Ultimate Bet Review

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Name Ultimate Bet Country Costa Rica Network CEREUS Established 1999 Support email support Telephone N/A

Overall Rating 5.90 Software/Interface 6.9 Ring Games 6.4 Tournaments 6.4 Game Variety 6.8 Soft Competition 5.4 Signup Bonus 5.4 Frequent Player 5.5 Promotions 5.3 Customer Support 5.6 Deposit & Cashout 6.5

At the time of this review, the Cereus Network is the sixth most trafficked network or poker room on the internet for cash games and the third most trafficked of those that accept U.S. customers.

The game variety is good, offering players everything from No-Limit Hold’em to Fixed-Limit H.O.R.S.E. and H.O.S.E., with stakes ranging from the micro ($0.01/$0.02) to the massive ($500/$1,000).  UB typically has excellent promotions, highlighted by annual satellites and contests for seats at the Aruba Poker Classic and its RAI$E loyalty program. Several top poker professionals including Annie Duke, Phil Hellmuth, and Joe Sebok endorse UB and will occasionally participate in publicly listed ring games.

Like Absolute Poker, UB did get rocked by a cheating scandal.  From 2005 through 2007, a handful of rogue employees inserted unauthorized code into UB's poker system, along them to see players' hole cards.  This information was used to cheat UB customers out of millions.  All of this was done under a different watch than the current UB ownership and management and according to UB, the cheating code was removed in February 2008.  UB has made those affected whole, has published a list of the guilty parties' user names, and has taken the appropriate steps to make its poker room ultra-secure.  It is understandable that some players do not want to play at UB because of its past, but it does appear that its new ownership wants to make UB the safest online poker room in the industry.

UB offers a standard, yet wide enough selection of skill games; Texas Hold’em, Omaha and Omaha H/L, 7 Card Stud , 7 Card Stud H/L, Razz, H.O.R.S.E., and H.O.S.E., all in addition to both tournament and ring game Blackjack. UB used to have unique games such as Pineapple and Royal Hold'em, but these were dropped because of lack of interest by customers. The stakes are as varied as the games, ranging from $0.01/$0.02 to $500/$1,000 although the mid-level Texas Hold’em and Omaha tables are where you will find most of the action ($.25/$.50 to $2/$4). The games at UB in general are not as soft as some other sites, with many very aggressive long time poker players.  Many grinders have left UB because of the cheating scandal, but some have actually returned because they believe that the only people who will play there are fish who don't know about the cheating that went on.  Here is a brief approximation of the different levels of player traffic and style generally typified by players at the different stake levels:

Full ring (10-seat) Limit Hold’em is just average with the stakes starting at micro levels of $0.02/$0.04 and going up to the big game at $500/$1,000. UB's No-Limit Hold’em is also average with stakes covering $0.01/$0.02 up to $200/$400. Short Handed (6-seat) for Limit Hold’em and No-Limit Hold’em is slightly above average. The tables moderately fill up at the peak hours (PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker have much more activity, but UB should be adequate for most players) and the action is good. Lots of calling stations and all-in maniacs at micro stakes plus generally aggressive players at $1/$2 make tight play very valuable.

Short Handed Pot-Limit Omaha is slightly below average with the stakes ranging from $0.01/$0.02 up to $500/$1,000. The lower limits get the majority of the action. Full Ring Limit Omaha H/L is average and the stakes start at $0.02/$0.04 up to $300/$600. Full Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo is weak, you would be hard pressed to find a game above $1/$2. Stakes do go up to $500/$1,000, though. UB's games of Limit Omaha, Full Pot-Limit Omaha, Short Handed Omaha H/L, Short Handed Pot-Limit Omaha H/L, and all Stud are picking up but still scarce especially off peak times. Most UB players are Americans, so Omaha and Stud are not as familiar as Texas Hold’em to most UB players. Consequently, you are going to find over active Omaha Hi/Lo tables and underactive Stud ones.

As for the other games such as Razz, H.O.R.S.E., and H.O.S.E., the action is limited outside of peak hours and even during peak hours, it can be tough to find the right game. However, if you are looking for something different or a change of pace from Texas Hold’em, they are definitely worth a look.
UB offers a range of Multi-Table tournaments in different formats including Guaranteed prize pool MTT's, re-buy and add-on MTT's, Bounties, Turbos and Sit-and-Go's (both single and multi-table).

