Money held in Ultimate Bet accounts is also eligible for reimbursement. The Garden City Group was retained as claims administrator. This is the same company that handled claims relating to Full Tilt Poker, which was also targeted in the 2011 indictments against online poker firms. Unfortunately, the latter part of Ultimate Bet’s history was marred in controversy – first with a well-publicized cheating scandal that surfaced in 2008 and then the events of Black Friday in 2011, which sunk the company and led to a complete loss of player funds.

Ultimate Bet is an outstanding poker site on the newly formed Cereus poker network. Ultimate Bet offers a massive $1,100 sign up bonus, the unique RAI$E rewards program, and excellent customer support.

USA Players Please Read - Ultimate Bet does not accept USA players. Please see our list of US online poker sites.

• Poker Room:Ultimate Bet
• Website: UltimateBet.com
• Location:Kahnawake
• Established:2001
• Bonus Size:111% up to $1100
• Bonus Code:POKERSITEORG
• Traffic:35,653 Players Online
• Mac Friendly:Yes

• Overall:8.8
• Software:9.2
• Promotions:9.8
• Games:9.3
• Tournaments:8.5
• Rewards:9.2

Video Review of Ultimate Bet Poker:

If you would like a quick look at Ultimate Bet, press play to watch the Ultimate Bet video review below. Or, you can scroll down and read our full textual review of the site.

Ready to play? Visit www.Ultimatebet.com and use referral code POKERSITEORG for your $1,100 bonus.

Ultimate Bet Overview (8.8/10.0):

UltimateBet Poker (www.UltimateBet.com) was established back in 2001 by Tokwiro Enterprises and recently merged with sister site, Absolute Poker, to form the Cereus Network - instantly becoming one of the largest online poker networks in the industry. Ultimate Bet sees a very high traffic rate, with fairly loose competition at low stakes, but much tighter in the big tournaments and high stakes cash games. They're one of the best real money poker sites.

Ultimate Bet's software is top of the line, and the site just added a new Mac program so both Windows and Macintosh players can play at the site. UltimateBet has always offered generous promotions, but since the Cereus Network merger, the online poker room has upped its welcome bonus to an outstanding 111% up to $1,100. This is a limited time offer, so get it while the getting' is good!

Ultimate Bet Software (9.2/10.0):

Ultimate Bet is powered by its own proprietary software, developed for speed, reliability and ease of use. The site just went through an extensive software update, and the new table and lobby are very user-friendly for both amateurs and experienced players. When you open the lobby, you will see tabs for Hold'em, Omaha, Stud, Mixed, Tourneys, Sit & Go, and is one of the few real money blackjack sites where you can play Tournament Blackjack. You can find a table by choosing the appropriate tab.

From there, you can filter tables based on table stakes, limits, table size, and more. The Ultimate Bet filter makes it extremely easy to quickly find the cash game, sit and go, or tournament of your choosing. Once you find a game you will be lead to the Ultimate Bet poker table, which was also redesigned recently.

The Ultimate Bet table has a very clean look, with small avatars and stack size displayed for each player. By default, all bet sizes and the pot size are always displayed at the table, which makes for easy pot and implied odds calculations. Here is a screen shot of the poker table at Ultimate Bet:

At the bottom left of the table you have the chat box, player statistics, and the note taking feature. The player action buttons (not displayed in this screen shot) are located at the bottom right of the screen.

One unique feature at Ultimate Bet is the buddy chat plug-in, allowing friends to find one another and chat without being at the same table. Excellent mini-view options and detachable windows make for easy multi-tabling, and the online poker room actually has no limit on the amount of simultaneous tables a player can play at.

Lobby stats include all of the essentials - viewed-flop percentage, average pot size and hands played per hour. Learn more about the software as well as how to download Ultimate Bet.

UltimateBet.com Promotions (9.8/10.0):

Ultimate Bet offers promotions including their $1,100 sign up bonus as well as their Seven Deuce tables.

$1,100 Ultimate Bet Bonus

Ultimate Bet offers one of the biggest poker bonuses in the business - a 111% match up to $1,100 on every player's first deposit at the site. To redeem the bonus, visit UltimateBet.com and create an account with referral code POKERSITEORG. By using our referral code you ensure that the bonus is tagged to your account.

Use Ultimate Bet Referral CodePOKERSITEORGfor the $1,100 Bonus

Ultimate Betrayal Movie

Once you deposit, the bonus money is held in a pending bonus account until you 'clear' the money. Players must earn twenty (20) Ultimate Bet status points to earn each dollar of the bonus, which is released in $5 increments. Learn how to earn Status Points by reading our Ultimate Bet referral code page (click the blue link above).

