Ultimate Bet

Hits

• Accepts U.S. players
• Mobile poker available with both play and real money
• Poker lessons from the Ultimate Bet pros
• Sponsor of many big live and online tournaments
• Supports completely automated import of tournament and ring-game data to Poker Tracker

Misses

• Very tough competition at higher levels
• Only PC-compatible software

FULL REVIEW - Ultimate Bet (7.94)

Ultimate Bet is one of the world's leading poker rooms and a real innovator in the business, with many new software features and a nice, sleek look and feel.

Expected to merge with Absolute Poker in late 2008 to form the new Cereus poker network, Ultimate Bet is set to become one of the largest poker rooms in the world. The game variation is very good and there are many ultra high-limit games and exotic game variations. Blackjack and Elimination Blackjack are now also offered as well as real-money Roshambo (Rock, Paper, Scissors).

Ultimate Bet features massive promotions and a great frequent player program. Several poker pro endorsers like Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke also can be found at the tables at all levels.

At Ultimate Bet there is usually action to be found at any poker game and at any limit. The game variety is very good with Hold'em, Omaha Hi and Hi-Lo, Seven-Card Stud Hi and Hi-Lo, Pineapple, 2-7 Triple Draw and A-5 Triple Draw. Also offered is the more unusual Royal Hold'em, where deuces through nines have been removed from the deck but the game plays as Hold'em.

No-Limit, Limit and Pot-Limit are offered in Hold'em, and Pot-Limit and Limit are offered in both Omaha variants. Heads-up tables are available in Hold'em, Omaha, Seven-Card Stud, 2-7 Triple Draw and A-5 Triple Draw.

Ultimate Bet was also the first to introduce Pineapple, a variation of Hold'em where you get three hole cards and have to discard one card after the flop. There are also certain "kill games" in which a consecutive winner of two big qualifying pots has to post a forced blind that is twice the big blind.

The Ultimate Bet software is very good and very fast. It has quite a few innovative functions, is very stable and is clearly on par with the best in the business.The functions are well-oriented and the software is updated very frequently. The graphics are crisp and clean and offer a great playing experience.

With the Absolute Poker merge, the traffic volume overall should be in the top five of the industry. Real-money player statistics as of November 2008 show 2,100 ring-game players at peak hours and 14,000 tournament players at peak hours.

Overall, Ultimate Bet offers a very stable and appealing poker experience. The software is updated very frequently to ensure safety and stability with minimum downtime as a result.