Published on July 23rd, 2007 5:10 pm EST
You know, there was a time where Ultimatebet was by far my favorite site. They had a good mix of tournaments that weren't so overflowing with players that it wasn't a complete crapshoot. There was usually quite a bit of high limit fixed and no limit Hold'em games going on (remember the old days with Prahlad Friedman destroying the High Limit games on Ultimatebet.) And they had arguably the best software out there. I know that I enjoyed using the Ultimatebet software the most of any poker rooms out there. The shuffle was quick and the layout was pleasing to the eye.
So what happened? Now Ultimatebet is a complete ghost-town. Rarely any high limit games of interest going on. Their tournaments hit their overlay almost every time. There are tournaments that go off that are more like single table SNG's rather than actual tournaments. Is Ultimatebet about to die an untimely death?
It sure looks that way. Ultimatebet made a series of major missteps along the way that will likely be its ultimate undoing. First off, they didn't pay enough attention to customer service. People like playing on Pokerstars because the customer service is top notch. Not the case with Ultimatebet. You can easily wait days and days just for an email to be returned, if ever.
They made the mistake of terminating the contracts of most of their major big-name sponsors, keeping only Hellmuth and Duke (because they owned a piece of the company.) They said that they ended these sponsorships due to the UIGEA, but I think that the reason was more to do with cost-cutting.
One of the biggest mistakes that the company made was messing with their tournament schedule. They had a number of tournaments that were very popular with players, and they made the fatal mistake of completely mixing up this schedule, re-arranging tournaments and taking popular tournaments off the schedule.
The company also had a major software glitch about a year ago that cost them many, many players. At the time, their site was basically down for at least a month, and many loyal players went elsewhere.
Lastly, Ultimatebet had a loyal group of recognizable players that were advocates for the site. Ultimatebet didn't treat them right and give them the support that they needed, so these loyal advocates defected, one by one. It was just too much of a headache for them to back up Ultimatebet in public, when Ultimatebet wasn't doing anything to solve their problems.
It's a shame, as Ultimatebet had tremendous potential to become the biggest poker room on the Net. Mismanagement and software problems will ultimately lead to their demise.
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Filed Under: Online Poker Rooms
You know, there was a time where Ultimatebet was by far my favorite site. They had a good mix of tournaments that weren't so overflowing with players that it wasn't a complete crapshoot. There was usually quite a bit of high limit fixed and no limit Hold'em games going on (remember the old days with Prahlad Friedman destroying the High Limit games on Ultimatebet.) And they had arguably the best software out there. I know that I enjoyed using the Ultimatebet software the most of any poker rooms out there. The shuffle was quick and the layout was pleasing to the eye. So what happened? Now Ultimatebet is a complete ghost-town. Rarely any high limit games of interest going on. Their tournaments hit their overlay almost every time. There are tournaments that go off that are more like single table SNG's rather than actual tournaments. Is Ultimatebet about to die an untimely death?
It sure looks that way. Ultimatebet made a series of major missteps along the way that will likely be its ultimate undoing. First off, they didn't pay enough attention to customer service. People like playing on Pokerstars because the customer service is top notch. Not the case with Ultimatebet. You can easily wait days and days just for an email to be returned, if ever.
They made the mistake of terminating the contracts of most of their major big-name sponsors, keeping only Hellmuth and Duke (because they owned a piece of the company.) They said that they ended these sponsorships due to the UIGEA, but I think that the reason was more to do with cost-cutting.
One of the biggest mistakes that the company made was messing with their tournament schedule. They had a number of tournaments that were very popular with players, and they made the fatal mistake of completely mixing up this schedule, re-arranging tournaments and taking popular tournaments off the schedule.
The company also had a major software glitch about a year ago that cost them many, many players. At the time, their site was basically down for at least a month, and many loyal players went elsewhere.
Lastly, Ultimatebet had a loyal group of recognizable players that were advocates for the site. Ultimatebet didn't treat them right and give them the support that they needed, so these loyal advocates defected, one by one. It was just too much of a headache for them to back up Ultimatebet in public, when Ultimatebet wasn't doing anything to solve their problems.
It's a shame, as Ultimatebet had tremendous potential to become the biggest poker room on the Net. Mismanagement and software problems will ultimately lead to their demise.
--
Filed Under: Online Poker Rooms
