Wednesday, June 17, 2009 - Joey
Hi there! I have an important question to make. Have you guys noticed the many cool things going on at Ultimate Bet?
Well, it is our 10th year anniversary and what a better way to celebrate all these years of poker and great experiences by turning our site upside-down. We are just living the dream! If you do not know what I am talking about, here it is a little recap:
Our amazing UB 500 promotion ended last Monday and 500 players will be sharing a unique $500,000 prize pool. Awesome! I would like to congratulate you all VIP guys for doing such a good job. This promotion has just confirmed how loyal you are and there is no way we could thank you enough.
More than 100 players have qualified to series by playing at our tables and many of them are already at the Poker City: Las Vegas! We´ve had the opportunity of talking with you guys about it and I can easily tell we are definitely having an empire over there.
Remember we have amazing events prepared for you to get closer to the UB family and certainly our VIP team will have a couple of well-known guys that look forward to sharing with you this unforgettable experience.
You have not arrived, yet? Do not worry about it. Ultimate Bet will be at Las Vegas during the whole series and just to give you a hint, we are giving away 50 seats more to attend the WSOP on June 21st, so, you still have plenty of time and chances to make it.
Also, we will keep all our promotions running . The $200K GTD tournament every Sunday, the biggest Bad Beat Jackpot, a new and improved Tournament Leaderboard and last but definitely not least our Aruba Poker Classic tournament, will be out of this world.
So many things are going on at UB. Many things to do and win…What are you waiting for? All these amazing promos were prepared just for you and there is no way someone else can take them out your hands. I mean, not everyone has that poker level.
As I told you before: “We are just living the dream”. Our poker empire is a reality now and we want you to be part of it.
Tags: Celebrate, las vegas, loyal, Poker Empire, Poker Poker Poker, Series, ub, VIP, WSOP
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Tuesday, June 2, 2009 - Miss C
Hey Guys,
Survived! The 1st week at the WSOP has been great. I totally feel at home (a friend called the other night and asked where I was, my reply was “Home” and then I started laughing and said “Bellagio” which I guess really is home for the WSOP) and I am looking forward to a Week 2. The 1st social event on the calendar was Annie’s “Sucking out on the Rivers” Charity Poker Tournament. It was a great night with some fantastic Joan Rivers impersonators and also some really scary Joan Rivers impersonators. As with life you have to take the good with the bad:)
Everything I wanted to do in Vegas got achieved in the 1st week. This is definitely an omen and the following weeks can and will only get better. The sales have started here and I have had a chance to visit a few shops and make a few purchases (3 pairs of shoes [2 x CL & 1 x Havaianas], 4 tops and 2 pairs of pants Thought I would get it in before it got absolutely hectic and I start struggling to get out of bed. On the topic of beds, I think I have found a piece of heaven…the beds at Bellagio rock, it is like sleeping on a cloud.
So far the numbers at the Series have been good. The 40K (Event 2) got 201 runners, fairly impressive for the 1st big one on the season. The “stimulus package” tournament (Event 4 NLHE 1K) blew itself out of the water (it was predicted to do so anyway). If this trend continues the payouts are going to be great and the lead up events definitely worth playing. When playing you should be wearing the UB swag, all the gear is really cool and the hats are the best I have ever seen. To get your swag, come to Bellagio, find a house phone and ask to be put through to Phil Hellmuth. We will come down and get you.
Off the topic of poker, Vegas had a special visitor….President Barack Obama. I felt quite privileged to be in the same town and even closer the hotel next door to the President. He came into town for a charity event that was held at Caesars Palace. I can say that I saw Air force 1 taxiing at McCarran airport from my hotel room! Vegas and the Strip weren’t as chaotic as I thought a man with this kind of stature would cause. I did speak to a taxi driver the day Obama left and he mentioned that the freeway was shut for his ride to the airport. Out of sight out of mind!
Good Luck! Bring on Week 2.
