Proprietors of UltimateBet.com & Absolute Poker Confirm Past Cheating
May 30, 2008
Tokwiro Enterprises, the company that owns both Absolute Poker and UltimateBet, thursday released a statement confirming that cheating had gone on at UltimateBet by people who, according to the release, “worked for the previous ownership of UltimateBet prior to the sale of the business to Tokwiro in October 2006.”
Here is the press release in full:
MONTREAL, CANADA (MAY 29, 2008) — Tokwiro Enterprises ENRG (”Tokwiro”), proprietors of UltimateBet.com (”UltimateBet”), one of the world’s largest online card rooms, today announced the results of its lengthy investigation into allegations of unfair play, which was triggered by concerns about an account named ‘NioNio’. Tokwiro has worked diligently in cooperation with its regulatory body, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (”KGC”), and with independent third-party experts to conduct a thorough investigation that included a comprehensive review of hand histories and game data, thorough analyses of software and network security, and audits of its security practices and procedures. Read more
Ultimate Poker Challenge
May 30, 2008
Ultimate Poker Challenge is a syndicated show that televises a series of weekly poker tournaments where players accumulate points instead of money in order to play in the semi-finals. Eight players then go on to play in the finals. The playing field for ultimate poker challenge is comprised of both professional poker players and top amateurs.
Chad Brown, an actor most recognized for his work on the soap opera “Another World” hosted the show with Brandi Williams as field correspondent who often interviewed the players. Matt Savage was the tournament director. In the first season of Ultimate Poker Challenge, James Van Alstyne won the top prize of $100,000. In season 2, Andy Bloch, who is best known for being a member of the MIT blackjack team that was featured in the book, “Bringin Down The House,” which is also the subject of the 2008 movie, “21″ won the top prize of $167,500. The winner of the show’s season 3 was Amir Vahedi, who took home $181,390.
Seasons 1 and 2 of the exciting series are available on DVD for fans of the show to purchase. In season 4, the show was actually renamed to The Ultimate Poker Challenge Presents Cash Poker: The Ultimate Challenge. In 2007 ultimate poker challenge teamed up with Woman Poker Player magazine to create the Ultimate Women’s Poker Challenge. This event was held at Binions in Las Vegas and was televised for the show. Shows like these have really helped to popularize poker, especially when people at home see the “average Joe” take home the money. It gives the ordinary amateur hope that he or she has a chance at winning the big one someday. Also, by utilizing Henry Orenstein’s invention of the pocket camera, now that the home audience can see the player’s hole cards, it makes watching poker more exciting than ever!
Checkout the UltimateBet Weekly Online Poker Tournament Schedule:
Monday - Saturday: 8:00PM - Buy In $120+9 - $20K Nightly Bounty No Limit Tournaments
Sundays: 5:00PM - Buy In $120+9 or Qualify for your seat for as little as $5.50 - $200K Guaranteed No Limit Tournament.
Designed with the assistance of the best poker players in the world - Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke – UltimateBet provides the best poker betting games available on the net. Players can download the free poker software, play in free ring games and tournaments and get tips from these pros to learn the sport or to enhance their playing strategy. UltimateBet currently has over 2 million registered players.
Poker: Picking the right time to gamble is important
May 30, 2008
Ideally, you want to get your money in the pot in a no-limit Texas hold ‘em tournament when you have an opponent dominated, but that isn’t always possible.
Sometimes your stack will be below average, you will draw a nice hand, even if it isn’t the best, and you will see a big pot brewing. You have to gamble.
It happens to the top players all the time. They don’t always like it, but one part of their strategy is to pick a smaller stack to gamble with so they can’t bust out, as Josh Arieh showed at the $15,000-buy-in Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic at Las Vegas’ Bellagio in 2007.
With blinds at $500-$1,000 plus a $100 ante, the player under the gun limped, as did pro Marcel Luske and two other players.
Arieh, who finished third in the 2004 World Series of Poker main event, found ace-queen offsuit on the button. He also found a chance to make a move to improve his below-average stack of about $24,000.
Player Receives $55,000 as Titan Poker Deals Its Billionth Hand
May 30, 2008
Titan Poker, the largest online poker room on the iPoker Network, dealt its Billionth Hand on May 27 and player “wootrigged” from Finland went home with a prize of $55,000. The other five players playing at the same table received $5,000 each, just for participating in hand number 1,000,000,000.
Titan Poker’s Billionth Hand promotion, which launched a number of weeks ago, awarded more than $420,000 in prizes. A countdown started when the 950,000,000th hand was dealt. Hundreds of dollars in cash were awarded to players every day as Titan Poker neared its monumental billionth hand.
Players were able to track the progress of the countdown to the Billionth Hand by logging into the Titan Poker software, or onto the Titan Poker website. Titan Poker players also received regular updates of the countdown progress and were immediately informed when they started to play on a winning hand.
