In coordination with last month’s announcement of their partnership, UB.com and the Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) will be offering two promotions for players to join the action in one of the biggest “minor league” schedules in the United States.
For players on UB.net, the educational arm of UB.com, there is a major promotion where one person will earn a free pass to 12 HPT events. Beginning on April 11th, UB.net will host four daily freerolls from Monday through Saturday. These special freerolls will be Turbo No Limit Hold’em tournaments and run every three hours from 3:00pm ET until Midnight ET each day. The Top 50 finishers in each tournament will earn the right to move on to a weekly semi-final, which will be held on Sundays at 1:00pm ET.
The weekly semi-finals will send 100 players each to the Grand Prize Main Event on June 25th at 2:30pm ET. The player who wins the Main Event will receive a pass into 12 HPT events.
The 12-event package is a prize that any up-and-coming poker player would be pumped to receive. Tournaments on the HPT normally start at $1,650 and have the added panache of being televised.
Those who take part in the action on UB.com aren’t being overlooked by the HPT, either. UB.com is gearing up to offer a series of satellites that will feed players into HPT events across the country. The action begins on UB.com this Sunday with the first of what will be a weekly $200 buy-in Super Satellite that awards the winner with a $2,000 HPT VIP package.
The package includes not only a seat to one of HPT’s Season Seven events, but also two nights of hotel accommodations, the chance to meet up with UB.com pros during HPT events, and UB.com branded gear. Players who win the Super Satellite can choose which HPT event is most convenient to their locale.
For those players whose bankrolls might not be able to handle the full buy-in, UB.com is offering several options for players to get into the weekly Super Satellite. There are a host of qualifiers for the Sunday HPT Super Satellite and UB.com is also offering Steps tournaments that start out as low as $0.11.
UB.com is showing its support for the HPT by getting members of Team UB.com to step to the felt for several upcoming tournaments. This weekend, the HPT will be in action at Golden Gates Casino in Black Hawk, Colorado and 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit Rincon Main Event champion Bryan Devonshire will be in action.
The following HPT event, held at the Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort in Mount Pleasant, Michigan from May 14th to 15th, will feature Team UB front man Joe Sebok. In the past, UB.com pros Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho have also taken part in HPT tournaments.
In addition to playing in HPT tournaments, Team UB pros will step up to provide guest commentary on HPT’s television broadcasts. These broadcasts, which air in major markets like Atlanta and Chicago, feature Chris Hanson and Fred Bevill on the call.
The HPT deal with UB.com comes on the heels of the announcement that 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event runner-up Darvin Moon will serve as the HPT’s official ambassador. Moon, who made waves in the poker world when he didn’t accept any online poker room sponsorship during his epic runner-up finish to eventual champion Joe Cada in 2009, has found a home at the HPT tournaments and participates frequently in their events.