Cheers,
Miss C
Tags: Annie Duke, Barrack Obama, Bellagio, Christian Louboutin, Havaianas, Joan Rivers, las vegas, Obama, Phil Hellmuth, President, ub, Vegas, WSOP
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Tuesday, April 14, 2009 - Miss C
Hello Everyone,
I am coming to you live from Las Vegas. I arrived last night and this city still takes my breath away, I swear to God my heart stopped beating for just a second when I saw that skyline. I was lucky enough to land at night time and I do think it is the best time to see the city…all those lights. I cannot believe I have not been here in 3 years. Guessing I will make up for that during the WSOP. I love this city!
This time round I have done something totally out of the ordinary and I am staying at the Signature Suites at the MGM Grand and I have to say they are a bit special. Every room is a suite and included is room internet (very important as the daily rate at most big hotels is hideous), gym (if you are here for a long time, you need to clear your head) and kitchen (nothing like a home cooked meal). If you are here for longer than a week, definitely look at staying here.
UB is having drinks and nibbles for their WPT satellite winners at Fix in the Bellagio. It is a great chance for you to mingle with our Pros. Quite a few of them will be there in full force. It will be a great time to ask some questions or even just have a chat. From experience I can tell you they are very social and I guarantee they will make you laugh.
Today is going to be a great day…I am planning on catching up on all the emails I missed over Easter and I also get to catch up with Scotty Nguyen, I haven’t had a drink with him or heard that familiar Scotty trademark “Baby” in a year and a bit. I can’t wait to get to Bellagio and see the other notable faces. Such an awesome city, makes life so convenient:) Then there is the drinks with the qualifiers and pros, all in all a great day!
Fingers crossed some of our qualifiers will get into the 25K WPT and make the money. I will be cheering from the rails. If time permits and it should in a 24 hour city I would like to play some poker. Lately, I have been playing a few sit and gos with friends and I have so got a feeling for it. Wish me luck! Let’s put it in perspective, the more I win, the more I can add to my purchases.
Next week, I will up update you on the Vegas trip and let you know all the plans for UB in Vegas during the WSOP.
Cheers,
Miss C
Tags: Bellagio, Fix, las vegas, MGM, MGM Grand, Scotty Nguyen, Signature Suites, ub, Ultimate Bet, Vegas, WPT, WSOP
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Tuesday, April 7, 2009 - Miss C
Hi All,
I am sitting here and it feels like the calm before the storm. Easter is fast approaching and this will be my last bit of time off before all the madness really kicks in. And the only reason it will be time off…is that where I am going there is no internet connections. Well there is dial up, but we all know how passe that is:) I am off to spend 4 days over easter on the island of San Andreas, Colombia. The email situation shouldn’t really be that bad as everyone else will be enjoying easter too.
After easter I am off to Vegas and I cannot wait. It really has been too long. I am heading over to finalize our plans for the WSOP. In addition due to good timing, I will be present for the start of the WPT 25K Championship Event at Bellagio. UB did something interesting for this event and ran satellites for the land based satellites into the big 1. That almost sounds like the most perfect excuse for a long weekend in Sin City. It will be interesting to see what the final numbers will be for this event?
I was just checking out the results for the Five Star World Poker Classic and one thing that really surprised me is that in the 5K event, there was only 27 players. This truly surprises me for Vegas. Does this mean that the “Economic Crisis” is effecting our Poker World? I see that they only cracked 100+ players in the first 2 events, this effect may also be caused by the fact that the Foxwoods Poker Classic is still running? For prizepool sakes, let’s hope the numbers pick up.
Ok, can’t wait till next week when I will be coming to you, from Las Vegas.
Have a Happy Easter and I hope you get your chocolate fix!
Cheers,
Miss C
Tags: 25K, Bellagio, Colombia, Easter, Five Star World Poker Classic, Foxwoods, Foxwoods Poker Classic, las vegas, San Andreas, Sin City, ub, Ultimate Bet, Vegas, world series of poker, WPT, WSOP
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Monday, April 6, 2009 - Tiffany M
Everyone has been buzzing about the Dream Team Poker tournament that took place last weekend at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Poker players obviously play a whole lot of poker, jumping from tournament to tournament which can get a little mundane but because this event had a team format was out of the norm and really fun. At the welcoming cocktail party it was hilarious to see each team’s jersey hanging on the wall and read all the creative team names. People had a lot of fun putting together their teams and being thematic and/or wacky with their team name. I think my favorite team name was Kristy Gazes & Jerry Yang’s team comprised of one female and two men thus the team name “Four Nuts, Six Hands and a Rack”. As you can probably tell the atmosphere wasn’t too serious. People ditched their poker faces in order to have a few laughs, poker fun at this game and it’s players.
