Tournament players waited all year for 2010 to end! If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to use US friendly poker sites, you are in luck because UBOC 6 is upon us. The latest UB Online Championship has 29 exciting events including the Championship Event with a $1 million guaranteed prize pool. Winning one of the events nets you a special UBOC watch, and if you were a winner in UBOC 2010, you have the Tournament of Champions to look forward to. If you have considered using flash Texas Holdem, now is definitely the time!

The first tournament was the NL Hold’em Deep Stack event for $530. Yesterday featured the first Omaha event, so you were able to put your skills to the test and see if that free Omaha poker video paid off. If you like heads-up, you should definitely check out Event 13, but register as soon as possible because it won’t be possible to register late for this tourney.

For those with huge bankrolls, the High Roller tournament is on January 23rd for $2.1k. The Championship Event is on January 30th and features a $1,050 buy-in. If you have just started on the best US poker sites and you cannot afford to pay these buy-ins, you can always play qualifiers to the events. Step satellites start as low as $0.10.

Another solution for players just starting with the top Texas Holdem sites is Mini-UBOC. This series has 19 events, too, but the buy-ins are much smaller. These tournaments give you the chance to experience the thrill of making a big final table in UBOC without having to risk a large chunk of your bankroll.

We have been waiting all year for UBOC to come around again, so be sure to take advantage of it. If you prefer an Apple laptop, you are in luck because they have Ultimate Bet for Mac. See you at the tables!

A very famous pro poker player that supports US friendly poker sites would be Phil Hellmuth, a UB representative that has gained and kept fame due to his World Series of Poker accomplishments and outbursts at the tables. Hellmuth was the first of five children, born in 1964 in Wisconsin where he also attended university. Hellmuth married his wife, Kathy, and they moved to California where they have two sons.

Would you be more likely to try Ultimate Bet for Mac if you knew that UB’s most famous pro player holds some amazing tournament poker records? You’ll be most impressed with the fact that he has won 1st place in a whopping 11 WSOP tournaments, winning the first title when he was just 24 years old, another record at the time. He created the record for WSOP cashes with an amazing 75 and the largest number of final tables with 41. His total WSOP winnings total $6.1 million which ranks him 9th on the WSOP All Time Money List. It’s interesting to note that Hellmuth has still never won a World Poker Tour (WPT) MTT in casinos for USA players, although he does have 3 final tables under his belt. He’s cashed 11 times in WPT events and his total winnings is $691k. This long list of impressive feats caused him to be inaugurated into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2007.

Hellmuth first achieved attention and fame through his accomplishments with tournaments, but nothing keeps him in the limelight more than his reputation for outbursts and tirades at the tables. Over the years he has decided that he is the best online poker player in the world, and nothing upsets him more than a couple bad beats. In the past he’s directed his outbursts to those who benefit from his bad luck, questioning their intelligence and ability to play the game. In the 2008 WSOP he actually received a penalty because he wouldn’t stop abusing a player that showed the table he’d bluffed Hellmuth off his hand with weak suited cards. Because of all his antics, poker players and spectators eventually gave him the honor of being called “The Poker Brat”.

Leave it to Hellmuth to make money off his nickname, though. He started a clothing line using the name Poker Brat, and if you want to get into his head, you can read his thoughts in the book titled Poker Brat. He is the author of several books, actually, and he has even made the occasional poker video and mobile phone game. He writes a newspaper column called “Hand of the Week” about interesting poker hands, and he blogs for both CardPlayer and UB. Add all his TV appearances and coaching opportunities, and it’s clear that Hellmuth has a busy poker life outside of the tables.

Online players, especially American players, get tons of information regarding Full Tilt or PokerStars, but it’s worth your time to also try out some of UB’s poker tables. Join Hellmuth at the tables and earn a deposit bonus if you haven’t already done so. If you strive to one day be as successful as Hellmuth at poker, the best way to practice is by playing in online poker rooms. If you have not already done so, visit my previous entries for more information about playing at UB.

Today I am going to offer detailed information about the VIP program on UB, one of the biggest US friendly poker sites. I’ve already said that you earn Status Points to earn your deposit bonus, but you’ll also receive so much more than that because of the RAI$E program. Altogether the VIP program has five levels and the highest levels receive the best rewards. Unlike with the Everest Poker download, UB automatically makes you a member of the program when you sign up with the site.

You start at Level 1 as an Ultimate Member. Ultimate Members receive some benefits such as a periodic reload bonus and entries to freerolls. You’ll also have the option to refer a friend to the site and earn an additional $75 bonus. These little extras are nice, especially considering you do no work to get them, but similar to the VIP program on the PokerStars download, you should still raise your level fairly quickly. This is because being an Ultimate Member is pretty disappointing when you compare it to higher levels.

When you earn 50 Status Points within one month, you become an Ultimate Player. At Level 2 you hold on to the Ultimate Member benefits such as the refer-a-friend bonus, but you also receive a few extra perks. First off, you receive an UltimatePoints multiplier that increases the number of Status Points you are given by two, and this allows you to accumulate points faster. Similar to the points you collect when you download Full Tilt Poker, you are also able to spend these Status Points at the UltimatePoints Store. If you decide that you want to save some points up for something special in the store, you also have the option to play UltimatePoints tournaments to try to win even more Points.

You become an Ultimate Contender at 500 Status Points, and you can receive up to $50 cash per month for Points. This cash bonus is similar to the ones you get when you play on PokerStars. You get to buy special merchandise from the store and your UltimatePoints multiplier raises to three.

Once you earn 2,500 Status Points in a given month, you become an Ultimate Legend. You’re going to have to see plenty of hands to get this high, but you will agree that the perks are worthy of the best online poker players. Not only does your UltimatePoints multiplier increase to four, you get an extra 10% off on the items in the store. If you prefer the cash rewards, you can now redeem Points for up to $250. If that isn’t enough, Players at this level also receive a VIP host, a personal concierge, and exclusive freeroll entries. You might even be invited to participate in a special auction or you’ll be given a special VIP treat.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Level 5, where you become an Ultimate Icon, gives the best benefits. Earning 10,000 Status Points on this poker flash site is a difficult task, but UB makes it well worth it. First off, you receive a multiplier of five for your UltimatePoints and you have the choice to receive up to $1,000 per month in exchange for Points. If you keep your account balance over $1,000, you will receive a 9% interest rate on the money in your account. Furthermore, UB will give you invitations to play in tournaments around the world such as the WSOP! You should find it pretty tough to get perks that beat these in other flash compatible casinos. You must earn an average of 10,000 Status Points for 6 months before Level 5 status is granted, and then you must keep this average going to stay at Level 5.

UB has created a VIP program to give back to those that play there all the time and to entice new people to play at UB. Keep in mind that becoming an Ultimate Icon is very hard for the average player to do. If you're a low stakes player and you decide to make it your goal to become an Ultimate Icon, you’ll almost for sure need to put in 100% of your online poker at UB so that you have the chance to earn all the points you need. You will also have to play poker rather than download Roulette in your spare time. If you can make it all the way, though, it’s clear that UB will reward you very handsomely for it.