It was a big year for Absolute Poker in 2009 and an even bigger year for Danielle Burrows, our Affiliate Manager for Chipleader. At the iGB Affiliate Awards in London a couple of weeks ago, she was awarded for her hard work with Poker Affiliate Manager of the Year. What great recognition for her especially being voted and judged by her gaming peers.
The creative and brand teams are working together on the next three month ad campaign and have found a lot of great print and TV ads to get inspiration from.
Old Spice – The Man Your Man Could Smell Like
We tend to lean toward the humorous or clever commercials and print ads, since they grab the attention so well. We have a lot to say about our upcoming WSOP promotions, so be on the lookout starting next week. Woot!
Are you bored with the familiar look of our tables? Mac users can now change table skins or felt color and resize tables. Although we’ve always offered these features in our PC version, they are new to our Instant Play and Mac versions.
It’s easy to quickly tile or cascade gaming windows when playing multiple tables at the same time. Just click on any of the three icons located on the upper right-hand side of the gaming window to arrange your tables. PC users will find these icons located above the center of the table, under the Options link.
We’ll be rolling out additional features to bring our Mac software completely in line with our PC version over the coming weeks. Let us know what you think and what you would like to see.
After eleven intense days and nights, we kicked off our UBOC $1M Online Championship in true UBOC style on Sunday afternoon. For those of you who haven’t been glued to all eighteen events over the last ten days, yesterday’s finale was another barn burner brimming with cash. 1,307 players turned out to fight for $1,307,000. It didn’t matter that the game started at 4 pm ET, the final table was still going strong when the clock struck 4 again, twelve hours later.
Host Phil Hellmuth finished 314th overall and JEFFBEESDAT picked up a $500 bounty for sidelining him. Matt Vengrin was in the money with a 135th place finish worth $1307, while the face of Absolute Poker, Lacey Jones, banked $4,835.90 for 43rd.
Here’s a look at the final table:
While at the back of the pack, GSKI6986 was the first to falter. It was all downhill after he shoved pre-flop with 2c-Ad. WAWA711, his only opponent, was able to turn his A-4 pockets into a pair of fours on the flop and ended up winning with two pair over GSKI6986’s pair of sevens off the board. GSKI6986 took home $21,565.50 for ninth.
It took another forty-odd hands for the next player to fall from the fray. With walking sticks, EBSCR00GE followed DOUBLEDAVE22’s pre-flop raise by going all-in. Although EBSCR00GE grabbed another pair off the board, DOUBLEDAVE22 showed him the door after finding a partner for his pocket ace on the flop. EBSCR00GE has a lot of pennies to pinch after a $30,714.50 eighth place finish.
DOUBLEDAVE22 continued his rampage, eliminating his next victim twenty-five minutes later. Holding Qd-Ks, DAHJINERAT raised all-in to the tune of 1,057,515. DOUBLEDAVE22 called and paired his ace on the flop, as well as his eight on the turn. DAHJINERAT’s ace high didn’t stand a chance at the showdown, but he earned $43, 131 for seventh.
On the very next hand, MUCKANDLOSE shoved his final 394,407 chips holding 9d-Ks hole cards. BS0228 called with As-Qd and would have lost to MUCKANDLOSE’s king-high, except he paired his queen on the river. MUCKANDLOSE may have lost, but his respectable sixth place finish paid $56,854.50.
CEREUS Pro MICHAELBINGER followed SUPERMODL’s pre-flop raise to 2,440,000 by going all-in with pocket queens. After a 7d 7s 4c flop and 2c turn, already holding As-Kh, SUPERMODL lucked out with Ah on a river. SUPERMODL’s aces and sevens edge out MICHAELBINGER and his queens and sevens, sending him to the rail with $69,924.50 for 5th.
Down to the final four, DOUBLEDAVE22 countered WAWA711’s opening 200K raise with a 5.5M chip shove, which prompt WAWA711 to go all-in with just under 2M chips. At the showdown, WAWA711’s Ad-Js didn’t stand a chance against DOUBLEDAVE22’s pocket jacks.
WAWA711 conveniently picked up $83,648.00 for fourth.
