 17,375
170 Larry Karambis 17,300
171 Joel Shulrut 17,275
172 James Honeybone 17,200
173 Roch Cousineau 17,050
174 Alex Wendell 16,825
175 Andrew Shin 16,800
176 John Curcuru 16,800
177 Daniel Blakely 16,675
178 Bill Carey 16,350
179 Shane Rose 16,225
180 Jame Bigson 16,075
181 Jose Dela Guardia 15,775
182 Justin Truesdell 15,750
183 Bryan Devonshire 15,550
184 Lasse Ubostad 15,425
185 Bryce Kesler 15,400
186 Anton Talle 15,300
187 Ben Yerushalaim 15,225
188 Art Ragosta 15,150
189 Christopher Seegar 15,050
190 John Strezemp 14,975
191 Jose Roberto Santos 14,975
192 Jonathan Roy 14,825
193 Stacy Kopacz 14,675
194 Tony Melchior 14,275
195 Brent Norris 14,150
196 Rick Lowe 14,025
197 Dixon Ruecker 14,000
198 Reza Badr 13,600
199 Paul Mattioda 13,575
200 Matthew Waxman 13,550
201 William Miner 13,500
202 Shawn Rice 13,500
203 Adam Koppel 13,325
204 James Jewett 13,325
205 Hans Bennett 13,300
206 Ivan Mamuzic 13,150
207 Jason Gray 13,125
208 Richard Bourgain 13,000
209 Elliot Smith 12,900
210 Brian Saunders 12,900
211 Oscar Esteban 12,775
212 Clayton Newman 12,750
213 Katherine Cagle 12,525
214 Elvin Simpson 12,350
215 Sebastian Zavarsky 12,300
216 George Stewart 12,225
217 Scott Brewer 12,075
218 Sam Greenwood 12,000
219 Neal Karasick 11,875
220 Wilmer Diaz 11,000
221 Chris Woodburg 10,750
222 Brandon Hall 10,725
223 Ari Albilia 10,500
224 Erik Larson 10,475
225 Dina Demarest 10,325
226 Ryan D’Angelo 10,275
227 Sanjay Iyer 10,000
228 Kevin Schulz 9,975
229 Sunil Sunkuru 9,950
230 Joshua Norris 9,700
231 Steven Fuhrman 9,675
232 Tim Ulrich 9,550
233 Tony Gargano 9,400
234 Chris Sarena 9,375
235 Dustin Ingles 9,325
236 Mikey Roe 9,300
237 Michael DeGilio 8,950
238 Tony Collon 8,925
239 Jaikel Miguel 8,900
240 Nicholas Grippo 8,550
241 Mike Atkinson 8,300
242 Jeffrey Vanchiro 8,225
243 Bryan Schultz 7,850
244 Amit Makhija 7,800
245 Elias Heikal 7,775
246 Clive Sullivan 7,700
247 Kelly Kindopp 7,675
248 Roddy Assous 7,500
249 Va Shon Watkins 7,400
250 Johnathan Looper 7,375
251 Jeff Cote 7,375
252 Qinghai Pan 7,250
253 Steve Friedlander 7,075
254 Rajiv Motawani 6,950
255 Nick Binger 6,500
256 Anibal Salazar 5,725
257 Chris Janssen 4,925
258 Li Jian Xin 4,925
259 Stephanie Alderman 4,800
260 Robin Bergren 4,575
261 Jim Pechac 4,525
262 Stuart Conolly 4,375
263 Alfonzo Cammarota 3,325

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In the Field

Tuesday, October 6, 2009 - Gene Bromberg

Can’t be sure if this’ll actually post what with our ‘net issues, but let’s be optimistic!! Here are some of the players who are/were in the field today.

