UltimateBet Review
Poker Verdict's most experienced players give you the lowdown on what UltimateBet has to offer...
IntroductionUltimateBet is one of the biggest online poker rooms in the world and has had a very successful few years since its launch in 2000 thanks to major signings (notably Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke), creating one of the world’s great offline poker tournaments (the UltimateBet Aruba Classic) and a listing on the London stock market.
Put simply, this is one of Poker Verdict’s favourite sites, especially as James Hipwell managed to cash in its flagship Aruba tournament at the end of 2005 (read his blog).
Some of the best online poker players on the planet play on Ultimate (especially in the big $200 $15 Sunday evening game) but there are a fair share of fish too, especially on the six-handed $1-$2 limit holdem tables which can prove very profitable for the tight-aggressive novice.
Traffic/Players
The traffic at UltimateBet is among the top three or four in both ring games and tournaments. You usually find around 3,500 ring game players and up to 15,000 tournament players during peak hours.
Apart from Phil H and Annie D the company also sponsors Antonio ‘The Magician’ Esfandiari, Jim Worth (who plays online under the name KrazyKanuck), Freddy Deeb (who won in Aruba in 2005) and Devilfish (who now has his own UltimateBet ‘skin’ called DevilfishPoker.com). They are all contracted to play every week, sometimes at very low limits, and anyone can sit down beside them and play. Just don’t upset Phil Hellmuth too much, that’s all!
Game Variety
UltimateBet has a good game selection, with Texas holdem, Omaha hi and hi-lo, seven-card-stud hi and hi-lo, Pineapple and Triple Draw. There are no limit and pot limit in holdem and pot limit in both Omaha variants. There are heads-up (ie one to one) tables in holdem, Omaha and seven-card-stud.
UltimateBet was the first to introduce Pineapple (a variation of holdem where you get three hole cards and have to discard one card after the flop). But watch out – these games can get pretty lively!
One of the best things about playing in tournaments on Ultimate is that in MTTs players start with a decent stack of 1,500 chips and blinds go up slowly allowing you to play without the tourney becoming too much of a crap shoot. You get the feeling this is a poker site designed by poker players for poker players.
Ultimate’s tournament selection is pretty standard. They have 1-2 multi-table tournaments starting on the hour, every hour, and various other tourneys starting in between. There are plenty of freerolls and $5 buy-ins for the novice players to learn their game. For the more experienced players, there are multiple $100 buy-ins every day, as well as a $200 and $500 buy-in on Sunday.
UltimateBet offers some of the highest and lowest stakes games you’ll find. The $50-$100 no limit tables produce some of the largest pots you will find on the internet. The $300-$600 limit tables also create some pots that would last most people a month. Downloading UltimateBet’s software is worthwhile just to watch the pros in action on these tables.
Graphics/Software
UltimateBet's graphics have a unique look and the software runs quickly and reliably – as you would expect from a Top 5 site. There is an excellent function where you can watch and play in ‘MiniView’, allowing you to play several tables at once if you’re so-inclined. You can keep player notes as usual and the stats function keeps a great deal of useful info a click away.
You can choose from eight different environments to play in including Aruba, allowing you to dream of winning a $1 million tournament, and London, where it looks like you’re positioned on Westminster Bridge.
The software has a couple of great features you tend not to find anywhere else: the ability to ‘fold and show’ as well as a ‘bet the pot’ button at pot limit tables.
Support/Banking
There is no live or telephone support. However, UltimateBet has good email support, which is very quick and is seemingly written by support staff with decent knowledge of poker. The response time for most emails is under 10 minutes which is excellent.
All the usual means of payment are possible at Ultimate including NETeller, Visa, Mastercard, Firepay, Citadel Checks, Maestro, Visa Electron, Moneybookers and Click2Pay.
The average NETeller payout time is 24-48 hours which could be quicker.
Rake
UltimateBet's rake is less attractive than the average in the industry, at least when it comes to lower limit games. The rake caps at Ultimate are in line with the industry, but the drop is taken at more frequent intervals, which result in a higher effective rake. However, the maximum rake for short-handed games, are capped at lower than at many other rooms.