Titan Poker regularly rewards its players with huge cash prizes. The popular online poker room is currently giving away $3,600,000 in its second European Championship of Online Poker (ECOOP II). It also frequently awards its players with seats at the world’s most well-known poker tournaments, including the 2008 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, the Irish Open, the European Poker Tour and the Asian Poker Tour. In May, Titan Poker sponsored the Eurocity Poker Tour Madrid Open, a highly successful tournament event staged at the Casino Gran outside the Spanish capital.
World Series of Poker kicks off with $10K event
May 30, 2008
It seems it was yesterday that Jerry Yang was celebrating his 2007 World Series of Poker main event title. It feels like it was last night that I was busting out of the 2006 WSOP main event. Sorry, some of those hands just haunt me in my sleep.
But it is time for poker’s main attraction — the WSOP — again. And while the number of main event entrants is anybody’s guess, this year’s World Series already is guaranteed to be the longest in history.
It starts today with the $10,000 buy-in pot-limit hold’em world championship and ends in November with the final stages of the main event final table.
Usually, it’s the casino employees event that kicks off the WSOP, so it’s refreshing see the World Series starting in style this year with one of the 12 world championship events. In all, Caesar’s Entertainment will be handing out 55 WSOP bracelets again this year at the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
PurePlay to Award Highest Number of Seats to Poker’s Main Event
May 29, 2008
PurePlay, the largest U.S. compliant play-for-cash online poker site, announced today that it will be extending its 2008 World Series of Poker* seat giveaway through the month of June, with hundreds of World Series qualifiers running every day. PurePlay, the U.S. market leader, will be giving away the largest number of Main Event seats among all U.S. based poker sites.
San Fransisco, CA (PRunderground) May 29, 2008 – PurePlay, the largest U.S. compliant play-for-cash online poker site, announced today that it will be extending its 2008 World Series of Poker* seat giveaway through the month of June, with hundreds of World Series qualifiers running every day. PurePlay, the U.S. market leader, will be giving away the largest number of Main Event seats among all U.S. based poker sites.
PurePlay’s most recent winner is Donald Wilson of Sylvan Lake, Alberta, Canada. Said Wilson, “PurePlay’s offer of cash prizes without risking my own money has always been attractive, and they’re the reason I’ve been an enthusiastic regular on their site. Without risking a dime of my own money, my dream of winning a seat to the WSOP* Main Event came true. Who knows, if I play my cards right I could walk away with millions.”
Blackjack Pays Out Most in Bodog’s Online Casino
May 29, 2008
The biggest payday yesterday in Bodog’s online casino came from Blackjack. (Bodog Beat Image)
Congratulations to Matthew E. of TX for being yesterday’s biggest Bodog casino winner with $19,296 from Blackjack! The other top nine winners are as follows:
* Robert G. of CA came in second and apparently also know how to play Blackjack. He won $7,840.
* Steven H. of PA rolled the bones and made $6,793 from Craps.
* Jimmy W. of MD was yet another big Blackjack winner with $6,289.
* David B. of FL made two big scores yesterday. One from the Realm of Riches slot for $5,737 and one from Tri-Card Poker for $4,180. Way to diversify David!
* Joan L. of NY nabbed a piece of the Aztecs Treasure slot for $5,249.
* Walter S. of MO played one of our favorite games, Let em Ride, and won $4,389.
* Barbara W. of GA laughed it up after winning $4,115 from Joker Poker.
* And finally, Renee W. of MA took a dip in the Crystal Waters slot and swam away with $4,020.
Bodog’s online casino has dozens of great casino games including the ever popular, and apparently quite lucrative, game of Blackjack.
Learn to count cards MIT style here: Card Counting
UltimateBet Online Poker Player Cashes in on $546,253.86 Bad Beat Jackpot
May 29, 2008
56-year-old online poker player from Florida wins $177,532.51 with losing hand
A little Vegas luck was definitely on one online poker player’s side Tuesday morning. A Texas Hold’em player with the moniker “joeyvegas0711” popped UltimateBet’s latest Bad Beat Jackpot, which had been sitting at a staggering $546,253.86.
The jackpot exploded at 10:38am on May 27th when joeyvegas0711 turned over an assumingly unbeatable four queens. But everything changed the moment babybaby16 flipped over a queen-high straight flush and swept the $35.44 pot in his direction.
For his losing hand, joeyvegas0711 took home $177,532.51 of the $546,253.86 Bad Beat Jackpot. BabyBaby16 added an additional $88,766.25 to his $35.44 pot and 270 other players shared another $88,766.25.
Bad Beat Jackpot is just like traditional Texas Hold’em poker with an added jackpot component. In addition to rake, $0.50 is collected from qualifying poker hands and placed into a constantly growing pot until someone hits the jackpot.
When a player loses a hand with four 8s or anything better, 65% of the jackpot is divided among Bad Beat Jackpot players (25% remains in the pot for the next jackpot and 10% is dedicated towards administrative fees). All players seated at a Bad Beat Jackpot table featuring the same limit and game type as where the bad beat occurred also win a piece of the jackpot.
Full details on UltimateBet’s Bad Beat Jackpot game can be found at www.ultimatebet.com .
