The poker network CEREUS, the combination of two of the most popular online poker rooms in Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker, announced on Wednesday the results for the two rooms for one of their most prestigious prizes of 2008, the champions of the Yearly Tournament Leader Board.
Prior to the two rooms joining forces under the CEREUS banner in late November 2008, both UB and AP ran as separate entities. When the two rooms had separate tournaments, players crossed back and forth between the two locations as most online players are wont to do. Most likely for the final time, the two rooms had separate $5000 Yearly Tournament Leader Board results.
Both online poker sites in 2008 employed a unique tournament leader board point formula designed to account for the varying levels of skill in different buy-in tournaments and the number of players in a tournament. The higher a player cashed in a tournament, and the bigger the prize pool was, the more points he or she would earn. Thus, to climb to the top of the separate leader board competitions, the winning player collected the most points by doing well in many big tournaments.
On the Ultimate Bet side of the equation, the three top prizes were split between $5000 for first, $3000 for second and $2000 for third place. Taking the top award here was online player ARMYDOCTOR, with NIBBLER and MAHI-MAHI securing the second and third place spots. Absolute Poker, with the awards broken down in the same manner, saw the three top spots go to 011POKERDR, MRPUMPKIN107 and KBOTTSKI.
The achievements of ARMYDOCTOR and 011POKERDR are significant in that they are the same person. Known to his family and friends as Jack Pan, tournament records show that he has been able to score around $75,000 in his online tournament career, which began in 2006. Pan indicated that the money made in the last year, along with the $10K additional from being the champion of both of the Yearly Tournament Boards, will get him into some live tournaments and enable him to take a trip to China.
“Taking top honors in the leader boards at both UB and AP is a huge boost to my confidence and to my game. I’m really proud of my results and now my main aim for 2009 is to defend my leader board crown at CEREUS,”said Pan.
While the top three on each of the Yearly Tournament Leader Boards walked away with a healthy chunk of money, there is a chance for the remainder of the top 100 on each site to grab a piece of the bounty. Both sites will offer individual events on January 25th for the top 100 finishers on each site, with $20,000 on the line for the players to battle over. As far as the double champion Pan, he will utilize his 011POKERDR name at Absolute Poker and compete there.
Ultimate Bet professional Phil Hellmuth even noted how special Pan’s double win was when he said,
“Our top leader board winners have a lot to be proud of today. Not only did the same player conquer both leader board competitions – a significant achievement to say the least – but several of our top leader board players have cashed for tens of thousands of dollars at the online poker tables.”