Especially with the Cereus formation, the site is large enough to support a pretty extensive line-up. Tournaments start at a regular basis throughout the day and Sit-and-Go’s do fill up quickly so there is not much wait. UB offers 2, 6, 8, and 9 seat single table Sit-and-Go's. As for their multi-table Sit-and-Go's, they range from 18 seats up to 180 seats. The selection is quite good at any time of day.

UB's software is very stable with minimal glitches. Players rarely suffer disconnects which is as important as anything to successful online players. The dealer action is smooth and quick with the table cards clear and easy to read.

The default poker room graphics at UB have been improved with the rebranding.  There are two table views: top view and classic view.  In top view, the table is a clean, black oval with the slick UB logo in the middle in gold.  Empty seats are shown as circles that look like the tops of bar stools with the phrase "SEAT OPEN" on them.  Occupied seats either have a player's personalized avatar or the UB logo.  The classic view tilts the table away from you slightly and adds pictures of actual chairs.  Avatars are not used in this view – only player names are shown at each seat.  UB also gives the option of changing the look of the classic view by selected one of a few "skins."  The default, black skin is the cleanest and least distracting.

The player’s default seat position is always at the center bottom of the table, so you don’t have to search for your name when you sit at a table. You can, however, choose a favorite seat position anywhere else at the table.  Players can choose different room themes and adjust sound effects to suit their preferences. Also, players can hide the Blackjack button which is displayed in the card room and lobby if it is just too tempting. Players can choose a four color deck and the current pot size can be displayed if you select that in the ‘Options’ tab. The player's stacks and bets are easily visible and overall the action can be followed with minimal effort.

Of particular note is the terrific ‘player stats’ display that UB supports; it has all the info that you want to see sorted in such a way that a quick glance is all that is necessary to claim the desired info... flop, turn, river percentages, elapsed time at the table, etc. Tables can be resized, so multi-tablers will be able to fit several on the screen simultaneously.  UB no longer has the unique horizontal "mini view" that many players loved.  UB also supports all of the now standard online gaming tools: instant hand histories, player chat and the aforementioned statistic tracker.

The main lobby at UB is very clear and easy to navigate. It has minimal banners and pop-ups. The tab filters are well designed and players can find the games they are looking for fairly quickly. The tournament lobby can be sorted by date (for scheduled multi-table tournaments), tourney name, game type, buy-in, state (registering, late registration, running, or completed), and the number of players enrolled.  The UB cash game lobby displays all the important game information: average pot size, players per flop percentage and hands per hour for each table.  Each game type tab has sub-tubs to further narrow down the game types, such as No-Limit/Pot-Limit and Fixed Limit under the Hold'em Tab and Omaha and Omaha H/L under the Omaha tab.  The lobbies for all games can be filtered, as well, so that you only see the specific tables that you are interested in.

The one problem with the lobby is that it refreshes every few seconds, rather than the individual table listings refreshing.  The result of this is that oftentimes you will be reading the information about a table, only to have it jump up or down the table list upon refresh.  All of a sudden, you are staring at another table's details and you have to go hunt down the one you were originally examining.

UB has frequent reload bonuses, sometimes more than once per week.  They typically range from 50% to 100% for $150 to $650 max. Bonuses are stackable and are released in $5 increments, but do expire in 60 days.  While bonuses are aplenty, they are very difficult to clear at low stakes.

The loyalty program at UB is called RAI$E and offers players the opportunity to earn various perks the more they play. As you play real money games, you earn Status points for playing in raked hands (Status points earning rates vary based on stakes).  At certain Status point milestones, you move up the RAI$E ladder to unlock more benefits.  At the same time Status points are earned, so are UltimatePoints, which can be redeemed for cash, tournament entries, and goodies in the UB store.

Thawte Secure provides SSL certificates for UB and Aristotle provides identity and age verification services for their cashier security program. UB is licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, one of the world’s leading online gaming regulatory commissions.

Of course, the top story in UB security is the recent super-user scandal.  UB has worked hard to be sure all of it systems are secure and nothing like that will ever happen again.  iTech Labs and eCOGRA have both certified UB's advanced shuffling algorithm, SSLv3/TLSv1 encryption algorithms are used to protect information flowing back and forth between players and UB, and a combination of automated systems and human analysis are used to detect cheaters, multi-accounters, and bot users.

The e-mail support at UB is good. The response times are usually pretty solid - within an hour or so - and the replies are accurate and helpful. They do not offer live chat or phone support which is not good for a major site. There is live online chat, though, for cashier issues.