During my recent trip to the UltimateBet.com Aruba Poker Classic I got involved in a rather big hand with Matt Brady, which I think signifies how someone can overplay ace-king.  I started the hand with 16,000, Brady had 22,000 and the blinds were $100/$200 with a $25 ante. A player I did not recognize who we’ll call EP, raised to 600 from early position.  EP had about 9,000 to start the hand, and when it got to me I just flat call. Matt Brady, in the small blind makes it 2,125 straight.  With the action back to EP he quickly decides to move all in for his 9k.  I over shoved for 16K and Brady, after thinking for a few minutes, made the call.

In my opinion, the way the hand played out with me flat calling preflop at first, and then making what essentially was a five-bet shove signifies one of three hands. I have aces, kings, or queens in that spot. Why risk such a large percentage of your stack against two opponents who are all in with a hand like ace-king? In an absolute best-case scenario he is flipping a coin, and most of the time ace-king is crushed by kings, or aces.

His initial re-raise is fine, and I am the type of player who does like to put pressure on my opponents with big re-raises.  Let’s look at a situation where it would be OK to commit a bunch of chips with ace-king.  Lets reverse the hands, and say EP raised in early position with ace-king, I called the raise, and Matt Brady made it 2,125 to go from the small blind.  In that situation, a shove with ace-king from EP, is a good play. You are not calling off your chips, but instead putting the pressure on your opponent. Now you can win the pot in more than one way, your opponent could fold, or if he calls you could win your flip at a showdown.

So many beginning players look at ace-king as the stone cold nuts, when it is not at all. Ace-king is a drawing hand that at times can be very powerful, but can also cost you a lot of chips if you can’t learn to get away from it. The next tournament you play, work on a small experiment. Every time you do not connect with ace-king on the flop, actually give it up. Don’t try and continuation bet, don’t call a bet in hopes of catching your ace or king on the turn, just check-fold. This will allow you start getting more disciplined about actually laying down ace-king. 

Every poker player needs to have a wide range of tricks up their sleeves. Some of these tricks require you to have the ability to pull the trigger on an outrageous bluff, and others require the discipline to simply be able to fold a hand when you know you aren’t ahead.

Ace-King may look like a monster every time, but if you aren’t careful when playing it, it will eat your stack alive.

Check out our new client and let us know what you think.  It’s way slicker and we’ve ditched the clutter.  You’ll also notice our new icons that let you find your games quickly.

We’d also like to thank all our players for making our poker room a huge success. There’s way more in store over the next little while.  Let us know what you think.  Get in on our dialogue and post your feedback right here.  That’s what blogs are for.

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”.

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.

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: 

http://www.ultimatebet.com/poker-tournaments/schedule

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.

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.

-Billy Kopp

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!