The Ultimate Bet Online Poker Championship, or UBOC, is one of the biggest online poker series in the world. It is hosted by UB, Absolute Poker, and the CEREUS Network. This season’s UBOC holds a guaranteed prize pool of $4 million. In addition to any money won, all winners receive a championship watch. Players that are lucky enough to knock a Team UB Pro out of the tournament receive $200 and a UBOC t-shirt.
One of the most prestigious of the UBOC events is the $1,000 + $50 No-Limit Hold ‘Em Heads-Up event. $147,000 was up for grabs with 147 entrants gambling for a piece of the pie. This prize pool eclipsed the $128,000 guarantee that was advertised by Cereus. The tournament was hosted by 2010 NBC National Heads-Up winner Annie Duke. She also played in the tournament but busted out 55th out of 147. For any readers who may have missed it, Duke was called out by Daniel Negreanu earlier this week when Negreanu called Duke a “fucking cunt.”
The final eight made for some exciting heads-up action. UB Poker professionals Mark Seif and Mark “Poker Ho” Kroon faced off for a shot at the semi-finals. The match ended after 124 hands when Seif’s shove with Ah9s was called by Kroon’s AcKh. The board ran out 4s3c7d5h7h and Seif was eliminated in seventh place, good for $5,145. Kroon moved on to face Joe “ENDER555” Ebanks in the semi-finals. The final hand was tough for Kroon to stomach as his set of jacks on the 7sJd9dQd board were beat by ENDER555’s king-high flush. The 2s river did not pair the board and Kroon failed to improve. He won $11,760 as the highest finisher for the UB pros (and the Team UB finisher in UBOC5 to date) as well as a t-shirt for knocking out fellow UB Pro Mark Seif.
ENDER555 advanced to the finals against THEBRIMMER. It all ended on a badly-timed bluff by ENDER555. THEBRIMMER raised to 10,555 which ENDER555 called out of position. ENDER555 checked-called THEBRIMMER’s 14,444 bet on the Kd5c3c flop. Both players checked the 6c turn and saw the Qd hit the river. ENDER555 decided to check-raise all-in with Ac7s, but was courageously called by THEBRIMMER’s KhJc. THEBRIMMER’s pair of kings won him the championship watch, and $36,690 in prize money. ENDER555 won $22,050 for his runner-up finish. The entire Elite Eight stood as follows:
1 – THEBRIMMER – $39,690
2 – Joe “ENDER555” Ebanks – $22,050
3 – SZEXIBIRS – $11,760
4 – Mark “Poker Ho” Kroon – $11,760
5 – Joshua “BBBBB33” Weizer – $5,145
6 – Joe “CHADBATISTA_” Urgo – $5,145
7 – MARK SEIF – $5,145
8 – DRIZZLE222 – $5,145