How To Tackle Ultimate Bet

[DesertEagle]

Hello again everyone...

My Bonus Whore tour has now led me over to UB, but I'm really struggling in the games there..

I dropped $50 last night playing from $.50-1 up to $2-4...

Even the $.50-1 games are VERY tight... It's quite a change from Party/Empire!!

I'm playing again today, and I'm hanging around about even.

I'm only seeing 20% of the the flops though... Can 20% ever be considered too high?

For those of you that have read HPFAP I'm only playing groups 1-3 in early/middle possition (I've dropped all the group 4 hands except for sometimes KQ)

I'm only cold-calling raises with group 1 hands and TT, AQs, KQs and AQ (although I'm thinking about dropping AQ)

any advice on how to tackle these games?

Oh yeah - and what do you guys think about the Kill games they offer there???

[Cosimo]

Long-term, I'm only at about .3BB/30hands at the microlimits at UltimateBet; this is after 12,000 hands, and includes a lot of learning (ie bad play). However, I've cleaned up and adjusted, and have been booking wins for the past 4-5 thousand hands. I see about 25% of the flops; the games are so loose that playing tighter doesn't pay off. The biggest hole in my game right now is being too loose after the flop, and not aggressive enough in general. So, given that three or four other people are going to want to see the flop with you, raise BTF to get them out or to build the flop (depending on your hand), fold at the flop if it doesn't hit you hard (there are caveats here as well), and be aggressive to make them pay for their draws.

-Cosimo

[DesertEagle]

you find the games on UB loose??

I'm playing $.50-1 right now, two tables, and they play WAY tighter than any other sites games at the same level... they even play tighter than Party $2-4 or $3-6!!

[MrDannimal]

Good lord! Having started at UltimateBet (I honestly don't remember how I ended up here, I suppose it was after the Aruba WPT event co-sponsored by UB and WPT), I have no idea what the other sites are like.

Simply by reading WLLHE by Jones and Sklansky's Texas Hold 'Em and trying to apply the lessons learned, I've done okay.

Just over 2000 hands at .25/.50 or .50/1 (the later sessions), and I'm up $80 on my initial $100 in 30-40 hours of play. While by no means world-beating, I'm satisfied.

I never have a problem finding a loose table. There's always (at least at .50/1 or lower) a table with 50% or more seeing the flop with an average pot of ~10 BBs. To me, that's a good mix of loose-passive.

I play fairly tight-aggressive pre flop, but one thing to keep in mind is that if the flop misses you, drop the hand. Unless you're got obvious odds, anyway. I'm not talking about dropping pocket Kings vs. a board of A-rag-rag rainbow, but the middle/lower pairs expecially need to hit a set or run (again, unless it's a case of something like 99 vs. 742 rainbow, but even then, a K or A is very bad. Worse then in a tighter higher limit game, anyway.)

Of course, as I type this I'm taking a beating. From $50 up to $65 in a flash, then beaten down to $45 by suckouts and mental lapses.

Anyway, I have two points:

- It's not hard to find a loose microlimit game on UB.
- I can't wait to try out Party, if general consensus is that UB is very tight in comparison.

Enjoy!

[Bartleby]

I have had the same problem at UB. Get lots of suck out hands. Earning the bonus is tedious at UB. I play two tables preferably 1/2 but many times can not find the right kind of table and settle for playing one 1/2 and one .50/1 table. Lately I have done fairly well by being selective about tables I play at. I don't play in kill games. At .5/1 I try to find $7 - $8 pots and 1/2 I try to find $14 to $16 pots. Within those categories, if there are too many pre flop raises, I will get out although many times I stick around longer than I should.

I look upon pre flop raises (1) you will have greater fluctuations in your bankroll and (2) You will play tighter and get the flop per centages that you are getting.

I think the perception of loose is the number of people seeing the flop. The other factor that makes the games difficult is that many of the games at UB have a high per centage of pre flop raising, which severely curtails the number of hands you play. That is frustrating if you don't hit the hands you stay in.

[kiddo]

A few months ago UB was very loose, at least at $2/4 limit. But now its tight and always the same players.