Poker is usually such a solo game where ‘friendships’ don’t exist at the table so this tournament was a chance to root each other on as well as gang up on other teams. Lacey Jones and Maria Ho were on my team, team “Yo Mama” which was only one of two All-Girl teams competing (see picture below). We did a lot of friendly smack talking at the pre-party and came in the next morning ready to rumble! (You can see the pic below that I snapped with last year’s Dream Team Winner Matt Parvis from team “Bluff” and his championship ring). The huge baseball-like sports jerseys weren’t exactly the most fashionable outfit for Lacey, Maria and I… yes this is something you think about as girl poker player, ha ha. But we didn’t want to be divas and stick up our nose towards our team jersey so we each found our own way to make it work and I have to admit we made those oversized man shirts look pretty hot!
I had a ton of friends and fellow pros playing in the event so it was inevitable that when I got seated there were three familiar faces at my table; Yancey Arias, Nick Gonzales and Casey Thompson. Minutes before the tournament started Casey and I agreed to a last longer bet and then a minute or two later we discovered that we were at the same table which made it convenient for me to keep tabs on him. I ended up knocking him out a few hours into the tournament… $100 bucks for Tiffany, CHA-CHING! Sitting directly to my left was Nick Gonzales who I’ve known for several years through the Hollywood poker scene. He’s a talented actor and a great poker player (he recently took 2nd place in the WPT Celebrity Invitational). Be sure to look for him in the new Fox show ‘Mental’ coming out May 29th! As much as you hate to be seated next to a friend on the battlefield of a poker table we had so much fun catching up, bantering and entertaining the entire table. (There’s a pic below of me being silly with Nick).
Team “Yo Mama” played very well but slowly towards the end of the day we each faded out of the tournament. I’m not a huge fan of dishing all the hand details of a tournament because we’ve all been there and know how it goes but I think it’s significant to mention that I was eliminated with Aces. We got it all-in on a 558 rainbow flop which looked pretty safe for my aces however my opponent flopped QUAD 5’s…. eww. I believe in poker miracles but this time I started walking away from the table before even seeing a turn or river. I had a good feeling the runner-runner aces were NOT coming, not on this day. I was actually okay with that… just as long as my miracle cards show up when I really need them, oh… say in events like the WSOP Main Event!! 
Even though we didn’t clench the coveted title (congrats to Jamie Gold’s team for accomplishing that) we had a ton of fun and look forward to our next chance to play some friendly, team poker. Well, that’s your wrap up from the Dream Team Poker Tourney 2009. LJ, MHo and I can’t wait for team “Yo Mama” to riiiiiide again… and believe me, we will!
Tags: Caesars Palace, Dream Team Poker, Jamie Gold, Jerry Yang, Kristy Gazes, Lacey Jones, las vegas, Maria Ho, Matt Parvis, WPT Invitational
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Wednesday, April 1, 2009 - HollywoodDave
Yup you heard it here first, fuckers — another 7 days in the desert for HD and this time was particularly awesome! Despite not cashing in the Dream Team event, I had tons of FUN the whole time and left with a big smile on my face…. after years of grinding it out in the trenches playing blackjack there, you get to a point where you start to see that town as nothing but a glorified jobsite, so its cool to remember from time to time that its not always all work and no play!