Eight hands later, BS0228’s Kc-Qd pockets proved pointless when he threw his last 1.8M chips into the pot. SUPERMODL’s Gretzky eliminated BS0228, who broke six figures. BS0228’s third place finish was worth $ 115,016.
As far as the heads-up battle went, SUPERMODL was never able to get closer than a 7,243,528 to 5,826,472-chip gap. Even though SUPERMODL seemed more than alive on the 30th heads-up hand, luck wasn’t on his/her side. After following DOUBLEDAVE22 all-in, while holding pocket nines to DOUBLEDAVE22’s pocket fives, a five showed up on the flop.
In the absence of another nine, DOUBLEDAVE22 captured the final UBOC title, commemorative watch, and $279,044.50 in cash. Runner-up SUPERMODL won $163,244.30.
Don’t forget that we welcome all your UBOC Online Championship thoughts and comments. Share your stories right here.
I just got back from the shortest trip of my life, yet I can’t complain even a bit. I was covering the Absolute Poker College Challenge in Los Angeles and it was a great trip overall. I got there on Thursday really late at night after a six hour flight from beautiful and sunny Costa Rica to super cold and rainy LA weather. Costa Rica can be rainy too, but this time of the year is our summer, so of course I got allergies immediately and was sneezing non-stop for 3 days. Either way, I got to the hotel and began to get ready for the students to arrive the next day. I finally got a hold of all of them and got to meet them on Wednesday. We all went to a nice restaurant and got to hang out with the pros. Trishelle, Joe Sebok and Matt Vengrin were all there.
It was great to talk to them, and learn how eager these guys were to win the money and actually use it for their studies. After talking to them I wished all of them could win! The guys got to hang out with the pros and asked them for advice on the tourney the next day. I heard Matt tell one of them that the best advice you need to hear comes from within. The guy was listening so carefully. I thought it was awesome we all got to be together and to know each other before the big day.
The day of the final table we got to the Bluff Studios at 10 am. It was a rainy and gray day, but everyone was excited and anxious to start, so the weather was the least of their worries. After setting up and giving them some merchandise and gifts, the final table started live at 11am.
After a few hours Frank was eliminated. I got to talk to him about the whole experience and he said, “the experience was pretty awesome, it was wild to be living the lifestyle when you are playing low stakes, and playing freerolls to a promotion, then being brought to dinner and going out to see LA. It was definitely a treat. Things could’ve gone better, but I am pretty happy. Absolute Poker is definitely my favorite poker site.” I was happy when I heard him say that.
I got back inside and kept watching the table. They were playing pretty conservatively for a while, and then thing started to spice up. Vincent got two pairs and Bryan was out. I also got to talk to him and he said, “the experience was great, I wouldn’t trade it for anything as this is my first live tournament. I had a blast. I am a little disappointed with myself for folding the jacks, but that was a mandatory call. It was downhill from there, but overall it was a good experience and I had a lot of fun.”
After Vincent was out it only took a few minutes for the final table to end. Mike pushed Greg to go all-in and won the final table with his Ad 9h. He was really happy except that he kept telling us how much he hated pictures, but it was picture time, so all the people around the set started telling jokes to make him laugh.
Joe and Matt came out to take photos with the students and to interview Mike a little bit. He said, “I’ve been so impressed by Absolute Poker’s hospitality and all the pros, I tried to pick some good spots to chip up, and it worked for me, this has been amazing!” So after some more group photos, a picture with a big check and some others with the pros it was a wrap.
Being involved with this event was stressful, busy and crazy, but as I said before, I can’t complain. It is rewarding to have a job where you can actually get to be involved in these events and get to know great people from all over the world. It was also a slap in the face of reality, to see these kids fighting for money to go on with their schooling. All I can say is that I am really looking forward to my next live tourney.
Steph
Throngs of poker fans turned out on Wednesday night as we officially entered the second week of this year’s UBOC Online Championship. After Tuesday’s outstanding Omaha contest, our spotlight shined brightly on Texas Hold’em. In the grand Texas tradition, UBOC 14 was beyond king-sized. 511 players participated in our $300K Guaranteed No Limit Hold’em tourney, causing our prize pool to bulge out to $511,000!