Ultimate Bet Seven Deuce Tables

Ultimate Bet offers another promotion in their new 'Seven Deuce' tables. These are special No Limit Hold'em tables, and to sit at them you have to put up a small side bet into the 'Seven Deuce' side pot. Once each player puts up the side bet, the money stays in a separate pot until someone wins a hand with 7-2. Once someone wins a hand with 7-2, the players have to repost the side bet or leave the table. For details, visit UltimateBet.com.

Besides the promotions listed above, UltimateBet is always sending members to live poker tournaments around the world like the WSOP and Aruba Poker Classic. UltimateBet calls this the UB Army, where the UltimateBet Pros and qualifying members of the online poker room join forces to tackle the biggest live events.

Ultimate Bet Poker Games (9.3/10.0):

Ultimate Bet has a full roster of online poker games available, including Texas Hold'em, Omaha Hi and Hi-Lo, Seven Card Stud Hi and Hi-Lo, Razz, H.O.R.S.E., and H.O.S.E. Games vary between Fixed Limit, No Limit, and Pot Limit, with full-table, short-handed, and heads-up action.

The most popular poker game at Ultimate Bet is easily No Limit Hold'em, where the stakes start at $0.01/$0.02 and run up to $200/$400 - however, the largest game running at the time of this writing is $50/$100. Hold'em is also offered in Pot Limit and Fixed Limit varieties.

Omaha traffic is less prevalent, as the biggest table running at the moment is a $3/$6 Pot Limit Omaha High table. Seven Stud traffic is even more limited, as the biggest game running now is a $0.50/$1 Seven Card Stud High game. Other games, including Razz and mixed poker games, see less traffic, and rarely spread games during off-peak hours.

Basically, if you are looking to play Texas Hold'em, Ultimate Bet is an outstanding choice. However, if you prefer to play Omaha, Seven Stud, or a different game, you may want to check out PokerStars or Full Tilt Poker as those sites have more player traffic for the less popular games.

The lowest stakes at Ultimate Bet have extremely loose competition at the cash tables, with the competition gradually increasing with the elevation of stakes. At the highest levels, competition becomes downright fierce.

UltimateBet.com Tournaments (8.5/10.0):

Ultimate Bet used to have a fairly conservative poker tournament schedule, but since teaming up with Absolute Poker, the site has expanded their tournament lineup to include some of the biggest poker tournaments online. Every week there are millions of dollars offered through guaranteed money poker tournaments. Some highlights of the Ultimate Bet poker tournament lineup include the following tournaments:

• Monday $75k - $530 buy-in - $75,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool - Mondays at 20:30 EST
• Wednesday $150k - $1,050 buy-in - $150,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool - Wednesdays at 20:30 EST
• Friday Sniper $25k - $130 buy-in - $25,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool with Bounties - Fridays at 21:00 EST
• Sunday $100k - $530 buy-in - $100,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool - Sundays at 14:00 EST
• Sunday $200k - $215 buy-in - $200,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool - Sundays at 16:00 EST

Besides the large tournaments, there are also plenty of smaller tournaments every day including freerolls as well as tournaments with buy-ins starting at $1. Ultimate Bet also runs sit and go's around the clock - SNGs are offered mainly in No Limit Hold'em, but also in Omaha, Seven Stud, and Mixed Game varieties. Players can play traditional full-table sit and go's as well as turbo sit and go's, heads up sit and go's, shorthanded sit and go's, and more.

Like at the ring games, lower cost tournaments are juicy and fairly easy to move up in, but the bigger tournaments are outright battles from start to finish, often including the best poker pros in the business.

UltimateBet RAI$E Rewards (9.2/10.0):

Ultimate Betrayal

Ultimate Bet offers one of the best poker rewards program in the business, titled the 'RAI$E' rewards program. The RAI$E program has five tiers starting at Member, then moving up to Player, Contender, Legend, and finally, Icon. As you move up the ladder you are privy to more benefits including interest on your player account, discounts in the UltimatePoints store, private tournament creation, and cash-for-UltimatePoints.

To move up the ladder, you have to earn a certain amount of UltimatePoints every month:

Members and Players only receive basic perks, but once you reach the upper levels you receive some real benefits like cash-for-UltimatePoints, which lets you turn in your UltimatePoints for straight cash, and a concierge service which can get you pretty much anything you want. Visit UltimateBet.com to learn more about RAI$E rewards.

Team UB

Ultimate Bet (like many other online poker sites) has signed poker pros to endorsement deals, and those pros now play exclusively at UltimateBet.com. Team UB includes pros such as Phil Hellmuth, Annie Duke, Brandon Cantu, Tiffany Michelle, and Liv Boeree. By choosing Ultimate Bet, you can play with all the members of Team UB.

Ultimate Bet Support Team

Ultimate Bet offers a FAQ page, which should answer almost all of your questions, as well as 24/7 email support. Although the email team is knowledgeable and friendly, we hope to see UB add phone support soon.