First off I came in for my sister Erica Schoenberg’s b-day….no we’re not really related but despite being a bit older than her, she’s always been like a big sis to me so it stuck! Obv we went out with her dad, brother, and bf David Benyamine to a nice steak dinner at the Bellagio where the food (and drinks!) rocked but the service was slooooooooow as shit! Needless to say we had a blast but missed the movie we were gonna see afterwards cuz it took too long to get the different courses out. Some good conversation with some awesome people, and funny to realize that David wasn’t gonna be able to play in the Dream Team event partly due to a 500k blackjack tournament he was comped into that weekend! I woulda loved to trade places with him, cuz something tells me he woulda done much better than me in the poker event while i more than cleaned up on blackjack…
Speaking of Dream Team, the event was put together REALLY well, and I was happy to see so many pros supporting it this time around. Last year at the Hard Rock was a lotta fun but felt more like a trial run, whereas this go around it really ran like a top-notch pro event i could really see becoming a necessary annual stop on the tour! My friend Alex Outhred of WSOP Academy fame (not to mention his super deep run at last year’s WSOP main event) provided red carpets interviews and some truly funny running commentary throughout the event, which gave everything a pretty fun vibe. If only I had done better lol
Basically I doubled up right away to 20k and then couldn’t win for shit after that. My doublethru was pure poetry… somebody weak limped up front (after playing so much online the past year its awesome to play live and notice the confidence levels of your opponents, something much harder to ’see’ online) so I decided to raise with J7 late to isolate and/or take the pot away from him. He made an obvious crying call with a hand I knew he really thought he shoulda mucked, and WOWZA on the dream J77 flop! Even dreamier when this guy called my 60% pot size bet on the flop, turn, and then checkraised me all in on the river when his Ace-baby soooted flush hit! Yum yum, thank you very much sir….
After that I couldn’t make a continuation bet to save my life. I had about a dozen hands where I’d raise with AQ, 88, AK, etc etc, miss the flop completely, get checked to, make a c-bet, and then get my face checkraised off my someone else in the pot! Fold, rinse, repeat. I love poker. Eventually i made a stand with AQ on an AQx-sooted flop, getting it all in against a made flush. Awesome! Go team….Erica made it all the way to the money bubble but i guess Dream Team just wasn’t to be.
On to the Vegas hijinks! The rest of the weekend was a blast, not only some fabulous meals with great people, but a good time out at the clubs (shenanigans at Prive in Planet Hollywood with none other than AP hottie Liv Boeree) and the requisite prop betting/alcoholic consumption combo that is the spice of life (i think this time around featured making out with overweight chicks for cash late nite at Caesar’s). Never a dull moment!
But obv the best of all was being able to spend lots of time with my new crush Mary Beth… I def have a weakness for hot, smart, crazy chicks and this girl fits the bill to a T! Something tells me I may be telling stories about her in my blogs for some time to come…
alright rockstars, i’m out!
-hd.
Tags: blackjack, David Benyamine, Erica Schoenberg, Hollywood Dave, las vegas, Liv Boeree, WSOP
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Wednesday, April 1, 2009 - Maggie
Every single day from 1 to 3 players win an entry into the WSOP through the Step tourneys that are currently running. As you guys may already know, it only takes to pick a dime from your pocket to take your skills down to this years’ WSOP.
I bet they don’t call it Sin City just because, I’ve heard Nevada is all about fun, going crazy and extreme pleasures. Then…why not giving it a try? Besides putting you in the line up to the biggest poker tournament in the world, we are trying to turn this into an experience you will never forget. Of course we are aware of how hard things can get these days, so we just want to reward you making things a little easier. A little extra relaxing time and wildness won’t kill anybody…
On my experience, it’s been extraordinary to witness that “Famous Call” when a VIP Host reaches the package winner to gather first impressions and feedback. Yeah… honestly it is not always easy to understand the lucky guy’s comments among all that hooting and joy going all over the place, but it’s definitely part of our goal to shake your legs by awarding this kind of prizes.
I am in close contact with the winners and I have heard their feedback in regards to this promotion, and I can tell that everyone is thrilled that we added the Steps to Ultimate Bet and that we are making it so easy for all of you to have the chance to play in such a huge and important event like the World Series of Poker.
“STEPS” happens to be more than a nice promotion offered to you. We do look forward to consolidate a family here. That’s why this year we chose to smooth things a little so we can bring as many members as possible to the final battle.
Many players are booking their flights and taking care of the Hotel reservations in Las Vegas thanks to this promo and obviously, their great poker skills.
