Sunday, November 1, 2009 - P0ker H0
Getting back to the grind after Aruba sure isn’t EZ . The parties were non-stop and the best! The Dan Band was so much fun! The poker was non-stop, and Matt Savage and his staff /dealers ran the best tourneys I have ever played in. All the UB staff need a really BIG thank you for all they did…Melissa, Jo, Gustavo, and Ernesto just to name a few. You and all the other hard working UB employees that came from Costa Rica and all over the world make Aruba the #1 destination in poker.
The best way I know to get rid of the Aruba hang-over is VEGAS BABY !! I leave for Vegas next Thursday to teach at the WSOP Academy, http://www.wsopacademy.com, Nov. 6-8 with Phil ,Greg Raymer, Shawn Rice and a lot of other great pros. Attending one of these camps will surely help take your game to the next level . If you would like to attend our cash academy, coming up Dec. 5-6th, for FREE and get $1000.00 for travel, listen to my radio show every Sunday night at 9pm EST, “The Ultimate Poker Show,” on http://www.roundersradio.com. I will be giving out the passwords for the Sunday night $5.00 and free roll tourneys that can get you eligible for Vegas.
UB is also running steps for a 12k package for Foxwoods and a 17.5k for the Bellagio. I love playing these steps while I’m playing MTTs. The main reason is that when you play steps remember “tight is right”. I find if I am playing these with other MTTs it helps me play a little tighter, and anybody that has played with me knows that I need that. J A couple of nights ago I bought into 3 step 7s for 97.15 each. I lost one and built the other two up to a step 9 and 10. Last night I played the step 10 and chopped the Foxwoods seat with a very good player, “maximilian71”. I was ahead in chips so I got 8,500 he got 7k . My 291.45 investment in the step 7s paid off nicely, plus I still have my 750.00 step 9.
Hope to cya all in the steps soon or better yet loose your hang-over and join me in Vegas Baby…
H0
Tags: Aruba, Bellagio, Costa Rica, greg raymer, Matt Savage, P0ker H0, Phil Hellmuth, Poker Poker Poker, rounders radio, ShawnRice, The Dan Band, The Ultimate Poker Show, ub, Vegas, WSOP Academy
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Friday, October 23, 2009 - Shawn Rice
This past Trip to Aruba was my 7th straight year, For those of you that have not been and enjoy playing poker this is true paradise. I always look forward to seeing all the many friends, and people I work with and many of the people that I play online with. I decided that this year I really want to play more of the preliminary events this year as I rarely ever play those because I am in paradise and would rather do other non poker related stuff. I know my girlfriend was flying out later in the week for the final few days and the closing partys, So I wanted to play a little more live this year than previous years. I flew in about 10pm met up with a few friends and really wanted to take it easy that night, went and paid my way into the $540 for the following day so I knew I could not get wasted that night. I did play a little sit & go with Ho, Debo, Debo’s wife Erin, Mamma Ho and Susie Q, I think I chopped 2 of them and lost the last one and ended up in a cash game. Ho was ordering drinks and before I knew it I was double fisted drinking double crown and cokes and then Debo is ordering shots, so much for taking it easy in Aruba.
After the sit & go’s Ho jumped into a cash game and let me tell you he can liven up a cash game, ever pot was raised and reraised before the flop, I think I got lucky with AJ and beat AK for about a $900 pot, I was no way folding top pair in that game and I got lucky and hit. I won a little playing the cash game, I think Ho started out losing a few thousand and ended up killing them. He played his image so well and is a master in talking other players into do what he wants them to do.
I get to bed around 6am which is ok because my tourney does not start until 2pm. When I got to my table I could not have asked for a better table, everyone was limping and at early levels I don’t like to punish the limpers til the blinds get higher or the antes kick in, I like to let them know I am totally ok with them limping. within the first 2 rounds I had already doubled my 3k starting stack with no real risk. The players at my table were calling my raises with really wide ranges. I then look up and find that Ho, Jon Green , Debo and Mike “WiscoMurray” are all out in the 1st level. I must say I was really shocked to see that. I was a little pissed at myself because I forgot to ask Ho for the usual $500 last longer bet. I am about a 20 to one favorite when I make this bet, I think I have lost it once or twice in the many years we have made this bet, I always remind him of that time he beat me and he is always ready to try his luck again. I got out of the gate pretty quick and had some chips early but as it got down to the final table I was near last in chips, Only the final table got paid there was 95 players who started, I did make one move with 7s8s when I reraised the botton when I had about 14 times the big blind and he called my reraise all in with A 10 I out flopped him and doubled up to over 30x with a shot to win this thing.