One thing to think of is that on a loose table there is almost never any chances of stealing the pot with a bet. But when its tight you got more chances to do that. Also, when a lot of people is seeing the flop, you can sometimes just call, waiting for the turn. With only a few players you must start to raise/fold, you aint got the odds to chase.

[2planka]

I play almost exclusively at UB, 2-4, 3-6, 5-10. The last couple of weeks have been rough, but I'm still up quite a bit.
The competition at UB is, IMO, the best I've seen at any site. A UB 5-10 game plays like tough 20-40 game in a B&M.

The Notes feature is useful to me at UB. You mention that you see the same players a lot. You should capitalize on this. Learn their betting tendencies... study how they play certain hands in certain positions. What percentage of flops do your opponents see? How aggressive are they?

Choose your game(s) carefully and really concentrate on it. You may consider more passive games for a while until you get used to UB. Don't give up on the site, though.

[PlayerA]

First, I came from Stars. I think UB is much easier than Stars at the micro-limits that I play.

Also, why avoid the kill games? I've noticed that there is often 1 or 2 players who think that being the killer is some sort of bonus (bless their hearts). When they win a hand, they will aggressively play some crap hand so that they can be the killer on the next hand.

[johnd192]

As a relative newbie I started UB about 3 weeks ago. I figure I am just dead lucky as I am up approx 400 bucks from the 200 I staked in at. I play 1/2 and 2/4 and I just play about an hr a night at most. I realize that my cards have been running good as I post my hands here and my play is absolutely horrible. The one thing I do at UB is try to find tables seeing alot of flops and to observe a few orbits of play before jumping in. I also leave quickly if I am up 25 to 100 bucks. After reading how tight UB is I kinda enjoy playing here as I figure its the quickest way to improve my game. There is some temptation to play party poker but I really dont like their interface as much as I like UB's. I like the easier hand history access at UB also. The one bad thing is poker tracker does not support UB (at least it doesnt mention UB on the website). Does anyone know if it works with UB?
Anyway good luck.

[JohnShaft]

John nothing works with UB due to their lack of mass retrieval of Hand Histories. As soon as they sort this out people may start to code for UB Hands. That's assuming they don't just keep it the way it's been for the last 2/3 years...

[DesertEagle]

I agree that the Kill games can be good, and I too have noticed that some people play differently when the K is in front of them...

I like the increased stakes, as it's not the $$ that I'm uncomfortable with at the higher levels, it's the quality of the players!!

[JohnShaft]

The majority of people at UB (and maybe everywhere?) play Kill games TERRIBLY. They totally overplay hands and get involved when they shouldn't.

If you don't loosen up you are in a win-win spot there. Especially if you have (or more especially hit) a hand, you can really get paid off...

[RockLobster]

[ QUOTE ]
The majority of people at UB (and maybe everywhere?) play Kill games TERRIBLY. They totally overplay hands and get involved when they shouldn't.

If you don't loosen up you are in a win-win spot there. Especially if you have (or more especially hit) a hand, you can really get paid off...

[/ QUOTE ]

Hi John--

Great post, I always enjoy reading yours. I started playing at UB a couple of weeks ago (bonus whoring, of course) and I love it. I played mostly 1/2, with some 2/4 and made out pretty well, much better than at Stars 1/2.

You guys nailed the whole advantage to kill games: people play differently. Most of us here will toss KTo UTG with the Kill button, but many otherwise sensible players at UB will play just about anything in order to get a kill. It makes no sense, but you can certainly use this to your advantage.

Take care--

[lefty rosen]

If you are folding AQ off on a raise you are simply playing too tight. Remember these players know that most of the "bad" players on this site know how to play to a point, so because of the tightness of the tables they will try and force low pockets or ace anything king anything through and try and dominate the blinds. I have witnessed this at paradise poker. If you are one beside the raiser and nobody has called the raise or if nobody called pre raise has c then it's a judgement call with ace queen off or ace jack off, but not calling these on raise is too weak in my opinion. Especially at .5/1 through 2/4. Just one man's opinion. Ps the same applies for 88,99 as these can be used as mine sweepers if the board goes brick or pairs low..........