What are you waiting for? Join the action right now and start climbing up the Steps until reaching the top!
The city that never sleeps is just warming up for you, and Ultimate Bet has decided to show them all what the UB Community is made of!
Tags: las vegas, Nevada, poker skills, Rai$e VIP Team, Sin City, STEPS, WSOP
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Tuesday, March 10, 2009 - Miss C
Hi All,
This is what 8 weeks in Vegas reads like for the chick who is part of it, without the serious mission of trying to be the WSOP 2009 Champ -
Week 1 – Get all excited, out of bed early (10am) and hit the strip. Wow, that’s huge, that’s new, that wasn’t here last time. Head to my favourite shoe shops, buy 4 pairs! We are off to a good start…I may have to play poker to pay for them…lol. Of course on the way I find new places I need to visit and now I finally get back to my room to get ready as I am off to meet the Vegas connections. The rollercoaster is bigger than I remember, mental note….can’t skip a year in Vegas. The ride is something like this…pick you up from the north valet at 8pm, dinner here, then there and there and if we are still good we need to go and see so and so. Before I know it, it’s 7am and I am stumbling to the lifts so I can get into my room, draw the curtains and get off this ride.
Week 2 – Week 1 repeated, but now I need to get off the Grey Goose, I thought they said that you can’t smell vodka, but this crap coming out of my pores, it sure ain’t my Jo Malone manderine blossom and honey, I can tell you. As I head down to the Rio, just to check it out there are quite a few familiar faces from around the globe. Satellites are very popular I see, not a bad turn out for the start of the event. Oh and by the way Happy June and to celebrate, I bought a new pair of shoes (5 in total now) and I am sipping on a dirty, dirty, dirty martini with 3 olives.
Week 3 – There are 4 weeks till my birthday and the sun is really shining. Now a taxi is appealing to get across the street. I am starting to get really tired and now wake up time is the usual 2pm, this is happening cause Week 1 still wants to hang in my circle. My new favourite place to sit and chill is the Fontana Bar at Bellagio, sitting at the bar sipping on a glass of French bubbles I feel so relaxed as I watch the fountains dance. I think my b’day dinner will be here, I like looking at the water. I would really like to go to bed early, but no, that can’t happen as more people are in town and guess what….it feels like they all want to catch up on the same day/night/morning. It really doesn’t stop.
Week 4 – Weeks 1-3 are now a bit of a blur and it is all rolling into 1 very long week. I can feel delerium setting it and it is getting very hard to string a sentence together. This is the mid point of my stay and now I know I am insane as I start going to the gym in the morning and I have a week of detox. Where is the Miss C that people new and loved? That Miss C is pretending she isn’t in Vegas at the moment and she has a normal life somewhere….
Week 5 – Starbucks at the Rio is buzzing and the line out the door is ridiculous, but I really need a coffee, ching, ching, ching there is so and so at the front of the line, take a deep breath, feel the eyes on you as you walk to the positive side on the queue. At this point in time, my priority is the coffee I can smell and taste. Sorry:( The topic of conversation is how many players in the Main Event? Maybe I will satellite in, maybe I will just go home…I bet this bloke will stay and play! I love watching all the star struck new players jaws drop when one of the top pros walk past. Agh the joys of being young.
Week 6 – Party week is here! And all I really want to do is sleep, but hey I have a job to do and to do is put on shoes, a face, a frock, grab a bag and head out. Where to first? Dinner and then that party at the Ghost Bar, then Pure and then fingers crossed for the final stop at Studio 54. Really hard to believe this happens every night for a week…it does, the only difference is the combination of clubs visited. Each year bigger and better, it only happens in Vegas. This is the best week for shopping in Vegas, the sales start! More shoes and whatever else I can carry is clearly on the cards.
Week 7 – Woohoo….it’s my birthday, the WSOP Main Event starts, Phil Hellmuth makes his entrance and people who are out tend to start going home. It thins out a bit, you can feel it. At the Rio, bad beat stories are flying left right and centre. The final number is…..? The looks on faces are relief and on a mission. I am over shopping (who new that could happen?) and all I really want is my own bed and a home cooked meal.
