Ultimate Bet Review

UltimateBet.com

Ultimate Bet is one of the biggest poker rooms in the world today. It recently completed its merger with Absolute Poker in the late 2008 and formed a new poker network called ‘Cereus’. There is non-stop action all round the clock along with loose games and an expanded player base. There are no restrictions for the players from United States and on the whole, the site looks good. Ultimate Bet is also known to run some of the best tournaments in the world and offers the best game quality. It is supposed to be the home to the poker legends like Annie Duke, Phil Hellmuth, Dave Ulliot and Antonio Esfandiari. There have been a lot of improvements in the software off lately and most of the traffic on the site is concentrated on Texas Hold’em. Conclusively, the site has managed to build a reputation for itself even when there are high-stakes and heavy sign-up bonus.

Bonus and Promotions

There is a sign-up bonus match of 111% on all the first time deposits by the newer players. This bonus is offered up to a maximum of $1100. The minimum deposit required by Ultimate Bet is $25 and the players receive $1 in bonus cash for every 10 hands raked in the room. If the players wish to become an Ultimate Bet regular, they must know that every hand raked in the game gives them one ultimate point. In addition, the players are awarded one point per every hour played on the table. The points accumulated on the site could be used to purchase Ultimate Bet branded accessories and clothes; however a majority of the players are interested in special freeroll tournament entries. There is one of the best ‘refer a friend’ promotions in the world. The players get a cash of $100 once the referral deposits a cash of $100 on the site. In addition, the referral would also get $50 added to his account. Ultimate Bet also awards the top four hands every ninety minutes and the freerolls are initiated few times during the day. For all those players who ever wanted to play in the World Poker Tour or the World Series of Poker, there are quite a lot of qualifiers on this site.

Tournaments

This is one of the largest poker rooms on the internet and hence during the peak hours, there is an active player base of 25000 on the site. Out of all these connections, 40% of the total players are focused on the ring games and the rest of them are a part of the tournament traffic. Texas Hold’em tables see the highest traffic and the players can also find some good games of Omaha as well as Seven Card Stud. The tournament schedule includes the World Poker Tour as well as World Series of Poker qualifiers. There is a lot of competition for these tournaments. There are some freeroll tournaments as well but getting a spot on these tournaments is difficult. The normal multi table tournaments range from a $1 buy-in up to $200. There are direct entries and entry chip satellites that start with $3. For the most part, the tournaments are leveled at $20.

Games

The collection of games at Ultimate Bet is pretty huge. Apart from the regular Texas Hold’em games, the players can enjoy 7 Card Stud, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo, Triple Draw and Pineapple. The tables’ stakes vary from low at $0.01/$0.02 to high at $150/$300. There is average competition at Ultimate Bet and in the lower stake games; there are about 40% of the players seeing the flop. In the mid stakes games, the percentage dies down to 35%. There are a number of rooms to choose from as far as soft play is concerned. The play is slightly tighter as compared to the likes of Titan Poker and Full Tilt Poker.

Level of Competition

The competition here is above average and the games at lower and micro stakes is pretty loose and fishy. However it gets tighter with medium to high stakes, as compared to the other poker sites.

Software

There have been a lot of complaints as far as the poor lobby software is concerned. However, recently there have been a lot of improvements made on the site and Ultimate Bet has now become a fully-equipped site from an average poker room. Unfortunately, there are no appropriate lobby filters available and this is a drawback since the site accommodates a lot of newer players. The poker tables are the best seen on the internet so far. There are three-dimensional graphics on the site and they capture the feel of playing traditional poker in casinos. There is a mini-table function that is usually seen on the other poker sites as well. There is a buddy function, stats display and a range of other required options. The only drawback happens to be in the full table which fails to display the numeric pot size.

Support

The email support on Ultimate Bet is the best in the industry and sets a standard for the other online poker rooms. The response times are fast and many a times, the responses could be received in less than five minutes. There is no telephone support or live chat options available at the moment.

Deposit Options

Being one of the largest poker rooms, there are a lot of deposit options which includes all the major credit cards, NETeller, Citadel, FirePay, wire transfers, bank drafts and checks. The cashouts are fast and easy and are available with NETeller, FirePay and requesting paper checks.