It got down to 3 players, the final 3 deserved to be the final 3 in my opinion as my other two opponents were very skilled players, One of which being Frank “gator93″. Gator has won like well over 400k online in recent months and I know he wanted the win more than the 15k first prize, Frank raised 5x on the button 3 handed, small blind folded and I look down at my all time favorite hand, 2 black aces, I know if I reraise him here I will most likely get a fold on many hands in his range, so I decided like I had a little bit of a tough decision and just called, knowing he was going to continuation bet the flop, the flop come King high and 2 rags and to my shock he check it, the turn was another club making a possible flush draw, I bet into the flop and as I was putting chips in Frank yelled he was all In, I called he had raised with KcQc and had top pair and a flush draw to my to black aces, He bricked the river and I had a monster chip lead heads up, I had close to 200k in chips and my opponent had a little over 100K and we agreed to a chip chop and ended the night. The 13k was a great start for my drinking tab in Aruba. I took the next day off as I know I would play day 1b the following day. I spent lots of the next morning doing photo shoots and video interviews for UB and would be in the UB Icon suite checking up on my friends whom played day 1a, Later that night I went out to eat at a wonderful steak house in Aruba called El Gauchos with Frank. I took it very easy that night as I take a day before a major tourney very serious.
Day 1b seemed to be very stacked with lots of pros. I hated my table I had 2 world class players at my table , Gavin Smith along with Robert Mizrachi (”The Grinders” brother) and I knew if I made any mistake I would be punished. I didn’t forget to make my $500 last longer with Ho this time and that’s always sweet. He lasted til the beginning of the 2nd level. Ho did very well in Aruba last year making the final few tables before he blew up and gave Matt Brady a monster stack which Matt used to win the million dollar first prize.
I have played alot with Gavin over the last 5 or 6 years and not much with Robert, But I can tell you this , he is no prize to have at your table, He plays super and I totally respect his game. I got lucky in the 2nd level beating Tony from The Best Damn Poker Show season 2 with my AA on and A63 board and Tony holding 66, Those are just sick and Tong is a world class guy and hating to see him have to go out that way. Level 2 I was catching lots of cards and chipping up really well and had about 35k at one point from my 15k starting stack, I did get down below 8k at one point and finished the day around 13k. Day 2 was a bit of a grind as well and I had Eric Baldwin whom is from Madison WI, Who now lives in Las Vegas on my table, but luckily he was 2 seats to my right and he was sure torcher to may of the players he got involved with. I also got the chance to play with Tiffany Michelle who is now starting in this seasons Amazing Race on CBS, I used to work with Tiffany when I did lots of Radio for Bluff radio during the WSOP a couple of years back, It’s so good to see she is doing well in the poker and entertainment world, She is really a sweet lady. I ended day 3 with about 24k in chips and knew I would need to get a good start on day 3 to have a shot at this tourney that had 475 entrys.
On Day 3 I could not of got a worse table draw or seat position, two seats to my left of Robert Mizrachi and two seats to his left was Eric Baldwin, I did chip up to over 60k at one point for every bit of about 2 hands then I was on the button with 88 and Robert ended up with 99 and I was back down to around 30k, I was later in the big blind with about 13 or 14 times the big blind and it was raised from mid position from a guy who the day before called my UTG raise with Qh8h from the big blind when I flopped top set and he flopped a gutter and a flush draw we played a big pot and I doubled when he bricked out. So I am thinking he could have a big range but I know if I push and play for a 60k pot I am at best 50%, So I took in the value of just calling and seeing if I hit the flop and if I do I will give him some rope but checking and let him try and hang himslef. The flop come ace high , I checked it, he bet, I reraised him he called with AQ and GG me.
The following day I played a 1k buyin tourney and never really got ahould of any chips, I lasted til about 8 pm then when I busted I went and played the charity event UB put on for a local business that helps kids and familys in need. While playing the 1k tourney this lady on my left raised UTG with TT and gets called by 99 in late position and the button reraised with JT she and the other guy both call, the flop comes T high, she the the guy with JT get it all in and the board comes running JJ for her to lose her chips and double him up. Now a few minutes go by and she is still steaming and she reraised the guy whom had JT earlier and he calls half off his stack the flop comes JJ9 and she bets the flop and he calls making him all in and she flips over AA and he flips over Jc9c she screams out “God, I wanna kill a baby” I was in total shock hear a lady say this , right then and there I knew I wanted to bet she has never had a child, don’t worry river comes an ace and she busted him. I have heard many times over the years when you need to get lucky players will hollar “Just one time” but never had I heard that, But if it does work, I think poker players will say anything to make themselfs a little luckier.
