Ultimate Bet - Online Poker Room Review

Great news for all American based gamblers, Ultimate Bet, one of the few sites to accept American players has become a world leader in the realm of online poker!!!

Ultimate Bet are innovative pioneers who have taken poker software and gaming experience to the next level.

The amount of internet traffic passing through Ultimate Bet is among the top 3-4 of all online poker rooms and they are as good with traditional poker gaming as they are with poker tournaments- those American players who have been worried about playing at relatively un-competitive sites can now rest assured that they can and will experience the excitement of a truly global poker room with Ultimate Bet.

The different variations of poker they offer are great and when playing at Ultimate Bet there is also the possibility of joining unprecedented high-stake games. Promotions are excellent and the fidelity programme for frequent players is second to none, as is their customer service.

More than just a few professional players can be found playing at this site, and supporters include some of the poker elite such as Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth. They have even sponsored the World Series Of Poker (WSOP) for the past seven years at the luxurious Hotel and Casino Radisson.

An excellent feature of the site is the UltimateBuddy, this allows players to search for friends, but also for weak players (known as fish- see link below for an overview of types of player and terminology).

Ultimate Bet has very few weak points and is considered by many to be one of the best sites around at the moment, providing a great atmosphere and plenty of excitement.

Types of Games at Ultimate Bet:
Ultimate Bet offers a wide variety of games, games which require fairly sound knowledge of how to play poker, including; Texas Hold'EM, Royal Hold'EM, Omaha and Omaha 8/b, 7 Card Stud, Razz, Triple Draw, Pineapple, H.O.R.S.E., H.O.S.E., and H.O.- you can also play Blackjack.

The various games cover most types of popular stakes. The majority of action takes place around the tables of Texas Hold'EM; gaming is generally more hardcore at Ultimate Bet. They offer players the possibility to place low stakes (for the less experienced players) and gigantic stakes (for the truly excellent player). Here is an outline of the various stakes and games:

Limit Hold'EM Full ring (10 players) has stakes that start very low, as low as $0.02 but which can climb all the way to $300/$600. No Limit Hold'EM at Ultimate Bet is has stakes starting as low as $0.01 rising to $100. Short Handed (6 players) for Limit Hold'EM and the No-Limit Hold'EM have slightly higher stakes. Tables fill at rush hour, and at these times gaming can be very fast paced, interesting and exciting; rush hours are every week-day evening.

Omaha Short Handed Pot Limit has slightly lower stakes than outlined above with stakes starting at $0.01 and rising to $100. The lower limit games generate the most action. Omaha Hi/Lo Full Pot Limit has the lowest stakes starting at around $1 and rising to $20. Omaha Hi/Lo Full Limit has stakes beginning at $0.10 going to $80.

Games of Limit Omaha, Full PL Omaha, HS Omaha and all Studs are not as common on Ultimate Bet, but they are beginning to really take off.

With regards to their other games, such as RAZZ, Triple Draw, Pineapple, H.O.R.S.E., H.O.S.E., H.O., action is best at rush hours. If you are seeking a change from Texas Hold'EM, then Ultimate Bet really is the first choice.

Ultimate Bet is one of the rare sites which offer Pineapple, which is a variation and a hybrid of Texas Hold'EM and Omaha, where you begin the game with three cards instead of two, which allows you to have a good hand from the start and more hands that can be played at the flop.

Ultimate Bet offers tournaments with multiple tables under the formats of Garantis, Rachat, Bounties, Turbo and Sit and Go, which together cover a large selection of buy-ins and prizes. They also offer TMT, which covers all the alternative types that they play.

Again, American players will be hard pushed to find a poker site that can offer them such a variation in terms of types of tournaments, stakes and games. The stakes for Sit and Go tournaments range from $0.50 + $0.05 and climb to a massive $5000 + $100!!

Tournaments are scheduled throughout the day. Sit and Go tournaments always fill quickly, so you never have to wait long for a game. They also offer tournaments on single tables with the number of players varying from 2 to 10. With the Sit and Go tournaments, the number of players can be as low as 18, but as high as 100 at rush hour!!

Make sure that you test their "MiniView" option, which allows you to play at several tables simultaneously!

Ultimate Bet- Bonus Schemes:
Ultimate Bet has a unique points scoring system called RAISE, which permits players to attain different levels which then unblock certain bonus features. Here is how it works:

1. You get points when playing for real money.
2. Ultimate Points are converted at a rate of $0.007 per point.
3. Players must match the minimum/maximum conversions to qualify. Room managers update these regularly.
4. The points you use are automatically debited from your account.

Ultimate Points allow you to reach three different status levels, Candidate Legend and Icon. Candidates receive 3x their points and must garner 500 points a month to reach it. They can receive a regular cash bonus and a supplementary bonus of £100 if they recruit a friend to Ultimate Bet. Lastly, they can convert their points and receive a monthly total of $50.

Legend status means that players receive 4x their number of points, and need a total of 2, 500 points per month to qualify. This status offers all the perks of Candidate plus invites to exclusive tournaments, a VIP reception, money per month of up to $250 and a reduction of 10% on all shop merchandise.

Icon status players 5x their number of points and requires a total of 10, 000 points per month to qualify. Once again, you get all the perks of Legend, with the exception that the total amount of money received per month is as much as $1000, an account with an annual interest of 9% of daily sales of more than $1000. Exclusive invitations to poker games, for example, to play with Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke, poker holidays to the big tournaments. If you can achieve this status, it is really special.

Software and Interface:
Ultimate Bets design is fresh and attractive, without being distracting; there are no disadvantages to their software and graphics. The interface is rapid and fluid, which helps maintain the action when you are in full swing.

An amazing feature with Ultimate Bet is that once you choose your table, the view pivots and gives you the perspective, at all times of being sat at the table facing out to the other players. Ultimate Bet is one of the first poker sites to incorporate this function of preferential seating.

Ultimate Bet also offer a feature whereby card suits are represented by four different colours, instead of just red or black, in order to more easily differentiate between cards.

It is also possible to resize tables, so that you can make them bigger or smaller, this allows you to fit several tables onto any sized monitor.

All in all, Ultimate Bet is one of the best poker sites around, and because it accepts American players, this just adds to its allure.

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