SPIN31 claimed a $500 bounty for knocking out UBOC 14 host Roothlus, who finished 320th overall. AP Pro Matt Vengrin (31st overall) and CEREUS Network Pro Annie Duke (35th overall) each won $2299.50.
Here’s a glimpse of the final table:
Twenty minutes into the action, ninth seed DATNOOCAJOE was the first to fall. After chasing TAZED1SPURR’s pre-flop all-in raise, DATNOOCAJOE’s maverick hearts sent him right to the rails. His pair of nines from the board was no match for TAZED1SPURR’s two pair. DATNOOCAJOE bagged $ 9964.50 for 9th.
TAZED1SPURR struck again forty-five minutes later when he trounced BEL0WAB0VE’s ace high with pocket 5s. BEL0WAB0VE’s 8th place finish paid $14052.50.
Down to only 5,695 chips, SJMAGS lost to a JPP5039’s flush after mucking a few hands later, yet won $19,162.50 for 7th.
BEAREATBEET got beaten by JPP5039’s pair of Aces after the former raised all-in pre-flop with Jd-10h. The king he needed to make his straight didn’t arrive on the river, but he walked away with $24,272.50 for 6th.
LUVCUPCAKES’ game went permanently stale after raising all-in pre-flop with 10s- 9s. A2STEAKSAUCE’s Ace-high baked LUVCUPCAKES into oblivion with $29382.5 in cash for finishing 5th.
Holding As-Jd, RCRANE082985 raised 51,555. After TAZED1SPURR countered by raising to the tune of 922,071 before the flop, RCRANE082985 took the bait by going all-in with his remaining 471,189 chips. At the showdown, RCRANE082985’s aces were slashed by TAZED1SPURR’s two pair (kings and tens).
RCRANE082985 won a whopping $35770 for finishing fourth.
Sporting route 66, JPP5039 opened with a token 76,000 raise, which prompted TAZED1SPURR to go all-in with 1.3M chips. JPP5039 followed with his last 573,348 chips. TAZED1SPURR was able to turn his A-10 into two pair.
After ten hours of play, JPP5039 was rewarded with $52,377.50 for his stamina.
TAZED1SPURR started the heads-up match with a commanding 2 million to 500K chip lead, but A2STEAKSAUCE managed to pull to within 230,000 chips after 53 hands. In the end, TAZED1SPURR barbecued A2STEAKSAUCE with pocket rockets after everyone’s chips hit the pot before the flop.
Congratulation to TAZED1SPURR for winning our six-figure top prize of $125,195 and A2STEAKSAUCE who finished second with $76,650.
Wednesday night also featured UBOC 13, our $30K GTD Omaha 8/b and Stud 8/ b mix. 286 card fans showed up to play for $42,900. Here’s how the top 10 panned out:
1st: MOTA_L_ZORRO $11,754.60
2nd: TELOC39 $7,722.00
3rd: PEARLJAMMED $4,933.50
4th: DEBO34 $3,432.00
5th: SCHDNFRD $2,574.00
6th: AARON100000 $1,930.50
7th: AJB4 $1,501.50
8th: CLOWNFISH411 $1,072.50
9th: BRANDONMIK $643.50
10th: QJUICE14 $643.50
If you have a UBOC Online Championship tale to tell, feel free to post right into the comments section.
How can we possibly top Sunday’s cash bonanza? Did you miss our $1.59M marathon and our thunderous $300K? Either way, we’re bringing you way more poker! Our UBOC Online Championship is about to deliver another full week of explosive excitement. Our schedule is fully loaded all week long and we won’t stop until after our million-dollar UBOC championship on Sunday.
Monday night’s ticket featured two simultaneous events. 363 entrants turned out to compete for $36,300 in UBOC 9, our Limit Hold’em 6 max $30K guaranteed tourney hosted by Tiffany Michelle.
