By
Dan |
Published
Oct 30 2009, 03:52 PM
This week, Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker introduced synchronized breaks, which have become the industry norm across rival sites like Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars. Similar to their competitors, the two CEREUS Network rooms will hold synchronized breaks at 55 minutes past the hour, giving players five minutes to grab a snack, use the restroom, or make a phone call. The news has created a buzz here on PocketFives.com, as several members of the online poker community have weighed in.
Synchronized breaks will not be held in tournaments that are open for late registration, tournaments in the first blind level, turbo and ultra turbo events in the first two blind levels, and multi-table sit and gos. There will also be a three-minute break at the end of the rebuy period to allow for add-ons to occur. PocketFives.com member Susie SusieQue Moneck, who broke the news to the online poker community, commented, “Great to see this made it to the site!”
Ultimate Bet sponsored pro Billy
Patrolman35 Kopp (pictured at left), who is fresh off a 12th place showing in the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, told PocketFives.com, "I am thrilled that Ultimate Bet has implemented synchronized breaks to better the player experience. As a high volume multi-table tournament player, this feature is and has been crucial since its onset in the online poker world. Being able to have a break every hour while playing on multiple poker sites is amazing and finally a reality.”
The online poker site also changed its
raise logic. Now, the button to raise is labeled “Raise To” and makes increasing the price of poker a fairly simple task. Ultimate Bet’s software update log explains the significance of the new “Raise To” button: “Players can now raise to a desired amount without having to add their initial bet, which is already on the table. Raising is as easy as entering the amount you wish to raise to and clicking the ‘Raise To’ button. This is in line with industry standards.”
PocketFives.com member Matt
Plattsburgh Vengrin (pictured at right), a sponsored pro of Ultimate Bet’s sister site, Absolute Poker, added, “We had a meeting in Aruba and one of the topics that came up was synchronized breaks. They listened to their pros and to the people on the forums and have given people what they want. I am very glad, personally, that they added them; now my life is complete.” Both Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker accept players from the United States.
Also expected in the near future is a
revamped tournament schedule for high-dollar grinders. Ultimate Bet pro
Annie Duke (pictured at left) told PocketFives.com, “Look for really amazing changes to the tournament structure. The $320 buy-in tournament on Saturday is going to be moved up as part of it. People who play high-limit tournaments on Saturdays like to start early and we had some of our big players tell us that, so we decided to adjust the schedule accordingly.” This week’s $320 buy-in tournament is scheduled to begin at 5:30pm ET on Saturday and comes with a $100,000 guaranteed prize pool. It follows a deep stack structure.
Some PocketFives.com members have also been clamoring for
RSA security tokens to alleviate account hijacking and other issues. PocketFives.com poster
APJohn responded to members’ suggestions by saying, “RSA security tokens are on the agenda. That is being dealt with by the security department. I will see if I can get an update on the status.” As of the time of writing, no further information was available.
Ultimate Bet’s last major overhaul came on September 1st and included Mac and Instant Play versions. Visit Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker for more information on synchronized breaks and changes to raise logic.