The following day 10 of us had a shot at a $62,000 Mercedes, I was the second player knocked out when my TT ran into Ryan “papaGEORGIO’s JJ, Poker Ho was still playing and got heads up and ending up doing really well because they agreed to a chop and I had a small % of Ho which added to my drinking fund.
My girlfriend Amy fly in around 10pm that night, I went with my driver for the past 7 years named Henry and we picked her up and headed off to Phil Hellmuths private party ontop of the raddison in his suite. We just missed the Dan Band play, but the party was killer, check out many of the videos on youtube.com
The next night was the closing party and both Eric and Robert make the final table , Eric finishing 4th and ended up leading the Card Player of the Year points leader and Robert ended up in 2nd place , winning this year was Brandon Hall from Pa winning a little over three quarters of a million for his efferts., Thats a nice way to enjoy a trip in paradise.
The Dan Band was awesome as there were in Vegas when they played for our WSOP party a couple of years back, Many people got into the pool and it was really a ton of fun. The opening part rocked as well with tons of people in the pool and lets just say some where wearing less than others thanks to Phil’s bribes. and NO I was not offended in any way.
I hope you are all planning on next years Aruba trip, they just seem to get better and better, I missed seeing a few of you and hope this next year can be the best ever!
I am off to go help teach the November Nine Final Table Academy in Las vegas on Nov 6th, 7th and 8th Featuring poker instructors Phil Hellmuth, Greg Raymer, Bernard Lee, Mark Seif, Mark Kroon, Erica Schoenberg. Special Presentation by WSOP Commissioner, Jeffrey Pollack. Hope to see you there as well.
Proud UB Team Member
Shawn Rice
Tags: Aruba, Bernard Lee, best damn poker show 2, Bluff Radio, Debo, Eric Baldwin, Erica Schoenberg, Gavin Smith, greg raymer, jeffrey pollack, Jon Green, mark kroon, Mark Seif, matt brady, Mercedes, P0ker H0, Phil Hellmuth, Poker Poker Poker, Robert Mizrachi, ShawnRice, The Amazing Race, The Dan Band, Tiffany "Tiffany M" Michelle, ub, UB Team, Vegas, wiscomurray, WSOP
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Monday, October 19, 2009 - Joe Sebok
Man, how time does fly. Seems like just yesterday I was in LA and then today I’m in…well, LA. That’s after hitting New York City, London, and Aruba, of course. Love my job! I’m a lucky dude, for sure. I was a little bummed about the Aruba trip though…
I managed to last almost to the first break, so that’s something I suppose. Haha. I picked up KK after a Layne Flack under-the-gun raise, and an Eric ‘basebaldy’ Baldwin reraise. Now, I know Eric’s got a hand in the first level there, but y’know, I’ve got two Kings! I four-bet it and Layne decides to get out of the way at that point. Eric flat-calls and I really didn’t like it at all. To make matters worse the flop comes down, Q108(two clubs), which basically means I am in serious trouble against every single hand he would have called with except two Jacks. Ugh, no good. I actually caught a break here though as he decided to bet out, thus allowing me to keep the pot small by not raising. I just called and we saw a turn of the 4 of clubs, which I thoughts was a great card as I had the King of clubs in my hand. Eric checked over and I didn’t see much point in betting here. If he had me beat, let’s keep it small. If I’ve got him, I’m not giving too many outs by checking, so I did so. Then a great thing happened, or so I thought, the 9 of clubs hit the river, giving me the second nuts. That’s the funny thing about the second nuts though, someone can have the actual NUTS! Aya…
Eric bet out and I made a crying call. “Aces with Ace of clubs?”, I asked him. He nodded and showed them to me. Ouch. In actuality though I was pretty lucky that I only lost about half of my stack on this hand. Sadly for me though, I managed to pick up two Kings again (!) about 15 hands later. I ended up losing the rest of my stack on that hand when my opponent made quads on me. Bingo bango bongo. Out.
I was pretty bummed for a little while. First big UB event after joining the team and I managed the make the least amount of noise possible, which sucks. The truth is though that busting in Aruba just isn’t as bad as busting anywhere else. There’s way too much to do to stay down for long, and that was the case as I hit the beach pretty quickly.