After over 6 hours, the final table was set with the following chip count:
Seat 1 – SPEAR01 (215,441 in chips)
Seat 2 – RJMGRACE (183,958 in chips)
Seat 3 – COLDFISH219 (117,920 in chips)
Seat 4 – ALLRGCTONUTS (163,556 in chips)
Seat 5 – HARVRDGENIUS (14,899 in chips)
Seat 6 – FROSTEY (30,226 in chips)
SPEAR01 who held the chip lead (and is obscured in the above picture) already won $100 for knocking out Tiffany Michelle, who finished 11th overall.
The game was largely wide open, except for HARVRDGENIUS and FROSTEY who were skating on thin ice with their nominal chip counts.
Ten minutes after the final table began RJMGRACE froze FROSTEY out with a pair of pocket 8s at the showdown. FROSTEY had gone all-in at the flop holding Qd-10c, hoping to complete an open-ended straight, but ended up earning $1815 for sixth.
HARVRDGENIUS started to stage a small comeback, but ultimately got a lesson in defeat from SPEAR01. HARVRDGENIUS raised at the open and was later forced to go all-in pre-flop after both SPEAR01 (who held pocket 7s) and RJMGRACE raised. SPEAR01 won with triple sevens, while the others mucked their cards. HARVRDGENIUS took $2450.25 for fifth place.
Down to 14,511 in chips, RJMGRACE made his gracious exit a few minutes later after raising at the open while holding Qs-4c and then going all-in to counter SPEAR01’s pre-flop raise. SPEAR01’s six to ten straight delivered the fatal blow to RJMGRACE’s pair of sixes off the board. RJMGRACE won $3085.5 for fourth.
With the chip count at ALLRGCTONUTS 306,556, SPEAR01 223,024, COLDFISH219 196,420, there was major rumblings about a deal, but ALLRGCTONUTS was thoroughly disinterested. This soon seemed like a mistake when ALLRGCTONUTS quickly dropped down to fewer than 8,000 chips. He eventually made his way back to over 300,000 at SPEAR01’s expense.
SPEAR01 ended up losing with deuces and aces to COLDFISH219’s diamond flush, after being unable to complete his full house on the river. SPEAR01 takes home $3993 for third.
Twenty-five minutes later, COLDFISH219’s reeled in the top prize defeating ALLRGCTONUTS, who raised all-in at the flop holding 7d-6s with 10s-7s-9h on the board. COLDFISH219’s pair of tens bested his pair of sevens.
COLDFISH219 won our handsome UBOC Online Championship watch and $ 9075. ALLRGCTONUTS took home $5535.75 for second place.
We mixed matters up with UBOC 10, our second game of the night. Bryan Devonshire hosted this incredible $150K Mixed Game Pot Limit Championship, which featured a rotating mix of Pot Limit Hold’em, Omaha, and Omaha-8.
After six hours of play, eight finalists emerged from the original pool of 422 players.
A solid performance by ROCKRAINES came to an end during the first final table hand. After raising all-in pre-flop with a pair of jacks, ROCKRAINES lost the PLH hand at the showdown to JOES2828’s pocket rockets, but claimed $3,150 for eighth.
TRUESALOSE took $ 4,650 for seventh after losing the very next Pot Limit Omaha hand to ALL_DAY_DHI3, who countered his aces and tens with aces and kings. JOES2828 took $ 6,150 for sixth after being forced all-in during a Pot Limit Omaha H/L game and losing with pairs of aces and fives to SAILORLOBELL’s unbeatable 5 high straight.
SCOTTYTHEFISH won $8,625 for 5th after taking KANYEKWELI’s bait pre-flop and losing with pairs of nines and two to KANYEKWELI’s tens and twos in a PLH hand.
SAILORLOBELL rang for the last time during a hand of PLO H/L when he raised all-in at the turn and lost with pairs of tens and twos to KANYEKWELI’s kings and tens. SAILORLOBELL won $11,625 for his fourth place finish.
ALL_DAY_DHI3 was forced to call it a night after a PLH hand that saw his pair of pocket tens lose to 011POKERDR pair of jacks, one of which arrived on the flop. ALL_DAY_DHI3 claimed $16,125 for third.
If 011POKERDR is starting to seem familiar, that’s because he’s a regular at our high stakes MTTs. Right now he’s the runaway leader on both our monthly and yearly MTT leaderboards. Although he’s in 3rd this week, he still has a shot at claiming the top spot of our weekly MTT leaderboard.