Defending champion Matt Brady:

Last year’s runner-up Johan Storakers:

And last year’s 4th-place finisher, Allie Prescott:

James Van Alstyne, who won a HORSE bracelet at this year’s World Series and came in 2nd in another HORSE event, is sticking with just one game here in Aruba:

Jean-Robert Bellande, like Tiffany Michelle and Annie Duke a veteran of reality television, is keeping it real here in Aruba:

As is Layne Flack:

Jeff Madsen was one of the earliest eliminations of the day, as he flopped a set of fives and then got all the money in the middle when a King fell on the turn. His opponent snap-called with pocket Kings and that sent Madsen to the beach:

Another early elimination was the newest member of Team UB, Joe Sebok, who started off well but lost two big hands holding pocket Kings–once when he ran into Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin’s Aces, another when his opponent made quads. And that was that for the PokerRoad honcho:

Still in the tournament is Joe’s PokerRoad co-host/conspirator Gavin Smith:

And Robert Mizrachi:

P0ker H0 was another early casualty, losing most of his stack before the first break and busting out when he shoved with Q-9 and got called by a player holding Ace-King. Big Slick held up and H0 would not repeat his deep run of a year ago:

Hoping to escape H0’s fate and make the money again this year is Debo34:

While Liv Boeree is out, her pocket Tens bested by pocket Queens.

Bryan Devonshire has been holding fairly steady during play today:

As has Matt Vengrin:

Tiffany Michelle saw her stacked whacked when she lost a race with QQ vs. AK, but after being down to 2,000 she ground her way back to her starting stack of 15,000:

And still in the field as the final level of the day begins are Brandon Cantu:

Michael Binger:

Billy Kopp:

Shawn Rice:

And, last but never least, Lacey Jones:

Annie Duke will not be back for Day 2. Even though she was dealt pocket Aces seven times during play today (and getting Kings and Queens to boot) Annie lost time and time again with those big hands and went out when she flopped top two to her opponent’s bottom set. Sometimes it’s just one of those days, and now Annie gets to spend the rest of her trip enjoying Aruba…which is doubtless not what she wanted.

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Tweet or Death

Tuesday, October 6, 2009 - Gene Bromberg

In case you weren’t aware we’re having serious Internet issues here and I’ve been reduced to printing out my posts and sending them via carrier pigeon to the mainland. Now, that’s a lie, but it’s an option I’ve been exploring if we can’t get a nice reliable connection.

However we are still able to connect to Twitter and that’s where you can find pics and updates and info from the tournament. My big priority is still to get stuff posted here in quantity as soon as possible, but truth be told you should be following UltimateBet on Twitter–the URL is twitter.com/ultimate_bet. I’d put in a link for you to click but the doggone Internet won’t let me do that either. This is definitely making me appreciate the magic that is WiFi, believe me.

Anyway, to get the instant, inside scoop about what’s happening here in Aruba check us out on Twitter and keep checking back here on the blog for a landslide of posts and pics once we get back on the grid.

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Working (Very) Blue

Monday, October 5, 2009 - Gene Bromberg

Last week I mentioned that a lot of the action at the Aruba Poker Classic takes place around the Radisson Pool, and that after missing last year’s Welcome Banquet Phil Hellmuth would probably be in the mood to entice people to jump in the pool by promising them with piles of cash.

Uh, I had no idea how right I’d prove to be.

The UB Blog is (mostly) PG-13 and so I can’t really describe in detail much of Vinnie Favorito’s comedy routine that kicked off last night’s party. Chances are if you were within 50 feet of the stage Vinnie insulted either your race, religion, creed, gender, or face. All in good fun, of course, and especially so when the target is Phil Hellmuth.

And then after Vinnie wrapped up…well, that’s when the fun started. And it started with a group of synchronized swimmers in brilliant multi-colored swimsuits entertaining the crowd:

And then that’s when the real mayhem started. Just about every member of Team UB (including many of those who work behind the scenes) ended up in the pool. It started with Tiffany Michelle and Liv Boeree and Matt Graham and Bryan Devonshire and then before too long just about everyone wearing a logo was in the pool to stay. Some went in voluntarily, some less so, as you’ll see.

That should give you just a little idea about what the party was like. It was WAY more crowded that in years past, and the pool action was freakin’ nuts. Phil offered $500 for the first two women to jump in the pool naked and it took about 17 seconds for him to hand out a grand (as I said, this is a PG blog, so no pics. Unless someone offers me $500…).