The rest of the week was a blast, as it always is in Aruba. Beach, cocktails, sun, partying, and some poker made the week excellent. Life ain’t too bad…it really ain’t. One night we actually engaged in the old standby from my radio show days: cocktails and $1-$2 no limit. This game is always unbelievably sick and always brings a ridiculous cast of characters. In this game we had myself, Joe Stapleton, Amanda Leatherman, Gavin Smith, Shawn Rice, Alex Schoenberg, and a few other assorted characters. We all have a penchant for just shoving it in the middle during those games, and this one was no exception. I was the lucky one that night though, as my hands were continually better (which was strange) and they always held up (which was even stranger), so I made out of the night with…wait for it… a $4,000 win (!!!). That’s just an absurd win at that level of stakes, so I was pretty stoked. Sorry, big Gavin! He shipped quite a bit over to me throughout the night.
Lots of work to do now that I’m back home in LA, but no rest for the wicked as we head to Vegas for the Bellagio WPT event next week. Send me some positive vibeage and let’s make something good happen, ya’ll…talk soon!
peace,
J
Tags: Alex Schoenberg, Amanda Leatherman, Aruba, Bellagio, Gavin Smith, Joe Stapleton, London, New York, Poker Poker Poker, ShawnRice, ub, Veghas, WPT
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Sunday, September 20, 2009 - Annie Duke
I am so excited for this weekend. I do about 7 or so WSOP Academies per year (some with UB’s own P0ker H0, Shawn Rice and Matt Graham and even Mr. Hellmuth will sometimes make an appearance). But whenever I can do one in my hometown it is pretty special. Special mainly because it means I don’t have to fly to Vegas and stay in a hotel and be away from my house. When you travel as much as I do believe me that is a special treat. Any extra time I get to sleep in my own bed is pretty special to me.
This weekend I will be at The Bicycle Club teaching my first ever cash game academy. The WSOP Academy has done a few cash game academies but never one where I am the instructor so I am really excited to branch out from the normal tournament play instruction I do. Joining me at this camp will be Ali Nejad and Shawn Rice so it should be really fun since both of those guys are really great. I spent this afternoon watching video clips from High Stakes Poker to analyze during the academy. Those are a really great learning tool since showing concepts in action is about the best way to really reinforce points.
It is also really valuable to show students that the top pros sometimes screw up :) I know I screw up all the time and I think players often make too many decisions based on fear of making a mistake. That kind of decision making process always leads to more mistakes rather than fewer since your decisions are driven by fear of screwing up rather than finding the actually correct line of play in a hand. Fear of failure rarely creates good decisions or successful outcomes so seeing that even the top players in the world make mistakes I think is a really good lesson to learn. I think it frees people up to realize that screwing up is okay as long as you see the screw up as an opportunity to learn. I know when I screw up I use it as a way to improve my game and I rarely get upset about it. This kind of attitude where you see opportunity in your mistakes also really helps stop tilt.
The video analysis is a new piece of the camp for me and I am really looking forward to analyzing the hands for the students. I am also going to be doing a full on pot odds section which I will no doubt really enjoy since unlocking the magic of math is always fun for me. Considering the tweet I got the other day, others may not feel the same though:
DivePoker@RealAnnieDuke looking forward to the impossible math this weekend…apparently the WSOP accademy is 100x harder when you’re around lol!
I, of course, consider that tweet a compliment 
Tags: high stakes poker, Matt Graham, P0ker H0, Phil Hellmuth, Poker Poker Poker, ShawnRice, ub, Vegas, WSOP Academy
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Tuesday, September 8, 2009 - Scott Ian
It’s September and summer is “officially” over, the kids (if I had kids) are back at school and we’re on a fast train to Xmas, with one really nice stop on the way…Aruba.
I can’t believe it’s that time of year already. Twenty-five days until I’m in Aruba for UB’s tourney of tourneys. This is the big one my friends and it’s not to be missed.
This is going to be my third time in Aruba and I am looking forward to this trip even more than the previous two. It definitely doesn’t get old. It’s the one place I can play poker and relax at the same time. The poker environment in Aruba is as intense as anywhere but it’s much more kickback at the same time. I can only guess it’s the sea, the sun, the air, and the DRINKS! Can I get a bucket of Balashi’s over here right now?? If this is going to be your first time to Aruba, Balashi is the local beer and it’s good. There’s my tip of the week.
