Wednesday, November 11, 2009 - Mia
This year has truly flown by, and now we find ourselves sending some more players to Vegas baby! The WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic promo that we have running is giving away tons of packages; and believe it or not, each one is worth $17,500!
Yeah I did not add extra zeros; it really is worth $17,500. Plus, to top it off, we credit this in cash to your UB account! So basically you can spend from the 14th to the 19th of December in Sin City getting ready to go home with your pockets full of cash to celebrate Christmas! I think that would be an awesome gift for the holidays, don’t you?
Every Sunday at 8:30 we have a Super Satellite that guarantees at least one package to this live event. We also have the Steps series that can get you there for close to nothing if you start on Step one or you can skip directly to Step 10 and pocket one of these packages.
With thanksgiving just around the corner you might be one of the players thankful for playing and winning with us!
Tags: christmas, loyalty, Sin City, STEPS, thanksgiving, Vegas, WPT
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Wednesday, October 14, 2009 - Victor
Players just wrapped their stuff and now heading back home for a well deserved REST after the amazing experience lived in Aruba. I was not there, but I can tell that a great Team represented our VIP cause Live from Aruba. Lots of our players came back to us via email, chat and phone expressing their gratitude to us and sharing some highlights about the great Loyalty Service they received; plenty of entertainment , relaxation and friendly support.
I was just thinking, that’s the real thing about being VIP you are always going to have a friend backing you up for anything you need. Aruba, that’s the VIP scenario you all shared.
In the name of our VIP Team we want to congratulate the Organizers involved in the logistics of our 2009 Aruba Poker Classic Tournament. A complete success!!! Everybody is now on their way back home with lots of new amazing stories to tell. Congratulations to the Winners, a well deserved prize.
See you in Aruba 2010!
Tags: Aruba 2009, family, loyalty, Rewards, stories, success, team, VIP
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Saturday, June 6, 2009 - Z06FANATIC
So there’s roughly a week and a half left of the race – looking forward to it coming to an end but at the same time I can’t let up. I’m currently in 7th, trying to work my way up another spot or two. I got some stiff competition though, trying to battle AIRKID3 and DURZAAAA for position. Its been an easy race thus far in terms of things falling my way – I ran real well during this race so it made it much easier – had I ran real bad this would be very rough. I’m loving these races though and hopefully AP/UB offers more of these in the future – they really keep things interesting and allow everyone to make out well. I’ll post my final entry when the race ends – GL to all!
Tags: AP, loyalty, luck, Promotions, Strategy, ub, UB 500
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Saturday, May 23, 2009 - Z06FANATIC
So we recently passed the half way marker during this race cards promotion and things are going well. I’ve been on a major heater over the past month+, giving me about 15k+ in profits from playing since the race cards began. I’ve been working hard and slowly been moving up the ladder – hopefully I can make top 5 when all is said and done, but that is going to require a lot of work. One thing that definitely helped me with this race card was pacing myself – a lot of players who were higher up on the race have since burned out – some played higher buy in games thinking they were winners and reality caught up quick, while others burnt themselves out early on. Pacing is so important in a 2 month race – this game can be mentally draining and turning out 70 hour weeks will take you down quick. I’ll post again when the race comes to an end hopefully with my name near the top!
Tags: loyalty, Poker Strategy, Promotions, race cards, RAI$E, VIP
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Saturday, April 18, 2009 - Z06FANATIC
So the 4th installment of race cards has came around and entails a 2 month long race rather than the standard month long race. I always look forward to these races as the bonus money is amazing and it really pushes me mentally to go beyond what I have done in the past. It’s going to be crazy racing for 2 months – usually in the one month race after 3 weeks you’re dying for it to end – this time after 4 weeks when you’d be able to relax we’re only going to be half way there.