As far as UBOC 10 goes, in the end 011POKERDR cut a deal. KANYEKWELI won $30,000 for second, which was more than his chip count warranted, since he agreed to let 011POKERDR take the title and $34,125.
I’ve always been a huge fan of heads-up poker. It’s probably because I made my card-playing debut right out of the cradle with the preschool card room classic War. The 171 players who turned up for UBOC Online Championship Event 5 on Saturday clearly share my love of tables built for two. Our $128K Guaranteed Heads Up No Limited Hold’em tourney ended up having a total prize pool of $171,000 with 32 paid places in all.
With his respectable 8th place finish, Phil Hellmuth was the only CEREUS pro to crack the top 10. Host Eric_Baldwin finished 72nd after being knocked out by 011POKERDR, who bagged a $500 bounty bonus.
The final four saw SHIPHERD take on _ADVANCED and SOXNATION83 battled MIGUEL_PRADO. It was _ADVANCED who end up sailing into the semifinals, after defeating SHIPHERD’s pair of twos from the board with two pair (aces and twos).
SHIPHERD took 4th place with an impressive $13,680.
SOXNATION83 was hoping the river would deliver his fifth spade when he went all-in holding Qs-5s, but MIGUEL_PRADO permanently knocked his socks off with 2 pair, kings and sevens.
With king high, SOXNATION83 had to settle for 3rd place and $13,680.
In the finals, MIGUEL_PRADO and _ADVANCED were evenly matched, but the former captured a respectable 478,080 to 289,000 chip lead after about 75 quick hands. With pocket 3s and a third 3 already on the board, MIGUEL_PRADO raised all-in. Having two pair (jacks and eights) and still awaiting the river, _ADVANCED was forced all-in with his remaining 212,160 chips.
Although he failed to advance, _ADVANCED won $25,650 for second place. MIGUEL_PRADO took home $46,170 and a handsome UBOC watch to commemorate his momentous win.
****
Saturday’s $100K No Limit Hold’em Triple Chance, aka UBOC 6, also offered plenty of poker pleasure with the chance to rebuy twice within the first hour. There were 459 entries and 160 rebuys for 45 cash prizes plus a $150 bounty, which went to RJK1027 for eliminating host Brandon Cantu.
After nearly six hours, the final table was set, with DCOOP4506 holding a commanding lead.
45 minutes later it was down to the final four of PHATCHOY888, DCOOP4506, DAVIDPERKINS, and SCOTTYDOG25. DAVIDPERKINS was the first to fall when his pocket sevens were trumped by PHATCHOY888’s pair of tens at the showdown, but he banked $7k for 4th place. DCOOP4506 took home $10,250 for 3rd place after raising all-in with Kc-Js pre-flop and losing to SCOTTYDOG25’s 2 pair (aces and sixes).

SCOTTYDOG25 eventually edged PHATCHOY888, winning with aces and tens over tens and eights.
SCOTTYDOG25 claimed $24,950 and our coveted UBOC Online Championship watch for topping the tourney. PHATCHOY888 took home $15K for 2nd.
Don’t forget to come out for Sunday’s $1M Deepstack NLH 6 MAX at 4:00 pm ET. Check out our complete UBOC Online Championship schedule.
If you take a quick glance at our weekend schedule, you’ll notice that it’s bursting at the seams. Before we even get to this Sunday’s landmark $1 Million Deepstack NLH 6 MAX event, we’re hosting a $300K No Limit Hold’em tourney, a $100K NLH Triple Chance, and a $128K Heads Up tournament.
Last night we paved the way to the weekend with UBOC 4, our $30K Guaranteed Sniper No Limit Hold’em tourney. You can thank popular demand for the $72,100 prize pool. Maybe it was too hard to resist our $14,240 bounty pool. That’s right, we placed a $20 bounty on each of our 721 players’ heads. Friday was also unofficially ladies’ night with $120 bonuses for knocking out the lovely Lacey Jones or reality superstar Trishelle Cannatella.