My first trip to Aruba was in 2007. I won my seat after winning the VH1 Rock & Roll Poker Tourney. I had just started playing poker seriously at the time and I have to admit I was really intimidated about Aruba. I had no idea what it was going to be like. It was also going to be my first big live tourney!! I was going there without knowing anyone except Phil Hellmuth Jr who I had met for five minutes. My fiancé Pearl and I got there and were immediately welcomed by Jo Priam and all of the UB pro’s, management and staff into the family. It’s that kind of atmosphere. UB really goes out of its way to make everyone feel like a part of the team in Aruba. You’ll see. There’s a reason for such strong brand loyalty and it all stems from how cool everyone that works for UB is. This may sound kiss-assy but it’s true. The hospitality provided for all is five-star.
We became fast friends with Phil and Debo and Poker Ho and Shawn Rice and Annie and her man Joe and Hollywood Dave and Wisco and Jim “Krazy Kanuck” Worth and Robert Williamson III etc etc. I got to play a lot of poker and even got some lessons from these masters while having a blast every night. It was a great way to go to poker school.
My first big tourney started OK and about half way through level three I ended up getting all my money in post flop with a set of J’s on a Q high board. Poker Ho was standing across the table from me and saw me shove and gave me a “You got the nuts?” kind of look. I raised my brows back at him thinking I was about to double up when the caller turned over his pair of Q’s and I was done. Oops. My first tourney and I’m out set over set. I wasn’t bummed at all; at that point in my poker career there was no way I could’ve folded. These days my Spider-Sense would’ve been going off like a fire alarm and I’d make an amazing lay down. At least in my dreams that’s what happens.
So I bust out on day one and I’ve got a week in paradise. That’s what’s great about Aruba. And, there’s so much poker going on non-stop that you’ll never be looking for a game. Last year I was heading to Aruba a different poker player. UB had signed me and I’d had a year of lessons and tourneys and thousands of hands played. I also knew everyone going in so it was basically going to be a poker vacation with my friends. Once again the whole operation was first class. I have to mention Matt Savage and his crew as well because he is a huge part of making this a great event. Matt’s tournament philosophy is to give the players great value for their money and this structure provides that.
I made it to day three last year and was grinding towards the bubble. I was short stacked about twenty-five from the money when I shoved UTG with KK. The BB talked and talked for three minutes and he finally calls with AJ. I was hoping to take the blinds and antes and keep grinding but a double up would’ve gotten me past the bubble for sure.
He flops and A and the turn and river show me no love at all and I am out. I couldn’t believe it. I had never made it to a day three before and I just couldn’t accept that I was done after all that work. I was going to win it; I couldn’t be out. I got up quickly and headed out of the room. I dimly remember Debo saying something to me from his table as I descended into a darkness that I was not familiar with. The walk back to my room took five minutes and by the time I got there I didn’t know what to do with myself. Pearl was in the room and she asked me what happened and I couldn’t even speak. I was sitting there with my head in my hands in disbelief that someone pulled the emergency brake and my tourney was over. Pearl told me she’d be down by the pool and to come meet her and the rest of our friends down there when I was ready. She’d also never seen me like this and decided it was probably best to get out of the way. It was the weirdest feeling, my sane brain was saying “dude, calm down it’s just a game and you’ll get’em next time” and my insane poker brain was saying “SCOTT SMASH AJ, SCOTT DESTROY YOU AAAARRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” Interesting conversation my brain was having with itself. After a half an hour of trying to calm down crazy Scott-Hulk I got off my sorry ass and found Pearl at the pool. I grabbed a lounge chair, set it down in the shallow end of the pool, was handed a GIANT Pina Colada by Victor Bigio and I let Aruba wash the insanity away. And it did! Twenty minutes later my anger had melted away and it was all fun the rest of the trip. That’s Aruba.
Year three coming up, see you there my friends.
Cheers,
Scott
Tags: Annie Duke, Aruba, Debo, Hollywood Dave, Jo Priam, Krazy Kanuck, Matt Savage, P0ker H0, Phil Hellmuth, Play Poker, Robert Williamson III, ShawnRice, ub, Wisco
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Sunday, August 16, 2009 - Debo34
Those who have been to Aruba have undoubtedly seen the late night drunken cash games in the Radisson poker room. My second year in Aruba was the first year the event was held at the Radisson. The first night that year was a fun and crazy night in the poker room. This night basically set the tone for all first nights in Aruba that would follow.