UltimateBet.com Deposit and Withdrawal Options:

Here are the deposit and withdrawal options at UltimateBet.com:

NOTE: Deposit and Withdrawal options that are italicized are USA-Friendly options.

Thank you for reading our review of the Ultimate Bet poker room. If you like what you heard, visit UltimateBet.com to create your account and start playing. Remember that Ultimate Bet offers brand new, easy to use software, an $1,100 sign up bonus, extensive player traffic at the No Limit Hold'em tables, and the world-class RAI$E rewards program.

If you decide to sign up, remember to use referral code POKERSITEORG to ensure that you receive the 111% up to $1,100 sign up bonus.

$1,100 Bonus at Ultimate Bet with Referral Code: POKERSITEORG

Cereus Poker Network was an online poker network comprising Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet. The site is now insolvent and not processing player withdrawals. Cereus is owned by a private company, Blanca Games. Blanca Games bought all Network assets in August 2010 from Tokwiro Enterprises.^[1] The Cereus network was one of the world's ten largest online pokercardrooms prior to losing the majority of its player base in the wake of the April 15, 2011 online poker indictments.^{[citation needed]}

Absolute Poker[edit]

Absolute Poker was established in 2003. It was licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission.^{[citation needed]}

2007 cheating incident[edit]

In September 2007, Absolute Poker began defending itself following accusations made by members of several Internet forums that the online poker room has a 'superuser' account which allows one player to read the hole cards of another during a game.^[2] By October, widespread Internet allegations of cheating led to the Kahnawake Gaming Commission beginning an investigation.^[3][4]

Although allegations had been made about several accounts, one of the most remarkable pieces of evidence was a complete history of a tournament which was won by a player called 'POTRIPPER'. This history was far more complete than normal; it included all hidden hole cards for all of the players at the table, and the IP addresses of players and third-party observers who were watching the game via the Internet. It was sent out, perhaps by accident, when a player complained about suspicious play. Reviewing the data, mathematician and gaming expert Michael Shackleford said:

Hand after hand POTRIPPER’s play is consistent with that of a player who had knowledge of every player’s hole cards. The majority of hands show POTRIPPER bluffing at just the right times when his opponents were weak. Yet, when he was hopelessly outmatched, even with good cards, he laid them down.^[5]

Shackleford subsequently blacklisted Absolute Poker on his gaming-related website.^[6]

On October 19, an unofficial source within Absolute Poker claimed that an employee had hacked the system to 'prove a point'.^[7] On October 21, Absolute released an official statement:

...it appears that the integrity of our poker system was compromised by a high-ranking trusted consultant employed by AP whose position gave him extraordinary access to certain security systems. As has been speculated in several online forums, this consultant devised a sophisticated scheme to manipulate internal systems to access third-party computers and accounts to view hole cards of other customers during play without their knowledge. [...] We will pay for all losses suffered by the affected players as soon as our audit is finished and the amounts are determined.^[8]

In November 2007, Absolute issued an interim statement claiming the employee cheating had taken place over a period of forty days and that the cardroom was refunding $1.6 million to affected players.^[9] The Kahnawake Gaming Commission issued its report on the incident in January 2008. Among other consequences, Absolute Poker was fined $500,000.^[10]

The Quebec provincial police opened an investigation into the ongoing matter.^[11]

UltimateBet[edit]

Founded in 2001, UltimateBet was licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission.

UltimateBet offered Texas hold 'em, Omaha high and high low, seven card stud high and high low. Mixed game tables were also offered (HO, HOSE, HORSE). Like other online poker rooms, UltimateBet also offered a .net play-money-only cardroom.

UltimateBet hosted an annual live tournament, the Aruba Poker Classic, which was a World Poker Tour event for the first four seasons of the show. In 2005, Freddy Deeb won the event, claiming the $1,000,000 prize. Prior winners were Eric Brenes in 2004, Erick Lindgren in 2003, and Juha Helppi in 2002. The tournament in 2008 was a $5,000 buy-in event with a guaranteed $1 million top prize.

The company sponsored the poker television series Poker2Nite, hosted by professional poker player Joe Sebok and radio host Scott Huff.^[12]

Spokespeople for UltimateBet have included professional poker players Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke, as well as actress-turned-poker player Tiffany Michelle.^[13]

Prior to the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, the software parent company of the cardroom, Excapsa Software was traded on the London Stock Exchange as XCP.L. In October 2006, the company announced it was selling its assets to a private company and moving to delist itself from the stock exchange.^[14] The legality of the deal was immediately questioned because most of the payment would take place after the act became law.^[15]

2005–2007 cheating scandal[edit]

UltimateBet had a cheating scandal similar in nature to that of Absolute Poker.^[16] In May 2008, the company released a statement about the scandal, claiming that cheating had taken place from March 2006 to December 2007. However, in a later statement they confirmed that the cheating had begun at the start of 2005:

We have also confirmed that the cheating dates back further than we initially believed. We can now confirm that the cheating began in January 2005, long before Tokwiro Enterprises ENRG acquired UltimateBet from the previous ownership.^[17]

The company claimed the cheating was perpetrated by employees of the former owners, Excapsa Software.^[18] According to the company, the fraudulent activity was traced to unauthorized software code that transferred hole-card information of other players to the perpetrators during play. UltimateBet stated it had removed the cheating software as of February 2008 and began issuing refunds to affected players.^[19]

On September 29, 2008, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission stated it had found clear and convincing evidence to support a conclusion that between the approximate dates of May 2004 to January 2008, Russ Hamilton was the main person responsible for, and benefiting from, multiple cheating incidents at Ultimate Bet.^[20][21]

2011 indictments[edit]

On April 15, the Department of Justice seized the .com internet addresses of the three online gambling sites, PokerStars, Full Tilt, and Absolute Poker.^[22] The Cereus Poker Network continued operating until May 12, 2012 when players reported being unable to connect to game servers using the poker client software. At the time of its closure, it owed players an estimated $50 million, mostly to residents of the United States.^[23]

Absolute Poker Claims Process[edit]

On April 10, 2017, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York issued a press release explaining that former players at Absolute Poker would be eligible to file claims to regain the funds in their balances at the defunct poker site.^[24] Money held in Ultimate Bet accounts is also eligible for reimbursement. The Garden City Group was retained as claims administrator. This is the same company that handled claims relating to Full Tilt Poker, which was also targeted in the 2011 indictments against online poker firms. After the Full Tilt Poker remissions process was completed, having returned more than $118 million to affected players, some of the money that had been set aside for it yet remained unclaimed. It is this leftover amount that will be distributed in compensation to the former customers of the Cereus Poker Network. The petition for remission deadline is set at Sept. 7, 2017 with payments to be processed shortly thereafter.^[25]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

1. ^Elaine Chaivarlis. 'Cereus Poker Network Acquired by Blanca Games'. pokernews.com.
2. ^'Absolute Poker in 'Superuser' Controversy'. bluffeurope.com.
3. ^Associated Press: Kahnawake Gaming Commission Starts Probe into AbsolutePoker.comArchived October 24, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
4. ^eGaming Review: Absolute engulfed in cheating scandal
5. ^'Absolute Poker Warning'. wizardofodds.com.
6. ^'Online Casino Blacklist'. wizardofodds.com.
7. ^''Geek' blamed for online poker cheating - Technology & science - Security - NBC News'. NBC News.
8. ^Haley Hintze. 'Absolute Poker: Consultant Cited in Latest Statement'. pokernews.com.
9. ^AllIn Magazine: Absolute Poker Issues Interim Statement On Security BreachArchived November 9, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
10. ^Kahnawake Gambling Commission: In the Matter of Absolute PokerArchived July 13, 2011, at the Wayback Machine PDF file
11. ^ABC News. 'Online Poker Players Expose Alleged Fraud'. ABC News.
12. ^Gordon, Nicole; Friedman, Michael (2009-11-19). 'Does Poker2Nite Have What it Takes to Flourish?'. PokerNews. Retrieved 2010-03-19.
13. ^Ultimatebet.com: UltimateBet's Star Players Team Turns to Hollywood for Newest RecruitArchived November 19, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
14. ^Bloomberg: Excapsa to Sell Assets, Scrap Listing on U.S. Gaming Crackdown
15. ^'Business - The Times'. timesonline.co.uk.
16. ^'Public Still Awaiting Answers in UltimateBet Cheating Scandal'. pokerworks.com.
17. ^Status Update on NioNio InvestigationArchived November 19, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
18. ^ULTIMATEBET ISSUES STATEMENT REGARDING UNFAIR PLAYArchived August 29, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
19. ^Haley Hintze. 'Online Site UltimateBet Issues Statement Regarding Unfair Play'. pokernews.com.
20. ^Haley Hintze. 'Kahnawake Gaming Commission Announces Sanctions on UltimateBet: Russ Hamilton Named'. pokernews.com.
21. ^Kahnawake Gaming Commission: Kahnawake Gaming Commission Imposes Sanctions on Ultimate Bet with Regard to Cheating IncidentsArchived October 10, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
22. ^Richtel, Matt (2011-04-15). 'U.S. Cracks Down on Online Gambling'. The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-04-17.
23. ^'Can We Discuss Absolute Poker'. Two Plus Two Publishing.
24. ^'US Attorney Announces Compensation Program for Absolute Poker Victims'. US Department of Justice.
25. ^'Absolute Poker/Ultimate Bet Claims Administration'. Garden City Group LLC.^{[permanent dead link]}