Week 8 – The place really isn’t the same without so and so there, I am feeling really sad that I am going to be leaving Vegas. 8 weeks, 2 months has flown by in a blink. The final table can be seen fast approaching, the players are thinning and I can’t believe they will not play the final table out here and now. We have to wait a few months..ces’t la vie!
Bye Vegas, I am almost tearing up, but as I get on that plane, my liver and kidney feel a lot of relief.
Bring on next year I will be there.
Cheers,
Miss C
Tags: Ghost Bar, las vegas, Main Event, Phil Hellmuth, Pure, Rio, Starbucks, Studio 54, The Rio, The Strip, Vegas, WSOP
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Tuesday, March 3, 2009 - Miss C
Hey All,
Where has this year gone? I can’t believe I have blinked and we are in the 1st week of March. Every week pretty much finds us comtemplating where to go next and which tournament should we play.
The travel bug in me is starting to find its legs and I am super excited about heading out to Austria this month for the Pokernews Alpine Cup. The snow, my new boots, catching up with PokerNews and all the european connections. I can’t wait. I have been to Austria a few times and have only managed to get to Vienna and Baden. I am so looking forward to seeing a bit of Salzburg, it is meant to be beautiful and some people claim that it has the best chocolate in the World.
April translates to Vegas and you all know how excited I get when this town is mentioned. The who’s who of the poker world head into town to play the WPT World Championship at Bellagio. A mere 25K will get you into this tournament. If 25K isn’t lose change, you can satellite your way in at Bellagio, or if you want to take another chance you can play on UltimateBet to win a package to go to Vegas and try your luck in a satellite.
Oops that means May is next in line and I am going to Vegas forever, well that technically means about 8 weeks for the World Series of Poker. I ususally have a 2 week max in this town and I will tell you I am very nervous about this stay. 90% of all the people I know in the Poker World will be in 1 city and they all want to catch up at the same time. All I can think about for this stay will be gym membership, gym membership, gym membership.
Just remember if you are coming to the WSOP and you are playing the Main Event come and see UltimateBet as there are 10 million more reasons to be seen in UB gear through the Main Event.
Good Luck and I hope to see you soon.
Cheers,
Miss C
Tags: 25K, Austria, Bellagio, las vegas, PokerNews, pokernews alpine cup, Salzburg, ub, ultimatebet, Vegas, world series of poker, WPT, WPT World Championship, WSOP
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Tuesday, February 17, 2009 - Miss C
Las Vegas, my favourite place in the World. And such a crazy world it is. There is something about that place that makes me want to hand my credit card over and say “What time do I need to be at the airport?”.
Where to stay? Well personally if I am going to Vegas it is 5* all the way baby and my preference id Bellagio. It is a great casino, with the perfect location right in the middle of the strip. I have stayed at my share of digs in Las Vegas, but I think I will break the ritual this time and stay at the Wynn. I have heard great things about this place, it is located a bit further down the strip, but as a bonus it is right across the road from the Fashion Show Mall. And in my opinion Vegas has the best shopping in the World. Come July 1st I will be hitting the sales, also the best prices in the World!
In this day and age of the “Economic Crisis” what will the numbers be like at the WSOP 2009? I think think the number will hover around the same as last year. Poker players will always be poker players and everyone wants to play at the ultimate poker tournament. Win the coveted bracelet and you take a place in history. The dream lives on.
All the casinos come live and there are tournaments on tournaments. If the Rio isn’t treating you well, head anywhere and get some action. If the poker gets too much, there are shows, first class dining and great tourist places to visit and is that doesn’t work for you and the gambling bug is rife, there are a plethora of other games to be played.
So, is this the year you want to come to Vegas and try your luck out, come and play at UltimateBet we have got your ticket and would love for you to join us. There will be parties with Phil Hellmuth and all our Pros will be there if you want to have a chat or ask some advice.
Good luck and I hope to see you in Vegas.
Cheers,
Miss C
Tags: Bellagio, las vegas, Phil Hellmuth, Poker Poker Poker, Rio, Shopping, Vegas, WSOP, Wynn
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