Trip Report.......My first day at Ultimate Bet

[RollaJ]

I signed up at UB 2 days ago because I have heard good things, and they had a deposit bonus.
Well, I went on yesterday to play for the first time and could not have had a worse experience (well maybe). I tried playing some NLHE, and some PLHE. The user interface for NL/PL is just plain stupid, I doubt any of their big name players have ever ventured into the NL games. If you want to raise more than the minimum, which is usually the case in NL/PL you must first click on a nutton which then brings up a "slider" and then you set your bet amount, then bet. Thats just dumb, and it makes the games take so long. On top of that there is no flashing light or audible alert when it is your turn...... this also slows down the games. Finally, the servers are sooooo slowwwwww that if you are lucky you get 35 hands an hour, especially when factoring in the other aspects.
I highly doubt I will continue playing there as I just dont have the time to do all that waiting. Even when considering the deposit bonus I still lose money over party or paradise because i get 40% less hands per hour.
Also the "points" add up so slowly that it seems it would take me like 2 months to earn the bonus, unless I play 5-10 limit which is possible except that the site is soooooo slowwwwwwww /forums/images/icons/frown.gif

Annie, you there?....... fix your ****ing site!

[RiverMel]

Dude, what are you talking about? The bet slider is always visible..no clicking necessary to bring it up..

[RollaJ]

Maybe I didnt have it set up right( I said it was my first time there), but I was in the room at UB, and the choices were bet/raise minimum, or bet other. If you click bet other, a slider popped up and you chose how much to bet. Have you played NL cash games, or are you talking about tourneys? Has it been this slow the past 2 weeks?

[Jim Easton]

I don't like the P/NL interface, either (I've only used it in tournaments). Maybe that is why the games were so slow, because their limit games move pretty fast.

[RiverMel]

Actually, it could just be that I'm so used to clicking "Bet other" and it's become such second nature that I completely forgot that I ever have to do that.. anyway, maybe that says something about the interface; it could be that it's awkward at first and then quickly becomes second nature. I can't remember ever feeling it was less efficient than any other site's big bet interface.

[Miah]

I just signed up this morning and I've only played some limit so far. There are some features I really like, the mini view is cool, I like how you can fold and show in certain situations.

My big gripe so far is that it is going to take a while to satisfy my bonus requirements. Besides that I don't think its that bad of a site. The games aren't too bad and this is a weekday AM, I bet they're much better in the evening.

[Homer]

What is this bonus you guys are talking about? I made a deposit last week and didn't get a bonus. Are you referring to the new player bonus?

-- Homer

[Miah]

They're giving a 20% bonus (100 max) to new members between April 15th-30th. You get the money in bonus dollars and it amortizes into your account through their ultimate points system. 10 points=1 bonus dollar.

They have an unorthodox style of issuing points which I am not completely familiar with yet, but for about an hour of playing I received 45.45 points. I have about 1200 more to go to get the remaining bonus money in my account.

[RollaJ]

Homer, this was an initial buy in deposit......


One funny note on the fold and show from last night....
I was playing NLHE, I was in the big blind and got a free play with Q-4 off suit..... flop is 4-5-7 2 hearts, I check and call $1, turn is 6 clubs, I check-call $1.... River 10 /forums/images/icons/heart.gif I bet out $10, person folds and shows 3 /forums/images/icons/club.gif 5 /forums/images/icons/spade.gif for the straight. I of course then showed my pair of 4s.......LOL /forums/images/icons/tongue.gif /forums/images/icons/grin.gif /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif /forums/images/icons/shocked.gif /forums/images/icons/smile.gif /forums/images/icons/cool.gif

[Homer]

I've earned somewhere between 1500-2000 points (can't remember exactly off-hand) since I started playing there last week.

I don't know how the point system works either, but FYI:

I usually play two tables of 2-4 HE at a time and seem to earn about 100-150 pts/hr (50-75 pts/table). Sometimes I'll play in the 4-8 game with 1-2 blinds (a great game at times, btw) and earn about 100-125 pts/hr.

This seems to be an okay deal, as you need 1000 points to get the $100 bonus, which amounts to 13-20 hrs of play at 2/4, or 780-1200 hands (assuming 60 hands/hr). If 75% of hands are raked (this is a guess), then you need 585-900 raked hands to get the bonus. This is not as good a deal as the one at Party, as there you need only 500 raked hands to get the bonus. Also, the Party deal becomes increasingly better relative to the UB deal as the limit you play decreases and the UB deal becomes increasingly better as the limit increases.

No one asked for this info, but I'm kind of thinking out loud for the hell of it.

-- Homer

[beernutz]

Interesting strategy. You must have one hella read on this player.

[Homer]

Players there seem to enjoy showing their folded hands. I love getting the free valuable information. Last night there was a guy who limped preflop with KQs and folded to a bet from BB, heads-up, on a flop of AQx rainbow. Player notes - "I am weak-tight. Steal from me".

-- Homer

[zooey]

I like the site, its a little slow, but I LOVE the mini-view (shows the "table" as a thin long box of names, 3" by 10" on my moniter) . When I want some low stress poker fun, I just stack three 1-2 tables on the left side of my screen, cascade 3 1-2 party tables from top center to bottom right, and play whack a mole folding until I'm tired enough to sleep.

And I think the bonus requirements are reasonable. at 10 pts/$ I cleared about $5-6/hr per table, shouldn't take that much play to pick up your $100.

Best,

Zooey

[Jim Easton]

First 2 players at a table get double the points they earn at the table, next 2 get a 50% bonus.

[RollaJ]

Oops, guess I didnt read it right, I thought it was 100 points per dollar released...... I guess if thats the case Ill give them another chance or so.
Has everyone else been experiencing the same slow server recently or was it just last night for some reason?

[RiverMel]

Last night in particular and the last few weeks in general have been really bad. UB is usually lightning fast, I guess even with their upgraded server it is still struggling..

[RollaJ]

Im there now playing, its mch better than yesterday, but we'll see how it is at about 8pm est

[tdiddy]

I just type in the amount i want to bet and hit enter. That's pretty simple right? Perhaps you need a computer tutor?

[RollaJ]

Perhaps you need a boot up your ass??? Go play the site before you tell me there is no bet other button to hit first

[tdiddy]

don't tilt /forums/images/icons/tongue.gif

[RollaJ]

I had very few server lag problems tonight, 453 points down.......Games were very good today, lot of action, altho some are saying that about me as I gave back almost half my win....... /forums/images/icons/frown.gif (ended up netting $130 in 3 hours of 2-4/3-6 /forums/images/icons/grin.gif )

[crazy canuck]

I think Rollaj is right, the big bet games suck. Even worse are the no-limit/pot-limit tournaments. I hate to look for standings and then I have to refresh the site...then open another window to check the price structure....OK well my computer sucks and opening a new window might freeze the screen when I'm running more than one site, but it still sucks. My suggestion for UB: do it like Stars.

However, the limit games were much jucier since the last time I played there, and I love the new backgrounds...very nice!

[Hung]

Hey Rollaj,

I think we've played several times on the same table.

And Crazy Cannuck. Last time I asked you if you were from 2+2 and you denied. You said it was another crazy cannuck.

[beernutz]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
You said it was another crazy cannuck.

[/ QUOTE ]
They all look alike.

[RollaJ]

Hung, we very well may have played together, but I didnt really pay attention to the NL game I was in. I was playing short handed 2-4/3-6 and had to pay a lot more attention to that since it was short handed and everyone was playing very quickly, and playing their hands VERY fast /forums/images/icons/grin.gif