The night started out like you would expect it to in Aruba, drinking Aruba Aribas as fast as they can bring them to you, and playing reckless 1/2 no limit holdem with a group of friends. So the table was a fun table, mostly filled with a group of players that had met in Aruba the previous year, with a few first timers. A few names you might recognize at the table were P0ker h0, Shawn Rice, YngmanN4quiki, and Fatcats. P0ker h0 had brought a friend this year named Bill who played with the UB name H0ldempr0.
So the hand that will be forever talked about ( at least by a few guys who were at the table) came down in a drunken stooper. I was in first position and put in a live straddle of $4. My buddy Mike (YngmanN4quiki) was first to act and raised to $20. A few people called including Bill on the button. I had last action as the straddler and looked down at 82 off suit. Of course in my drunkenness I decided to put in a raise to $100. Mike immediately goes Hollywood on me with ” Debo man I have a big hand here etc. Mike thinks for a good minute and makes it $240 to go. The action folds to Bill on the button and he goes for the Oscar right on night 1. He goes on and on about how there is no way he can fold his hand and if we weren’t all friends he would just move in for the $1200 in front of him, and then decides to call. For some reason ( might have been the Aruba Aribas) , I thought my best play sitting here with 82 off suit was to instantly just move all in for $1400. When mike didn’t immediately call I knew I was getting a fold from him… or was I? Mike had Bill and I covered, and again started yapping about how he can’t fold, his hand it too big, blah blah. Now by this time everyone at the table and the 20 or so people watching were side betting who they thought had the best hand. I figured with all my money in the middle, and knowing that if I can get them to fold I will make $500 and I should hedge my bet with the 82. I offer up bets to 2 people at the table for $100 each that I have the best hand pre flop, trying to act strong knowing I would surely lose the $200 but win the pot and more importantly not lose my $1400 that I shoved in the middle like a drunken side show clown. A good 5 minutes went by with the 3 of us yapping at each other trying to convince each other that we had the best hand. Mike and Bill both told me they were going to call me and suggested I make some sort of deal with them if they wanted them to fold. At this point I had no idea what to do, nor any idea of how strong each guys hand was. None of what happened next makes any sense still to this day. We all 3 agreed to the following drunken plan. I would take back my all in bet, and would get a half off discount on calling the $240 raise Mike made. So I would put $120 in the middle, the betting would be done and we would just flip up all 5 and see who won. Now this seemed reasonable to me, rather than risk $1400 I would just gamble for $120 and get out of this situation. Right before we were all about to agree to this deal, someone suggested that we all put $100 each into a side pot going to whomever had the best starting hand. Now of course I knew I couldn’t win this bet, but the both of them said I was getting called in 2 spots if I didn’t want to do the side bet. I said fine, and threw $100 in the middle I knew I would never see again. I just wanted to cut my losses and be done with this hand. So the fun part came when the hands were turned face up. Bill turned up 53 off suit and the place went nuts. Mike looked at me and said ” I have Bill crushed” and turns up 64 suited. I slammed my 82 on the table and yelled “I knew I had the best hand”!! WTF I won the side pot with 8 high and am free rolling for the pot. The dealer put the flop on the table, it was AK7 rainbow. Everyone was yelling for what they wanted to come up. The turn was a Jack and the river a 9, and my mighty 8 kicker played for a dominant AKJ98 winner. I had won both the pot and the side bet with 8 high.
Now this obviously isn’t something you see in your typical card room. If we hadn’t been all friends at the table and in Aruba this surely wouldn’t be allowed. I still to this day have no idea why we all just decided to go nuts on each other with bad hands. I guess we were just looking for some fun and to get 1 over on the others. At any rate it is one of my personal Aruba favorite memories, and one that we still talk about whenever we get together.
Good luck
Debo
Tags: Aruba, Fatcats, P0ker H0, Poker Poker Poker, poker tournaments, Radisson, ShawnRice
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Monday, July 27, 2009 - Debo34
Aruba is just 9 weeks away. This will be my 7th straight year that I fly to Aruba for the best poker tournament on the planet. In my opinion, no poker venue that I have ever been to can compare to Aruba. Matt Savage and crew do an amazing job with all the tournaments and side games and there is never a shortage of action if you are looking for it.
Aruba was the first trip package that I ever won online, and for that will always be special. I had only played poker online for about 2 months when I won my first trip to Aruba. I remember on the flight down there all I could think about was poker, poker, poker. That changed shortly after my plane touched down in Aruba. It didn’t take long to form friendships with players that I had been playing with online, and find other fun stuff to do on the island besides play poker all day. People I consider close friends almost 8 years later like fellow team UB members Mark Kroon and Shawn Rice. Guys like Tracy Scala, Robbie Cunningham and Mike Foley are all guys I met in Aruba my first year, and call friends today.