I literally have 500 pics to sort through and develop and post, but it’s late, the tournament starts at high noon, and I promise to post lots, lots, lots more stuff about last night’s insane bash. But this should give you some idea of what was like, and if my pics and words don’t do the job then listen to what Scott Ian tweeted about the party–”It was (deleted) nuts”. Yes, PG blog, sorry, but I think you can fill in that particular blank yourself.

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Run Good, No Good

Thursday, October 1, 2009 - Gene Bromberg

I’m not breaking news when I say that to win a poker tournament, especially one with more than a thousand players, you have to run good. You have to run really good. You have to avoid the obvious coolers (my Kings, your Aces) as well as the trappy hands that would lure even Stu Ungar to his demise. Situations like set under set, flopped straight to top pair/nut flush draw, etc. Of course one of the ways truly skilled players avoid these nightmare scenarios is by never getting involved in them in the first place. If you’re holding Ace-Queen and an Ace flops and you get your 300BB stack in the middle and find you’re dominated by Ace-King, maybe that’s a bit of bad luck but possibly it’s more bad play.

In a freeroll tournament (like, say, our Pocket Card Challenge Freeroll last night) folks are bound to play a bit more loosey-goosey. Especially early on players are more likely to gamble it up, try to accumulate a big stack early on or just be done with it. Kinda like Phil Ivey in a $10,000 event. And at my starting table last night there was a player named HANKSKY who was doing just that–gambling it up. He was raising just about every pot, not letting the limpers and callers see a cheap flop, and splashing chips all over the place. What he didn’t know was that there was a new sheriff in town–me. Because I too was willing to mix it up, put my chips in the middle, come home with my shield or borne upon it. HANKSKY was sitting to my right and when he made his usual raise I re-popped it with A-Q. The flop came Q-6-4 and fast as you could mouse-click our chips were in the middle. My top-top had his mighty deuce-four in big trouble and for once the better hand held.

My stack took a hit a few hands later when I flopped top two pair holding Ace-Queen. That’s good. What’s not good, what’s bad even, is that UNIQUELADY flopped Broadway holding K-10. All the chips went in and when I didn’t boat up my mighty stack was dented. “Nice flop,” I seethed, and she said “Yup,” in agreement. But not long after that t I doubled again, this time against JHUB420 when I held Big Slick and flopped a pair to his open-ended straight draw. The draw whiffed and suddenly I had one of the top 20 stacks in the tournament. And I may have cracked the Top Ten when I took most of JHUB420’s remaining chips when I was dealt pocket Aces. “I’m going to win this (deleted) tournament,” I told myself as the first break arrived. “I’m GOING TO WIN!”

I was eliminated three minutes after we returned to play. I three-bet VEGASRIVER8 while holding Big Slick again and when he shoved I came along. He had Jacks, we raced, and I lost. Lost about 85% of my stack, too. I open-shoved with Q-J the next hand and was called down by a medium Ace. Which held. And I was out, in 235th place. Which, obviously, is a long way from first.

“Oh well,” I sighed.

“Lost a race,” I sighed.

“Sigh,” I sighed.

I’d run exceedingly good in the tournament, holding Aces, Ace-King twice, Ace-Queen twice (and hitting the flop with each of those hands). I also flopped a set and got paid off. All that, and I was out 235th. If I’d won that race with Ace-King…who knows? I might’ve finished…112th or something. “Crap,” I sighed.

So it isn’t enough to run good–you gotta play good as well. And as I watched the tournament play down to the final table (my nemesis VEGASRIVER8 finished 30th, nine off the money) it looked like the extremely short-stacked 44NIGHTMOVES would be the final-table-bubbler, as he had about a blind plus an ante left before him. But after pushing his handful of chips forward and telling the table “gl guys gg” he managed a desperation triple-up to reconnect his life-support machine. But for just a few hands, as his pocket nines were beaten by another player’s Jack-Nine when the paint card spiked on the turn. Still, he almost made the final table, because as I was watching that hand play out CUZZ59 was being bounced on the other table. But stack sizes come into play when eliminations are ranked and so CUZZ59 gets to put the Pocket Card Challenge Freeroll final table on his resume, while 44NIGHTMOVES was left to lament that blasted Jack. At any rate, here’s what last night’s final table looked like as battle was joined:

CMILLET81 had the big chip lead and he made it a lot bigger as the also-rans fell by the wayside. TOD38 was first to go, out in 8th, followed shortly thereafter by the cooly-nicknamed TANGENTMEMORY. It looked like THEMECH222 would be next to go, as he was down to just 22,000 and all-in with 2-4 against ANDYZHU888’s Ace-Queen. But where HANKSKY wasn’t able to turn the tables on me when we held those hands, THEMECH222 turned a four and doubled up. He then went on a tear, boosting his stack all the way up to 200,000 after he knocked out the aforementioned ANDYZHU888 with a straight. INDY29 was next to go when he woke up with Ace-Queen and moved his short-stack to the middle. Alas, he was dominated by LBKJOS’s Ace-King, and that was that. And then THEMECH222’s run abruptly came to an end when he bluffed with Ad-8c after a 5h-7h-4d flop and LBKJOS made a hero call holding 5s-2h. That gutsy play sent THEMECH222 to the rail in fourth place and boosted LBKJOS’s stack up over 400K.

With six players left CMILLET81 had held more than 50% of the chips in play, but LBKJOS’s reign of terror brought their stacks almost equal. SLICKWILLY14 trailed them both with around 150,000 and chose to sit back and let these two titans battle it out. And after LBKJOS took over the chip lead he and CMILLET81 played a huge hand where LBKJOS got a wee bit lucky. Well, he got a whole lotta lucky–after a 5s-10h-5d flop CMILLET81, holding Ks-10d, led out for 54,000 and LBKJOS check-raised to 124,800. CMILLET81 called and the nine of clubs on the turn probably seemed a totally innocuous card. It was not, because LBKJOS was holding 9c-10c and the turn was one of three cards that would give him the pot. LBKJOS shoved, CMILLET81 called, and when no King nor five came on the turn CMILLET81 was cruelly ejected and LBKJOS was the big chip leader going into heads-up play.

With about a 3-1 chip lead LBKJOS looked to be in good shape to take it down, and a few hands later his victory looked a lock as his Qh-Jc outflopped SLICKWILLY14’s Ad-9d. The money went in and LBKJOS needed to fade a nine or an Ace to win. I’ll let the picture tell the story:

But LBJKOS was undaunted, he pulled out his cudgel and bashed his way once more to a 3-1 lead. Once again all the money went in, this time with LBKJOS holding 7-2 (the HAMMER!) and a flopped pair of sevens to SLICKWILLY14’s Kc-Jc, which gave him two overcards and a gutshot. Those particular outs proved important as an eight on the river gave SLICKWILLY14 his straight and another lease on life. “Again on the river,” LBKJOS groused, understandably so.

The grousing no doubt increased in volume when the two again got the money in the middle after a 7s-Jh-3d flop, with LBKJOS holding 3c-6s to SLICKWILLY14’s Ac-5d. But here’s the thing about WILLY–he’s SLICK. He turned an Ace, rivered a five, and once again came from behind to frustrate LBKJOS.

Even after all this, all this, LBKJOS clawed and scratched his way back to a small chip lead. But the two played a massive pot where, with the board reading 3c-10c-10h-6c-Qh, LBKJOS bet 126,000 and SLICKWILLY14 shoved. LBKJOS made the call for almost all of his chips and saw SLICKWILLY14 turn over 4c-8c for the baby flush, one LBKJOS couldn’t beat. We never got to see LBKJOS’s cards, I can only think he had a ten, or maybe an smaller flush (tho there weren’t that many small clubs left).

But it must’ve been a bitter pill to swallow, and on the next hand swallow it LBKJOS did. His last few chips went in with him holding 5d-8c to SLICKWILLY14’s Js-9h, (and sorry to spoil the suspense, but those are the pocket cards of the final winning hand). You’d think that maybe LBKJOS might catch a break and turn the tables just this once–you must not play much poker. No, on this day the table was tilted in one direction, as both players flopped a pair but WILLY’s Jack was better than LBKJOS’s five, and when the board bricked out it was LBKJOS’s collecting $49.23 for finishing as our runner-up and SLICKWILLY14 securing a seat in our $200,000 Sunday Guaranteed Tournament. If he can keep that run good thing going…look out.

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