We shall see who has the mentality to keep going despite the cards not going their way and the grueling hours of sitting in front of the computer. My strategy is to put in the hours but not overdue it – this isn’t a sprint it’s a marathon, so I don’t want to come out of the gate too fast and burn out. Pacing yourself is definitely key to getting top 3 in these things. Anyways I’m off to a good start and looking forward to what the next couple of weeks bring me – good luck to everyone and may the best win
Tags: loyalty, players, Poker Strategy, Promotions, race cards, RAI$E, VIP
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Saturday, April 11, 2009 - C00LHandNuke
As we came back from lunch break for the Final Table on the Best Damn Poker Show 2, we were four handed. If either Patrick or I went broke next, Team Hellmuth would win. The blinds were 3000/6000 with a 1000 ante and the stacks were approximately this:
Jason (Seat 1) = 239k
Shawn (Seat 4) = 157k
Scotty (Seat 5) = 72k
Patrick (Seat 6) = 132k
But Scotty, facing a four-hand penalty, had walked off the show. With Scotty gone, I would have position on Jason for every hand except when he was the button. On the very first hand back, I looked down at two ten’s under the gun and made a standard raise. In the past four days, this was the biggest pocket pair that I had seen since having KK in the small blind on the fifth hand of my first match. These tens couldn’t have come at a better time! Jason went into the tank in the big blind and seemed to be considering a raise – if he did, all the chips were going in. Even though Jason eventually folded, this was perhaps the key hand, my stack jumped to 169K and Jason now had 232K, if he lost an all-in confrontation to me now, he would be shorter than Scotty. I pounded this fact home every chance I got.
The first time it was Jason’s button, he made a standard opening raise to about 20K. I looked down at K8 offsuit in the SB and moved all in! My move was partly based on my read and the knowledge that King high was actually way ahead of Jason’s range. But more than that, I had to send a very clear message that my chips were in play and that Jason wasn’t going to just steam roll me with his big stack. He folded and all was right with the world.
After that hand, the table settled into a nice little pattern . . . nice for me anyway. When Jason would raise and I had position, I would flat call him and take the pot away on the turn. When Jason would raise my small blind, I would come over the top with any above average hand and he would lay down. Meanwhile, Patrick was bleeding chips pretty badly. Three times in the first four orbits he opened the pot only to have Jason take it away with a reraise. As a result, I found myself folding my button whenever Jason folded under the gun just so Patrick could pick up the antes and Scotty’s small blind. Most of this play didn’t make it through the editing for the show, but if you watch the chip counts, you can definitely see the result.
The hands that did make it on air, have to be viewed in that light. One key hand where my play diverted from Annie’s suggested line from the coach’s booth came when Jason completed from the small blind and I saw the flop for free in the big blind with 97 offsuit. The flop came out 347. Jason bet and I just called. The turn was another 7 – gin! Jason checked and I considered checking but opted to put in a bet instead. My reasoning was this: I had floated Jason so many times at this point that I could tell he was getting frustrated. Eventually he was going to have to check-raise me, just to keep me honest. I was hoping that this would be the time. Sure enough, he check-raised me this time when I had the goods. But now I had another interesting decision – smooth call and try to bust him (assuming I was ahead), or reraise right here on the turn. Again, my decision was based more on psychology than anything. I decided to min-reraise him.
The min-reraise is, in my opinion, really the most annoying move in poker. Sometimes it is really strong. Sometimes it is a really weak made hand or draw that just wants to slow down the other player. But in any case, when facing a minimal raise, you have to ask yourself which of the three lines do you take: (1) do you want to look weak and fold (2) do you want to play weak and just bleed off chips with a call only to face a bet on a later street with no good information defining your opponent’s hand or (3) do you put in a fourth raise and say enough of this nonsense. The only problem with the third option is that so many times when I select it, my opponent snap calls my all-in with the nuts! So most of the time, I opt for the fold – and anytime a fold getting 5 to 1 or better on my money with more cards to come, I’m pretty annoyed! So I chose my line in this hand hoping Jason would feel the same way and either make a big mistake right now, or make one later.
