In recent days, it was announced that the 2010 installment of the UB.com Aruba Poker Classic would be scrapped in favor of a greater presence by the site at other live events. In addition, UB.com officials announced that the strategy for the current calendar year involves launching a monthly $500,000 guaranteed tournament on the CEREUS Network. Ultimately, UB.com officials want to turn the monthly spectacle into a $1 million event. Let’s take a look at what else the site has cooked up for 2010.

In 2009, a field of 475 players turned out for what may have been the final Aruba Poker Classic. PocketFives.com member Brandon AreTheseUtz Hall (pictured at left), who hails from Littlestown, Pennsylvania, pocketed a top prize of $753,000. Hall defeated poker pro Robert Mizrachi heads-up and the total prize pool topped $2 million. Hall, who sits at #97 in the PocketFives.com Online Poker Rankings, final tabled a Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) event and finished as the runner-up in the site's $100 rebuy last month for a combined $63,000.
PocketFives.com members were buzzing about the Aruba news in a thread in Poker Discussion. Maine’s mooknam lamented, “seriously tho, this was one of the most fun weeks i ever had in my life and also the first ‘major’ live tourney I played. I was going to plan to go down this year whether i sat'd in or not.” Shawn sprstoner Glines chimed in, “i hope someone picks it up, and it seems NAPT is the new tour and apparently has openings for locations... so i will still hope to get lucky.” The North American Poker Tour (NAPT) is sponsored by PokerStars.

The possible introduction of a $500,000 guaranteed monthly event is one of just several alternatives to the Aruba Poker Classic that UB.com has hinted at. The site has also announced that it will run its Ultimate Bet Online Championship (UBOC) twice per year. The series last hit the virtual felts in January with two $1 million prize pool tournaments. In fact, PocketFives.com member Dave doubledave22 D'Alesandro came out on top in the series’ Main Event for $279,000. The feature tournament carried a $1,000 buy-in and was the last of 18 events held.

In addition, UB.com will continue to qualify people in droves for World Series of Poker (WSOP) and World Poker Tour (WPT) events. Paul Leggett, COO of UB.com parent company Tokwiro Enterprises, commented in a press release, “It is with great regret that we are announcing that the Aruba event will not run this year, but 2010 is going to be an exciting year for UB and its players. Over the last year, we’ve been redefining the UB brand in every way. We love the Aruba Poker Classic event, but we think we can do a lot more for our players by investing in new events and rewards.”

The annual Aruba gathering has largely been a lucrative one for members of the online poker community. In 2007, Travis TravestyFund Rice (pictured at left) took down the UB.com Aruba Poker Classic for $800,000 after outlasting a field of 548 players. Rice defeated James Mordue heads-up in a final table that also included Absolute Poker pro Matt Plattsburgh Vengrin and Jordan Octavian_C Rich.

In 2006, Cliff JohnnyBax Josephy (pictured at right) battled heads-up with Devon Miller in the finale of the Aruba Poker Classic. Josephy banked nearly $450,000 for his efforts at a final table that also featured Alec traheho Torelli and Joe JoeSebok Sebok. Devin TranquilChaos Porter made the Aruba Poker Classic’s final table in 2005, the last year that the event was a stop on the WPT circuit.

UB.com is in the midst of qualifying players for the 2010 WSOP in Las Vegas. In a unique promotion, UB.com is offering an extra incentive for players who qualified through the site to show up. Text found on UB.com’s website explains, “Our bonus prize pool is progressive, so the more UB players in the WSOP, the more colossal the bonus will be. 75% of the prize pool will be split among all participating players and the remaining 25% will be shared among those who cash in the Main Event.” The bonus amount is on a graduated scale and caps out at $5,000 per player.

UB.com and its sister site, Absolute Poker, happily accept players from the United States. Visit UB.com today.