You guys have all been asking for more east coast friendly larger buy-in tournaments. Well...UB is listening and has just added a 7:40 PM 100+9 event every night Monday through Friday. It starts tonight.

Please come play and show AB they were right to add these tournaments and listen to everyone on this board! They are really playing attention to you guys and let's reward them for it :-)

Cheers!
Annie

Thanks for the kind words Klslcz

Shawn Rice

Are blind levels 15mn? BTW...thanks for the earlier time!

"Why are the starting chips 1500 to start?"

I was surprised by that, too. My guess is that it makes it even MORE east coast friendly? Because then the tournament will end even sooner? It's 12 minute blinds, by the way, also. But I'm guessing the earlier start time is good enough for most players, and they'd rather have 2,500 chips and 15 minute blinds. It might have just been a mistake, though, with this first earlier tourney. It went way past the guarantee, so it's pretty popular to start off with.

Annie,

I am sure that some in UB upper management feel that I have been unfairly critical of UB, but nothing could be further from the truth. Effective management dictates that you address problematic issues and find successful solutions to problems. This just wasn't happening at UB. My recent posts have been spot on, and the only people offended by it would have been the same people who wished to continue with the same recipe for disaster... The definition of insanity is to expect different results even though you continue to repeatedly do the same thing... I was the staunchest supporter of UB through thick and thin, and begged for patience from those who would have abandoned UB when it was making DISASTROUS decisions. My posts were designed to hopefully get attention from SOMEONE in UB management who would understand that so many of the UB faithful were flocking elsewhere because of disgust with the state of the union at UB.

Believe it or not, every comment I have ever made about UB was in the hopes that it would get better. As one of the staunchest public supporters of UB , I believe I earned the right to be one of it's critics when it continously let down its players, and did so in a fashion that was just so grossly incompetent.

I will not rehash all of the many fiascos that have taken place in recent history at UB...I am not trying to beat a dead horse. BUT MORE IS NEEDED AT UB, THERE IS NO QUICK FIX.

It is fantastic that you personally are taking the time to frequent the forums to get feedback from the players. The reality is your time is certainly monopolized, so I would hope UB dedicates key personell to DAILY monitor and provide feedback to upper management any information that is pertinent to UB staying AHEAD of the market or at the very least staying IN TOUCH with it....

A couple of Arubas ago I sat down with Scottie Fishman, Shawn, and Beanie and we discussed at length what we thought a successful tournament format for UB would be... we spent a lot of time discussing times, buy ins, and what we all felt were the MOST SUCCESSFUL tournaments at other sites, so that UB could hopefully emulate them. As was the par for the course at the time, UB tried to incorporate it, but immediately abandoned it even though it was wildly successful.. the reason given was that UB felt that it would be better served to try and attract CASH GAME PLAYERS, as the rake was more profitable to UB. Now, several years later, the sites that are the most successful are using almost identical tournament formats that we had suggested to UB previously. Those same sites have gained huge market share, and of course by proxy many of those same tournament players are now cash game players at OTHER SITES.

So, I say this to you.... Whatever UB does... stick with it. This is the umpteenth time that we are climbing on the UB train, and the players need some common sense marketing and management decisions to make the site a premier site once again. Knee Jerk reactions, short term plans that do not allow for the market to respond are growth killers for UB. It needs a comprehensive plan, and it needs to give it time to become successful. UB has to continue to seek feedback from its most important resource, THE PLAYERS.

The recent climate at UB is wonderful, and that is a breath of fresh air. There is just so much more work that is necessary to be done by UB to become a great site again. I pray UB really finds out what mechanisms for success are needed, and that the right people are empowered to incorporate these changes.

Sincerely,

Chris Savage

I won! This new tournament is great! hehe

I was among those very disappointed by the poker share debacle. Ultimately, I decided to join UB, and am extremely happy with the changes. Great to see another site listening to the players, and major props on the blinds structure of the tourneys.

Ari, BodogAri, James Taylor

I SPEAK FOR THE ENTIRE EAST COAST WHEN I SAY.....

YIPPPEEEEE MY IMSOMNIA MAY GO AWAY !!!

THNKX!!!

If i can remember correctly, i when i downloaded and installed UB a little over a year ago, it asked if i was 21 or not. Of course, being 18 i said that i was and opened an account anyway. I played a few freerolls overtime, but never deposited real money. Is UB a strictly 21+ site? or am i free to deposit and play at 19? Just curious. Seems like the site is improving, and i am intrested!

Nick

Honest to goodness someone must be playing on legggggggy's account because something happened with that furry man-bear that is hard to explain.

Leggggggy don't worry about repsonding no one will understand what you post anyway.

I think its knuckle head thats been playing for Legggggy, KH had not been around lately

amen to that legggggggggy.. oh and thanks for knocking me out of the first east coast friendly 100 tourney... appreciate that.

The ideal MTT start time is between 8:30 and 9:30 pm ET. Why? Because at 7:40 pm, I am getting my shorties ready for bed, tucking in, reading stories and such like. UB needs to accommodate and be sensitive to the specific needs of the East Coast Part Time Player With a Day Job and Three Kids ("ECPTPWDJTK"s).

Market research shows that a solid 0.323% of all UB players are ECPTPWDJTKs, and we demand that our voices be heard.

Obviously I am kidding but I hope that the advent of the 7:40 will not mean that the "normal" $100 MTT will get pushed back to 10 or 11 more often as that start time is a non-starter for me and other day job players.

Thanks Shawn, and thank you, Annie. Big fan. Congrats on that university in Durham they named after you.

Steely (NestOfSalt on UB)

Shawn/Annie

I am one of those who began my online poker play with UB about three years ago. Much like brsavage, I have a special liking for UB due the home game feel it brings and the commarodity it seems to generate, unlike some other sites.

I am very pleased to see UB offering new events and making, what I consider long over due and neccessary changes to compete in the market of online poker sites.

I have several emails saved that I sent UB over the last couple of years requesting many changes and/or offering up ideas of events that i felt would generate more business for them and increase the prize pools for many of their events. Not that anything I sent in ever made it past the customer service rep who responded to my email, BUT, over the last 2-3 months I have seen some of these things implemented in one form or another. AGAIN, before anyone flames me, I don't think my email caused this to happen.........I am just saying there were many obvious things that could be done and have now been implemented.

I posted on P5's, about 4-5 weeks ago, about the positive changes i have seen from UB lately and the effort they are putting forth to retain their current customer base and attract new people. I am glad to see other people, especially of your calibur, recognizing them publically, in forums such as this, and hope some of the "haters" from before will give the site another chance.