So over the past 7 years poker has been just a piece of the excitement in Aruba. Parties, poker, scuba diving, golfing, and of course the great nightlife are all reasons why Aruba is such a great poker venue.
This year I will be looking to improve on my best Aruba finish that I had last year. Last year I finished 22nd and walked away scratching my head. I wasn’t happy with the way I played my last few hands, and made some mistakes down the stretch that cost me. I felt like I really had a chance to win the tournament last year. With the great structure of this tournament I feel like I am going to make a deep run this year as well.
Hope to see you on the island
Debo
Tags: Aruba, mark kroon, Matt Savage, Poker Poker Poker, poker tournament, ShawnRice, ub
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Thursday, February 5, 2009 - UB Marketing
The turnout for the last Ultimate Bet Blog Tournament was so great that we had to increase the registration limit the day of the event to keep up with the overwhelming demand. You guys like your freerolls! We’re happy to announce that due to popular demand, we’ve decided to make these tournaments a more regular event. From this month on you can mark it in your calendar that the Ultimate Bet Blog Tournament will run on the last Wednesday of each month. That means the next one is coming up on Wednesday February 25th 2009.
What do you have to do to gain entry to this event? It’s simple, as a loyal UB Blog reader you’re about to gain all the insight you need. Simply enter the code UBBLOGaew0r7q4pwn and you’re IN! Why are we giving you so much advanced notice? Because we want you to be as mentally prepared as possible to maximize your rewards and your FUN! That’s why we encourage you to check out the wealth of poker strategy related information available to you here on this blog. The Ultimate Bet pros regularly blog here and most of the time it’s about POKER STRATEGY! For example, each week we run a regular blog post called ‘Ask a Pro’. You can ask your questions directly to some of the biggest, baddest names in Poker. We’ve had Annie Duke, HollywoodDave, Scott Ian, Shawn Rice, Phil Hellmuth, Adam ‘Roothlus’ Levy, and later today, Tracy ‘FATCATS’ Scala. So during your tournament preparation, check out these insightful posts and learn a thing or two…..OR TEN! As well, each week you’ve got the chance to ‘Ask a Pro’ the question of your choice.
So get ready for the next Ultimate Bet Blog Tournament and check back here for updates. We haven’t finalized the payout structure yet, but rest assured, it will be good. Good luck at the tables!
Tags: Adam "Roothlus" Levy, Annie Duke, Ask A Pro, blog tournament, Hollywood Dave, online poker tournaments, Phil Hellmuth, poker tournament, poker tournament tips, Scott Ian, ShawnRice, Tracy "Fatcats" Scala
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Saturday, January 24, 2009 - P0ker H0
The UBOC’s have finally came to a close. It was an exciting week and a half of poker, especially because I was in the UBOC League. For those of you who don’t know, ubpokerleagues.com hosted a UBOC League where each team bought in for 1k and the 3 teams with the highest amount of points at the end of the UBOC would split the prize pool. We ended up getting 15 teams for the UBOC, and 20 for the MINI-UBOC. I partnered up with Shawn Rice and we were in it to the very last day. Wiscomurray’s team led the league in first everday but one, but on the last day lot’s of drama ensued.
The way the points are calculated are the higher the buyin the more points you will receive, and the deeper you go. So with the majority of UBOC’s being $100-$200’s and the last event a 1k, you can see how it would be easy to gain ground in the last tournament of the series. Well, thats exactly what the last place team did. The last day Wiscomurray’s team was in first with 1600 points, and 2nd with 1400. The 15th place team had 600 points. It would be a slight possibility for the bottom teams to catch up, but the last place team needed to outright win the UBOC to win the league by only 24 points. If they finished 2nd in the UBOC 1k main event they would get 850 points and fall significantly short.
Wouldn’t you know, I checked the lobby with 25 left and there they were. One of the guys on the last place team, DOUBLEDAVE22 to be exact, was still in the tournament. Not only that but NEDDYFLANDERS was still in, and his team was in need of the points. I think NEDDYFLANDERS could have finished 4th or better to win the league. Anyway, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Everytime DOUBLEDAVE22 was all-in, he got called, and when he was called his opponent had at most 2 outs. He played the short stack really well and found himself at the final table. When I say he played the short stack well, I really mean it. He was 2nd to last in chips from 20 players down to the final table. At the final table he found himself 4 handed, 2nd in chips. I couldnt believe it. Could the last place league team really pull this off? I mean, they had to WIN the UBOC 1k Main Event, to win the league. Anything less, and it wasnt even close to placing in top 3 teams.