Take a look at who made our final table:
You may remember ILUVBECKYARF who finished 11th in UBOC 3 on Thursday night. Last night ILUVBECKYARF managed to knock J_HASTENUTS out of the tourney with a full house (twos full of sevens).
THISTLE66 used 2 pair (kings and queens) to eliminate DONKIMAN, who held nines and sixes. Six hands later, JOEUGLY was knocked out when HOYAZO beat his A-A-3-3-10 with A-A-3-3-K.
HOYAZO struck again fourteen quick hands later by beating THISTLE66’s pair of Aces with two pair (Aces and Kings).
BEATDOWNCOM got beaten badly holding AQ pocket cards when SUPERPROP123 revealed his pocket Aces at the showdown.
With 7c6c pocket cards, HOYAZO was clearly hoping for a straight flush when he raised 288,000. ILUVBECKYARF went all-in and revealed pocket aces at the showdown, which ultimately eliminated HOYAZO, who could only assemble a pair of sevens using the board.
The players loosely toyed with chopping the pot, but they ended up playing it out. LOLA2425 took home $6849.50 for finishing 3rd, after losing to SUPERPROP’s full house. Those Ad-Jd pocket cards proved fruitless.
After dominating the final table, SUPERPROP sealed the deal 14 hands later when his pairs of nines and eights beat ILUVBECKYARF’s eights and threes.
SUPERPROP won $16,763 and a commemorative UBOC watch. ILUVBECKYARF won $10,274.25.
Here his how the rest of the final table fared:
4th HOYAZO $4,758.60
5th BEATDOWNCOM $3,965.50
6th THISTLE66 $3,244.50
7th JOE UGLY $2,523.50
8th DONKIMAN $1,802.50
9th J_HASTENUTS $1,261.75
PHILBORT won the $120 Lacey Bounty and DONK CRUSHER scored $120 for knocking out Trishelle.
After our spectacular UBOC Online Championship launch on Wednesday, which featured an epic eight and a half hour contest that didn’t wrap up until 5:30 a.m. ET, it’s no surprise that poker fans came out in droves last night. Hosted by DEBO34, UBOC 3 exceeded everyone’s expectations. 476 entrants turned out to compete for $142,800 in our $100K GTD 4-Max No Limit Hold’em tourney.
GARREH scored our $300 bounty for knocking out DEBO34, who finished 29th overall, from the tourney.
The novel 4-Max structure made for an intimate final table that was easily anyone’s game.
Ultimately, DONKMAGNET55 couldn’t keep up after the donkeys departed. His pocket deuces were no match for PURPLEPILS99’s Kc 2c following the KJJ flop.
DONKMAGNET55 took home $11,067 for finishing fourth.
With 3 evenly matched players standing, everyone was up for a little Monty Hall style deal making. It didn’t take long to agree on the terms. KUNKLES27, PURPLEPILS99, BRBLONDE2020 decided to chop the pot, taking $23,871 each. In accordance with the tournament rules, the players continued battling for the remaining $3K and that coveted UBOC commemorative watch.
With the pressure mostly diffused, BRBLONDE2020 was the first to falter. Those promising pocket queens weren’t pretty enough to defeat PURPLEPILS99’s KA with J8K3J on the board.
Just like even the most powerful pills, PURPLEPILS99’s potency eventually wore off. After nearly a few dozen hands KUNKLES27 polished his heads-up opponent, taking the final 361,952-chip pot with Ace High over PURPLEPILS99’s King High and grabbing that $3k bonus.
There were 52 paid places in all, but here’s how rest of the top dozen fared:
5th HIGHBURY90 $4,426.80
6th DONNIESLASKO $4,426.80
7th ARENASG $4,426.80
8th MRBURGUNDY $4,426.80
9th BIGBADBARRYX $1,856.40
10th QUEEN10OFF $1,856.40
11th ILUVBECKYARF $1,856.40
12th WHATARUNAA $1,856.40
Don’t miss all the other awesome UBOC events this weekend, including tonight’s Sniper NLH at 8:05 pm ET and Sunday’s monumental $1 million guaranteed tourney. Check out the entire schedule and register right now.
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