UB Cancels Aruba Poker ClassicShifts Focus to Online Tournaments and Increasing Presence at Existing Live Events |
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Paul Leggett, Chief Operations Officer of Tokwiro, owner and operator of UB.com, has confirmed that the site is putting the Aruba Poker Classic on hold for 2010. UB will shift its focus in the future, increasing its presence at existing major events. Leggett said that the site will also begin laying the groundwork to give online poker fans more reasons to choose UB.com over any other site in 2010.
The Aruba Poker Classic attracted 475 players last year, and Brandon Hall won the $5,000 no-limit hold’em tournament to take home $753,330. Other former champions include Matt Brady (pictured right), Freddy Deeb, Erick Lindgren, and Juha Helppi.
“It is with great regret that we are announcing that the Aruba event will not run this year, but 2010 is going to be an exciting year for UB and its players,” said Leggett. “Over the last year, we’ve been redefining the UB brand in every way. We love the Aruba Poker Classic event, but we think we can do a lot more for our players by investing in new events and rewards.”
The site will run additional online poker tournaments, including a new tournament series in the future. Other goals for 2010 include developing a monthly $500,000-guaranteed tournament with an eye on building it into a million-dollar event; creating more pro-related competitions; and running UBOC two times a year.
UBOC is UB.com’s signature online poker tournament series that entered its fourth year in January. This year’s UBOC was UB.com’s most successful online poker championship series to date. The 12-day poker series featured two $1 million guaranteed events, a number of promotions that awarded players of all stake levels with extra prizes, and over $4 million in promised prize-pool money. The first $1 million guaranteed event attracted a record number of players, inflating the prize pool to over $1.5 million and the second $1 million guaranteed event was equally successful.
Leggett notes that UB.com will continue to offer players access to the world’s top poker tournaments like the World Series of Poker and major World Poker Tour events through ongoing online poker satellites. Players will also see benefits in the form of major WSOP incentives and additional loyalty benefits for top players.
Team UB member Joe Sebok said, “I, for one, am excited about what this shift in focus means for UB and what this will add to the experience for our players.”
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