UltimateBet kicked off its 10-event
UltimateBet Online Poker Championships (
UBOC) last night with a guarantee-busting no-limit hold'em tournament. The championship promises to pay out at least $2 million in total prize money to players over the 10 days of events. UltimateBet also awards silver
UBOC bracelets to each event winner and will feature a $10,000 heads-up showdown between the
UBOC leader board point winner and 10-time
World Series of Poker bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth.
Each final table in the series will also be accompanied by audio commentary, similar to what the
PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (
WCOOP) featured in its most recent run this September. However, the
UCOC one-ups the
WCOOP by offering a video feed of the table running in sync with the commentary.
Last night's event started the championship off on the right foot by luring enough players to go beyond its guaranteed prize pool of $125,000. The 650 entrants who ponied up the $200 buy-in put the prize pool up to $130,000, making for a $30,550 first prize. Neither Phil Hellmuth nor Annie Duke played in the event, which seemed unusual considering they're the superstar sponsored players for UltimateBet and this is the site's biggest promotion of the year.
Internet pro Jon "Pearl Jammed" Turner finished deep in the tournament when he was eliminated in 14th place ($975). In the hand that did him in, Turner had gotten all in preflop as a short stack against dmmoose, who held 7
5
. Turner showed pocket queens but let out a devastated "sigh" when the flop put out all diamonds to give dmmoose a flush.
RobertV77 was the big stack with $286,000 as the final table commenced while khennes was close behind at $264,000. Witz17 and rps5000 brought up the rear with $67,000 and $58,000, respectively. Both witz17 and rps5000 nursed their short stacks for more than 20 minutes when they both avoided becoming the first elimination of the final table. RobertV77 raised to $27,000 preflop with the big blind at $6,000 and iLL Fortunes pushed all in over the top for $137,000. Action folded back to RobertV77, who called and showed pocket aces. ILL Fortunes was in very big trouble with A
Q
and would need a lot of help. The board bricked out, giving RobertV77 the pot to eliminate iLL Fortunes from the tournament in 10th ($1,300).
RobertV77 went for a twofer in the very next hand. Breitling996 raised to $15,500 preflop and RobertV77 called from the big blind. The flop came A
10
3
and RobertV77 pushed all in, having brietling996's $110,000 remaining stack covered three times over. Brietling996 called and showed A
Q
for top pair while RobertV77 flipped up Q
10
for mid-pair and a flush draw. RobertV77 missed his flush on the turn with the 4
but hit it on the river when it brought the 5
. The completed flush was enough to send brietling996 home in ninth with $2,275.
RobertV77 now had $588,000, more than twice as much as Zpaceman in second with just over $250,000. Zpaceman closed the gap ever so slightly when he eliminated kutuz_off 10 minutes later. Kutuz_off went all in preflop and Zpaceman called with A
K
. Kutuz_off was dominated with K
J
and neither player improved. Kutuz_off earned $3,250 for his eighth-place finish.
Pearl Jammed's assassin was himself taken out in the next elimination just two hands later. Dmmoose pushed all in preflop and was called by khennes. Khennes revealed A
J
and was dominating dmmoose's A
2
. There were no miracle twos for dmmoose and he cashed in $4,550 for seventh place.
All the while, both witz17 and rps5000 were continuing to hang tight with their stacks at dangerously low levels. They would both still manage to survive through the next elimination. Stayceacee, who had recently become the shortest stack at the table, pushed all in preflop and was called by Zpaceman. Stayceacee turned over K
Q
and was behind when Zpaceman flipped up A
7
. Zpaceman ended up with an unneeded trip sevens to eliminate stayceacee in sixth ($5,850).
Witz17 was now again the short stack at the table and, after very successfully holding onto what few chips he had, it was finally time for him to go in the very next hand. Zpaceman raised preflop and witz17 called all in for less and showed J
10
. Zpaceman turned over A
3
for the lead as the flop came A
Q
6
. While witz17 now had a gutshot straight draw, neither the turn nor the river delivered the king he needed to survive. Witz17 got a $7,150 payday for fifth place.
Following right along four hands later was the other survivor, rps5000. He got all if his chips in preflop against RobertV77 and showed pocket sevens. RobertV77 flipped up K
4
and would need some improvement to knock rps5000 out. The flop came 8
5
4
, pairing RobertV77 but keeping rps5000 in the lead. The turn brought the A
and the river was the K
, giving RobertV77 two pair to eliminate rps5000 in fourth ($8,775).
The stacks were very close with only three players left. RobertV77 strengthened his lead with the last elimination, putting his stack up to $651,000, while khennes sat with $509,000 and Zpaceman held $465,000. Action was very aggressive among the final three players, as was exemplified with a hand just four minutes into three-way play. With the big blind at $10,000, khennes raised to $38,000. RobertV77 pushed all in for $419,000 and Zpaceman, having seen RobertV77 do the exact same thing in the previous hand against khennes, pushed all in himself, having RobertV77 covered by $90,000. Khennes folded to the aggression and Zpaceman showed A
10
while RobertV77 turned over A
Q
. The flop put out a queen, making the 10 on the river less useful for Zpaceman. The 4
on the river sealed the deal to double up RobertV77 and cripple Zpaceman.
Left with only $90,000, Zpaceman made a miraculous comeback over the next 10 minutes until all three players were sitting with virtually even stacks in the $500,000s. The aggressive play continued over the next few minutes, until Zpaceman raised to $47,000 preflop with the big blind at $12,000. Khennes reraised to $157,000 and Zpaceman pushed all in for $437,000. Khennes called, having him covered by almost $200,000 at that point. Zpaceman revealed A
9
and khennes turned up pocket jacks for a substantial lead. The board put out blanks and Zpaceman was taken out in third place, earning $12,675.
Khennes had been ahead of RobertV77 before Zpaceman's elimination and now his stack surged to almost twice as much as RobertV77's. Khennes held almost $1.1 million, while RobertV77 had just under $550,000. The heads-up match would last all of four minutes before the final hand. RobertV77 went all in preflop and khennes called and showed K
Q
. RobertV77 was dominated with K
8
. The board came out J
5
2
7
10
, giving both players king-high hands. RobertV77's 8 kicker wasn't enough and he was sent home in second with $19,175. Khennes raked in the $30,550 first-place prize and the coveted silver
UBOC bracelet.
The final standings were:
1) khennes - $30,550
2) RobertV77 - $19,175
3) Zpaceman - $12,675
4) rps5000 - $8,775
5) witz17 - $7,150
6) stayceacee - $5,850
7) dmmoose - $4,550
8) kutuz_off - $3,250
9) brietling996 - $2,275
10) iLL Fortunes - $1,300
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