Put simply, this is one of Poker Verdict’s favourite sites, especially as James Hipwell managed to cash in its flagship Aruba tournament at the end of 2005 (read his blog).
Some of the best online poker players on the planet play on Ultimate (especially in the big $200 $15 Sunday evening game) but there are a fair share of fish too, especially on the six-handed $1-$2 limit holdem tables which can prove very profitable for the tight-aggressive novice.
Traffic/Players
The traffic at UltimateBet is among the top three or four in both ring games and tournaments. You usually find around 3,500 ring game players and up to 15,000 tournament players during peak hours.
Apart from Phil H and Annie D the company also sponsors Antonio ‘The Magician’ Esfandiari, Jim Worth (who plays online under the name KrazyKanuck), Freddy Deeb (who won in Aruba in 2005) and Devilfish (who now has his own UltimateBet ‘skin’ called DevilfishPoker.com). They are all contracted to play every week, sometimes at very low limits, and anyone can sit down beside them and play. Just don’t upset Phil Hellmuth too much, that’s all!
Game Variety
UltimateBet has a good game selection, with Texas holdem, Omaha hi and hi-lo, seven-card-stud hi and hi-lo, Pineapple and Triple Draw. There are no limit and pot limit in holdem and pot limit in both Omaha variants. There are heads-up (ie one to one) tables in holdem, Omaha and seven-card-stud.
UltimateBet was the first to introduce Pineapple (a variation of holdem where you get three hole cards and have to discard one card after the flop). But watch out – these games can get pretty lively!
One of the best things about playing in tournaments on Ultimate is that in MTTs players start with a decent stack of 1,500 chips and blinds go up slowly allowing you to play without the tourney becoming too much of a crap shoot. You get the feeling this is a poker site designed by poker players for poker players.
Ultimate’s tournament selection is pretty standard. They have 1-2 multi-table tournaments starting on the hour, every hour, and various other tourneys starting in between. There are plenty of freerolls and $5 buy-ins for the novice players to learn their game. For the more experienced players, there are multiple $100 buy-ins every day, as well as a $200 and $500 buy-in on Sunday.
UltimateBet offers some of the highest and lowest stakes games you’ll find. The $50-$100 no limit tables produce some of the largest pots you will find on the internet. The $300-$600 limit tables also create some pots that would last most people a month. Downloading UltimateBet’s software is worthwhile just to watch the pros in action on these tables.
Graphics/Software
UltimateBet's graphics have a unique look and the software runs quickly and reliably – as you would expect from a Top 5 site. There is an excellent function where you can watch and play in ‘MiniView’, allowing you to play several tables at once if you’re so-inclined. You can keep player notes as usual and the stats function keeps a great deal of useful info a click away.
You can choose from eight different environments to play in including Aruba, allowing you to dream of winning a $1 million tournament, and London, where it looks like you’re positioned on Westminster Bridge.
The software has a couple of great features you tend not to find anywhere else: the ability to ‘fold and show’ as well as a ‘bet the pot’ button at pot limit tables.
Support/Banking
There is no live or telephone support. However, UltimateBet has good email support, which is very quick and is seemingly written by support staff with decent knowledge of poker. The response time for most emails is under 10 minutes which is excellent.
All the usual means of payment are possible at Ultimate including NETeller, Visa, Mastercard, Firepay, Citadel Checks, Maestro, Visa Electron, Moneybookers and Click2Pay.
The average NETeller payout time is 24-48 hours which could be quicker.
Rake
UltimateBet's rake is less attractive than the average in the industry, at least when it comes to lower limit games. The rake caps at Ultimate are in line with the industry, but the drop is taken at more frequent intervals, which result in a higher effective rake. However, the maximum rake for short-handed games, are capped at lower than at many other rooms.
Moreover, in the heads-up and three-player tables there is a very low cap. The tournaments have a flat buy-in charge of 10% for all levels except for the $1 events, which are free and the $100 where the charge is 9%. In heads-up tournaments there is a 5% charge.
06/12/07