What proved to be my last hand on the show came when I raised to 47k from the button with Ace ten offsuit when the blinds were 8/16k. Scotty was gone and Patrick had just doubled through Jason to take a small lead over me with about 230k. Jason had about 150k after posting the big blind. I started the hand with about 204k and made a standard raise when Patrick reraised all-in. Jason got out of the way and it was up to me. Annie and Phil disagreed about whether or not I should call here. Annie thought it was an easy call and Phil thought it was an easy lay down. Guess what? I think they are both right! In fact, on the show I announce that I’m doing both the right thing and the wrong thing by calling. You can see them debate the issue here:
http://www.pokergrades.com/flv/bdps/season2/UB2_ULTIMATE_HAND_SHOW_7.swf
From a team perspective, Annie was clearly correct. If I call, no matter what happens, Team Duke is playing heads up against Jason with a 3 to 1 chip lead (If I win, Patrick has about 2 big blinds). That means I, along with every other member of Team Duke, is about a 3 to 1 favorite to win an Aruba package valued at $8,500.
From a personal perspective, folding here probably gives me a slightly better chance of winning the tournament and collecting the 12k WSOP package in addition to the Aruba package. So Phil’s analysis which focuses on me trying to win is correct too. But I knew one piece of information that Phil didn’t that sealed the deal for me. During one of Annie’s coaching sessions with Patrick, she had told him not to call with weak aces from the blind. In Patrick’s hand that led to Annie playing the coach’s card, he held an Ace nine against Jason’s standard raise. Annie told him to reraise there if he sensed weakness. I knew this had had an impact on Patrick because he had mentioned it again when we were talking privately about thirty minutes before my last hand came up. When you include hands like A9, A8 and A7 in Patrick’s range for a reraise, I think calling with AT is the right play even from an individual perspective.
In any event, I lost the race against Patrick’s 88’s. But Patrick went on to win, so my 3 to 1 shot came through. At the “wrap” party (see how I worked the Hollywood lingo in there) I got to give some of my thoughts to the powers that be about improving the show. Hopefully, some of them will make it into the next season. For instance, I think the second WSOP package should go to the person that all four coaches feel played the best at the final table. I’m sure they can agree on that, right?!!! Okay, maybe, maybe not. On the whole, the show was a great experience for me. I’d like to again thank Annie, Phil, Shawn Rice and Poker H0, as well as everyone else at UB for including me in the event. Also, I’d like to thank all the contestants on the show, many of whom have become my friends since filming.
My plan is to keep blogging on occasion here at the UB site. I’ll cover my ups and downs in the poker world in both live and online tournaments. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed my ramblings enough to check in on me from time to time. In the meantime, if you see me at the tables, please say hi!
Tags: BDPS, bestdamnpokershow, loyalty, players, VIP
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Wednesday, March 4, 2009 - Mia
This week we have another VIP Host under the microscope: Mark!
Mark, as many of you may not know, is a fairly new addition to the VIP Host Team. It seems like he started just yesterday but he has shown to be one of the best assets of our crew.
Since day one Mark has shown a motivated and active spirit. While most of us when we became VIP Hosts tried to stay away from the phones until we gain a bit more of experience, Mark jumped head first and took a perfect dive. That attitude gained him a place next to some of the most respected hosts working in the Customer Relationships team.
Mark is always happy and willing to help and I take advantage of that to bug him all the time with extra tasks! Since I work during the night I have him call all my Auction customers from which I need info. This happy and relaxed attitude makes Mark one of my favorite hosts around, ‘cause you know you can count on him to carry on with a project.
On a more personal note, you might not know that Mark is studying medicine, so hopefully we’ll have a good doctor soon to take care of us! Cristina says he has a great smile, so even though he is a bit shy at first, he can sweep you off your feet with his sweet smile! And as a shallow detail, Mark always wears white sneakers and he seems to have a fixation about them!
Well, we can add one more VIP Host to the list! You know I’m all ears so let me know any questions you might have about your favorite hosts or who the next one under the microscope should be.
Tags: Customer Service, host, loyalty, players, RAI$E, VIP
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Friday, February 27, 2009 - Sydney
Well, well, I am sure you all have read about how we at VIP have our own little parties and poker games but I was wondering, how are your poker nights like?
Over here we try our best at hosting our online VIP players but as we all know online and real life are two very different scenarios. Usually when I attend a so called “poker night” at a friend’s house or the very own we hold between us VIP hosts, we have a variety of drinks, food not so much (just the usual chip snack) and music cannot be set aside. On other occasions there are just beers and a countless amount of food.
