Ultimate Bet Review

Summary:
This is our Ultimate Bet review summary. One of the longest established poker sites and still open to US players, Ultimate Bet offer great game-play and a huge selection of cash games, tournaments and sit and goes.

Ultimate Bet Player Base

Ultimate Bet are one of the larger online poker rooms and regularly have more than 20,000 players online. Open to the US and with a growing player base from other geographies, Ultimate Bet maintain their base through numerous off-line marketing efforts. 

The players at this site tend to be more recreational – playing lower to middle stakes and ‘gambling’ often. This means there are a proportionally higher number of players at the lower stakes, though both high stakes and micro-stakes tables are also available.

Ultimate Bet Software Client

The software at Ultimate Bet is industry leading. They have become synonymous with the beachfront ‘side-on’ table view and their game-play and lobby are fast and user friendly.

The lobby itself can seem a little cluttered on first view due partially to the inclusion of casino and other games in the left hand side main menu. Clicking the ‘Poker’ tab at the top of this list will display a menu divided into ‘Games’ (for cash games) ‘Scheduled Tournaments’ and ‘SNG Tournaments’. From here you can drill down by game type, while you can reverse the lists by blind levels and stakes (for example) there are no additional filters available which can make finding a table a long process. Statistics are available showing percent of players to each flop and average pot size.

Tables are where Ultimate Bet excel – both in the look and the fast game play. Action buttons are a little small but easy to get used to and simple buttons give you access to statistics and hand history data. A recent update means that the tables can now be resized to suit your preferences. One feature that other poker rooms do not have is the ‘fold and show’ button at Ultimate Bet, allowing you to show the table the hand you have folded in order to set up profitable situations later.

Ultimate Bet Cash Game Selection

There are a wide number of game types and betting limits available at Ultimate Bet. As with all online sites No-Limit Texas Holdem is the most popular game by a wide margin. Fixed and Pot-Limit Holdem, Omaha, Stud, Triple Draw, Mixed Games and even Crazy Pineapple are available, including hi-lo variations where applicable.

Betting limits for No-Limit Holdem games start at just 1c / 2c (40c minimum buy-in) and go all the way up to $50 / $100. The most popular games are those between 10c / 25c and $1 / $2 blinds. As the levels increase the proportion of 6 player tables becomes higher, at $2 / $4 and above there are many 6-max tables but relatively few full ring games.

Fixed Limit games also start with low betting levels, the lowest of all having a matching 1c / 1c structure. For high-rollers there are fixed limit games all the way up to $150 / $300 with the low to medium limit games being the most popular at this site.

Ultimate Bet run a ‘Bad Beat Jackpot’ which can reach several hundred thousand dollars. Lose with quad 8’s or better as a designated (higher rake) table to qualify for this.

Ultimate Bet PokerTournament Selection

The selection of both multi-table and sit n go tournaments is an area of strength for Ultimate Bet. Tournaments run in a wide variety of game types – with a bias towards the most popular games such as No-Limit Holdem. There are satellites, re-buys and ‘bounty’ tournaments running as well as many guaranteed prize pools.

The showcase Sunday tournament at Ultimate Bet is the $200k Guaranteed. This is a $200+$15 entry tournament and features the chance to win your buy-in back if you knock out one of the Ultimate Bet pros. Satellites run throughout the week awarding tickets – these can be bought into for as little as $5.

In addition to their full tournament schedule this site run many special promotional tournaments. These include qualifiers to televised events and feature some imaginative names such as ‘The Best Damn Poker Tournament’ and ‘The Heads-Up Smackdown’. Ultimate bet also run a tournament leader board which rewards their high volume players with cash prizes.

Sit and Go tournaments come in every format you could think of and a great variety of game types and buy-in levels. There are Multi-Table, 10 and 6 player tables and heads-up sit and goes running around the clock. In addition to Texas Holdem games there are Omaha and Stud tournaments including Hi-Lo variations and fixed / pot limit betting structures. Standard, Turbo or ‘Ultra Turbo’ blinds structures can be chosen. The buy-in levels for sit and goes start at just 50c+5c and go all the way up to $5000+$100, the most popular tables being in the $2 to $30 range.

Ultimate Bet Bonuses And Promotions

Ultimate Bet are currently offering a huge 111% sign-up bonus for new players up to $1,100. This does clear relatively slowly – requiring you to collect 10 ‘Ultimate Points’ for each $1 in bonus money. Points are awarded for tournament fees and raked hands at cash game tables, you will also be awarded an extra point for each hour spent at the tables. The points can later be used in several ways, for freeroll entries, goods from the Ultimate Bet store and on some occasions exchanged directly for cash.

There are numerous additional promotions running at any one time at Ultimate Bet. These include a bad beat jackpot, ‘players choice’ WPT qualifiers and other special events such as the million dollar Ultimate Bet Online Championship. Check out their website for the latest promotional offers.

Ultimate Bet Customer Service

Ultimate Bet offer customer service via e-mail or a form on their website. This is available in Swedish and German in addition to English. While enquiries are answered fairly quickly and accurately it has been suggested that this form of customer service is a little impersonal compared to some other poker sites.

Ultimate Bet Banking

The information on making a deposit is prominent on the Ultimate Bet website. This gives instructions to create an account and then how to access the cashier – along with a detailed list of the payment options available. There is a wide selection of different methods including: Visa, Mastercard, ePassporte (via FPS), Click2pay, ClickandBuy, UKash, Bankers Draft / Cashier Checks, Bank Wire, PaySafeCard, Moneybookers, UK Debit Cards and Neteller.

Conclusion / Final Thoughts

An excellent choice for both cash game and (especially) tournament players. The most surprising aspect of this site is why their player base is not larger  when compared to other longer-established sites. If you are looking for loose opponents, great game-play and a large number of bonuses and promotions then check out Ultimate Bet today.