Through the UB.com Pro Social Freerolls, the online poker site has offered the chance for its players to skydive with Joe Sebok and head out on a date with Tiffany Michelle. Now, it will give players the chance to hang with sponsored pro Scott Ian as his band Anthrax performs at one of the premier music festivals in England.
Ian will be playing in a special tournament on UB.com on June 30th at 7:00pm ET. The “Scott Ian – Send Me To Sonisphere” tournament will award the winner with a special prize package that includes a trip for two to London, accommodations, VIP passes, and tickets to watch Ian and the reunited lineup of Anthrax play the Sonisphere Festival on Saturday, July 31st. The festival is held in Knebworth, England and is one of the largest in Europe, featuring some of the biggest names in the hard rock/metal field.
The Sonisphere Festival starts on July 30th and features such acts as veteran shock rocker Alice Cooper, 80s techno-pop legend Gary Numan, and 80s hair rockers Europe. The festival schedule continues on Saturday and includes Anthrax, German industrial rockers Rammstein, and American bands Papa Roach and Sick of it All. The festival concludes on August 1st with a stacked lineup including English metal band Iron Maiden, American alternative rockers Alice in Chains, the American metal band Slayer, and legendary rockers Iggy.
For players who want to take part in the freeroll, it is important to follow the UB.com Twitter feed. On June 28th – two days before the freeroll takes place – the password will be released via UB’s Twitter account, @ultimate_bet. Everyone who enters the tournament has a shot at winning the “Send Me To Sonisphere” contest, but for those players who don’t make it to the top rung of the ladder, a $2,000 prize pool will be divvied up between the players who finish in second to, at minimum, 65th place.
The UB Pro Social Freerolls are an attempt by UB.com to find out who is the most popular pro in the stable. Back in February, Sebok was the first to step up with his freeroll, offering a chance for the champion of his tournament to skydive with him over the Nevada desert. Not to be outdone, Michelle stepped up in April offering a date in Hollywood to the champion of her freeroll. Ian’s tournament is the third of six planned tournaments.
At the end of the year, the UB.com pro who brought in the largest field for their freeroll will win the UB.com Pro Freeroll Challenge. The winning Team UB Pro will receive $2,500 from UB for a night on the town in Vegas to spend any way they choose. The Team UB pro who attracts the lowest number of players will be forced to play “concierge,” doing anything the winner asks during their night of enjoyment. Knowing the minds of poker players, the “concierge” could be a very busy person!
Ian, while playing frequently on UB.com, has also been on the road recently with his band The Damned Things doing what he does best – blowing away crowds around the world with his guitar prowess – but his main claim to fame is being the founder of Anthrax back in 1981. The hard rock/thrash metal band is one of the iconic bands in that genre, with such classic metal anthems as “Indians,” “I’m The Man,” and “Belly of the Beast.” Anthrax has been a significant force in the music industry over the past three decades.
In that time span, Anthrax ushered in the era of “rap metal” through its collaboration with seminal rappers Public Enemy. Anthrax’s 1991 collaboration on the Public Enemy classic “Bring The Noise” opened the doors for such acts as Limp Bizkit and Biohazard. Joey Belladonna, who was the vocalist during some of Anthrax’s biggest hits in the 1980s and 1990s, will be rejoining the lineup of Ian, Charlie Benante, Frank Bello, and Rob Caggiano for the 2010 tour and Sonisphere Festival.