In regards to what happens at the poker table, between friends there’s always laughs and good times. You always have the poker “badass” (or the bounty as I like to call them), you know you need to try and take him/her out as fast as possible otherwise they will be quite hard to overcome further on. Then you have the “joker” that one person you just don’t know what to expect and since you’re not very accustomed to their game play they end up being quite an exciting rival and last but not least you have the “troublemaker” those that are not really into the game and play some crazy hands and end up confusing the entire table, not only that, but against all odds they seem to win and increase their chip stack (of course in the end odds even out and finally they lose).
When the night is over, as the host you end up with the satisfaction of watching those you know had a good time and enjoy themselves between drinks, friends and poker. This I believe parallels the experience of being a VIP host for Ultimate Bet, although we do not get the chance to see all of you face to face (or play poker), our goal and what we strive for is to have our players happy, comfortable and to enjoy the poker experience to their fullest. This is why we are available 24/7 and can be reached via phone line, chat or e-mail to help you out with anything you need.
One last thing! Good luck to all of you who are trying out our new Steps tourneys, if you have any feedback we’re all ears!
Tags: loyalty, players, Poker Poker Poker, RAI$E, VIP
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Wednesday, February 18, 2009 - Victor
One of the most interesting things about my job is having the time to hear you and to be in tune with you. Here at VIP, there’s nothing more rewarding than being your trustful friend.
I play the bass guitar on my spare time; I’ve been doing this for over 10 years and the discipline that I have achieved by being a musician gives me the chance to compare it with the VIP Hosting services that we provide.
As you all may know, music is an art expression whose medium is sound organized in time. When associating it with the VIP Hosting Services it divides in 4 different basic sections:
- Pitch: This gives us the melody and harmony in which we provide our assistance to you.
- Rhythm: This basically determines the speed and articulation in which we act for you.
- Dynamics: This gives the intensity on how we handle your interests.
- Timbre: Our tone of service, always willing to listen to you.
We are the VIP Band here, creating your music everyday to provide you with comfort and friendship; we definitely want you to enjoy it as much as we do.
Jimi Hendrix once said:
“Music doesn’t lie. If there is something to be changed in this world, then it can only happen through music”
And that’s it; our compromise with you will always be based on principles of honesty and high standards of service. We are always open to create good tunes with you!!!
Tags: host, loyalty, poker and music, RAI$E, tune, VIP
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Wednesday, February 11, 2009 - Vincent
As you guys may already know there have been lots of changes recently, not only we have improved some of our Promotions, tournaments and many other things at Ultimate Bet, but on the VIP Team we are having changes as well, thankfully we are going to have a new generation of VIP Hosts, that will enforce our services even more.
One important thing that also enforces our team union are our nice gatherings. Here at the VIP Team, we have been gathering several times to throw some VIP parties and of course, a party is not a party unless you have a least a small Poker Tourney! YEAH!
Anyways, the thing is that we usually have a couple of drinks, lots of food, sometimes Guitar Hero or Rock Band, but recently, we have like more poker tournaments played than usual, I do not know what is the main reason of this but it has become an important “to do thing” when we throw a party.
Over the last games we have had, AD has finished on 1st place on almost all of them, he is like so lucky and whenever we short stacked him, he starts (like all of a sudden) enduring a lot and even though we all try to beat him up whenever he goes all in with his small stack in order to not allowing him to win another Tournament (hehe), he always recovers and start beating us out one by one until he ends again on first place.
Whenever he came to the office at the next day, I always bother him and start saying that he was so lucky and that hopefully it lucky streak will not last for too long.. lol.. But of course I am just joking and I guess I am a bit jealous of seeing him winning all the Tourneys that I do not admit that he has been playing really good and taking the right decisions every time he invested money on the pots on our last few games.. LUCK LUCK.. Haha.. (Yeah I need to win one of those tourneys one of these days)
I guess that the fact that poker gives us all these many feelings at the same time, then it is one of the main reasons why this game is so fun and exciting at the same time. I really hope all of you here at Ultimate Bet enjoy and have so much fun as we do when playing poker.
Bye for now
Tags: loyalty, players, Poker Poker Poker, pokernights, pokerstrategy, RAI$E, team, VIP
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