DOUBLEDAVE22 shoved all in KQ and was called by Ac10c. The flop came 2 clubs 9 high. It wasn’t looking good for Dave, when bam, the turn came a non club Queen. Than bam the river a 7c, and Dave’s amazing run had come to an end. I have to admit, it was really fun watching other people play and have a reason to care what happens in the hands they are involved in. The ubpokerleagues.com website adds a new flavor to poker, and I really recommend it. Not only that, it helped me play my best poker I believe. Some people feel it’s easier to let themselves down than others, and for that reason I think people try harder. Give it a try and Gl everyone.
p0ker h0
Tags: mini UBOC, P0ker H0, Poker Strategy, poker tournaments, ShawnRice, table chat, UBOC, uboc leagues, ubpokerleagues
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Saturday, January 24, 2009 - C00LHandNuke
Hmmm. What do you say in your first blog ever? I guess you start with an introduction. My name is Shawn, but I play under the handle C00LHandNuke on Ultimate Bet. I use the same/similar name on some of the other sites. I’ve been playing “professionally” now for about five years, but am relatively new to the UB scene. I started playing on UB this summer after trying out for the Best Damn Poker Show 2. I gave Gary Debonardi (Debo34) some cash at this year’s WSOP and he transferred $300 to my account. Why didn’t I just use a credit card? Well it has to do with over $40k getting stuck on NetTeller for about a year and a growing distrust of the whack-a-dos in Washington – but I’ll save that for a later blog.
I gotta give some props to Debo, P0ker H0, Shawn Rice and all the other UB Pros. They are great ambassadors, always willing to talk and (as in my case) go out of their way to add players to the site. I had sat at live tables with Shawn and H0 before. And through a mutual acquaintance, Debo ended up sweating me about a year ago when I won the Sunday Million on PokerStars. So I had a little history with these guys, but I know for a fact that they’ve each done similar things for complete strangers. Thanks again Debo!
Anyhow, on with the blog. I made it onto the Best Damn Poker Show 2. It was a great experience. The first episode aired last Monday on FoxSports and was pretty entertaining. My first table plays this week, so I wasn’t in the first episode for more than a few seconds. A lot of the first episode was set up for what is to come, but I’m hoping that as the show progresses the poker will take more of the center stage. Hopefully it won’t get lost in the editing. I hope you watch and if you can’t get enough from the TV, check back here after each episode. I’ll be posting a blog for each episode with my own personal behind the scenes extras. If you haven’t read some of the posts on Pocket 5’s already, there was definitely some drama on this year’s show. And as usual, I was right in the middle of it.
The UBOC has started and Debo and I are a team in the UBOC Poker League. You can check out the standings at http://ubpokerleagues.com. So far we’ve had some minor success and are sitting in fourth place. I busted out of UBOC event #2 in eleventh place. The finish was okay, but I feel like a really could have done better. I had a very playable stack and the first big bluff I tried in the tourney crippled me when we were down to twelve players. Basically my opponent called off 30% of his stack on the turn and another 60% on the river with fourth pair (sixes) when the board was four-straighted to two gutshots and the river also made a three-flush – the villain had no draws. Ugh! A few days later, I took eleventh again in the PLO/8 UBOC event. This time I just went card dead at the wrong time and, in retrospect, probably passed up an opportunity to gamble once too often.
The idea for a poker league is awesome. The extra money involved is a nice incentive, but really it is about more than that. It’s about bragging rights and pride, even more so than just the typical leader boards that every site has. The leagues allow groups of people to opt into a certain schedule and put up some extra money behind the boast of “Hey, I think me and my partner are better than any two players out there.” My prediction for 2009 is that soon other sites will begin to emulate this. But I’m not sure how well it will work for them. What I’ve come to realize in the short time that I’ve been playing on UB is that there really is a sense of community and greater opportunity to meet other people who love poker. I guess that, more than anything else, is why I’m writing this blog and why you’ll see more of my online daily bankroll dedicated to buying into tournaments at UB. So I hope to see you at the tables, and maybe I can get over my 11-and-out syndrome and it will be a final table where we meet. If you see me, please say hello.
Cheers,
Shawn
Tags: Best Damn Poker Show, Debo34, fox sports, P0ker H0, players blog, plo8, poker tournaments, ShawnRice, sunday millions, ub pros, UBOC, uboc poker leagues
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