Though it sounds like at least one more online poker room is getting close to launch in the state of Nevada, the fact remains that Ultimate Poker is still the only legal, regulated poker site up and running in the Silver State. Amongst the many advantages of being the only player in the market is the simple notion that Ultimate Poker is seeing more hands dealt than it might otherwise with the existence of competition. The upshot of this is that in just three months of existence, Ultimate Poker is getting set to deal its 10 millionth hand.
To celebrate, the intrastate online poker room is rewarding its players with cash prizes. Similar to what PokerStars has done in the past with its billionth hand promotions, Ultimate Poker has earmarked 21 different milestone hands as the prize winners, starting with hand 9 million. After that, it’s every hundred thousandth hand through 9.9 million, then every ten thousandth hand through 9.99 million, then hands 9,999,999 and 10 million.
To qualify for the cash prizes, players must be dealt into one of the milestone hands, not simply be at the table (don’t sit out!). The winner of the hand will be awarded $500 and the rest of the players will get $50 each. The prizes will be doubled if the hand is dealt at a ring game table with stakes $1/$2 or higher or a tournament (including Sit-and-Go’s) with a buy-in of at least $20.
For the big 10 millionth hand, the winner will received $5,000 and the rest of the players will each get $500. As with the milestone hands, the prizes will be doubled in ring games with $1/$2 and up and tournaments with buy-ins of $20 or more.
Ultimate Poker launched at the end of April, becoming the first online poker site to go live under Nevada’s new regulatory environment. It got off to a bit of a bumpy start, as many potential customers were unable to play because of geolocation problems. Ultimate Poker uses players mobile phones to pinpoint their location within state borders, but some providers, notably Verizon, did not allow the site to do that at first. Things did get straightened out within a couple weeks.
Additionally, it was discovered the company iovation was providing identity verification services for Ultimate Poker. This caused an uproar in the poker community because the CEO of iovation, Greg Pierson, was one of the key conspirators in the UltimateBet (no relation to Ultimate Poker) cheating scandal. Ultimate Poker has since cut ties with iovation.
Serving only Nevada residents, the site is understandably small, currently ranking as the 33rd largest internet poker site or network, according to PokerScout.com. There are plans to roll out a new version of its software soon as well as a new loyalty program.