On Thursday evening, the sixth running of the UB.com Online Championship (UBOC) continued with some fun for its players. Top models and Playboy centerfolds joined several Team UB pros for Event #25, a special Centerfold Bounty tournament with a guaranteed prize pool of $75,000.
On hand for the event were Team UB pros Joe Sebok, Bryan Devonshire, Brandon Cantu, Gary “DEBO34” DeBernardi, and Mark “P0kerH0” Kroon, but they weren’t the focal point of the tournament. Instead, top models such as Claudia Jordan (former “Deal Or No Deal” model and “Celebrity Apprentice” contestant), Miss California USA 2010 Nicole Michele Johnson, Miss California USA 2009 Tami Farrell, 2004 Miss USA Shandi Finnessey, and Playboy Playmate Deanna Brooks were the main draws. For the special bounty event, all of the ladies and UB pros had $200 bounties on their heads.
Hosted by former Playboy Playmate and current host of the E! Network’s “Bridalplasty” Shanna Moakler, the $150 buy-in tournament drew a crowd of 517 players. This eclipsed the guarantee by $2,550 and ensured a first place prize of $18,999.75. Above all, however, it was a chance for players to step up against the Team UB pros – and the lovely ladies – in one of the “fun” tournaments on the UBOC schedule.
Although Farrell would exit fairly early in 385th place, the ladies held their own against the swarm of online players. Finnessey was one of the top celebrity finishers and dropped out in 161st place. Moakler was able to play for some time while acting as tournament host, finishing in 154th place. Brooks finished the best out of the celebrity ladies playing, making it to 127th place.
The Team UB pros had a tough time as well, with none of them reaching the money. Cantu went out soon after the departure of Brooks in 107th place, while Devonshire came up short of the money in 64th place. Once “GGDONKBALLS” was eliminated on the bubble, every player was guaranteed a minimum of $217.
“BARBHUNTER” was eliminated on the final table bubble, but still took home $891.82 for his time and troubles. In the end, “BLIZAIR” vanquished “1TIME4THEBOY” to win the latest UBOC watch.
For “BLIZAIR,” 2011 has been quite the year, even though it is barely a month old. Along with the victory in UBOC Event #25, he won the January 9th edition of Full Tilt Poker’s $200,000 Guaranteed for a $55,691 score. With these finishes as well as others in the month of January, “BLIZAIR” is the 19th best player in online poker tournaments, according to PocketFives.com’s Player Rankings.
With the Centerfold Bounty event finished, UBOC 6 will wrap up this weekend with three tournaments. Today, Team UB pro Tiffany Michelle will play host in a Deep Stack tournament with a $150 buy-in and a $75,000 guaranteed prize pool at 8:05pm ET. Kroon will host a $100 buy-in Turbo Rebuy on Saturday that has a guaranteed prize pool of $100,000. UBOC 6 comes to its conclusion on Sunday at 4:00pm ET with the $1 Million Guaranteed Main Event hosted by Prahlad Friedman.
If the buy-ins are a bit steep for your bankroll, there is a MiniUBOC schedule that is also playing out. The same events that will run from today to Sunday will be played with lower buy-ins and lower guarantees. The Sunday MiniUBOC finale starts at the same time as its $1 million cousin, but has a $50 buy-in and a $50,000 guaranteed prize pool.
This weekend will be exciting for players on UB.com and its CEREUS Network sister site Absolute Poker, as the final three UBOC 6 champions will be crowned. For more details on UBOC 6 or to get in on the action as the tournament schedule wraps up, be sure to visit UB.com.
