Aruba Poker Classic placed on hold

03/10/2010

The announcement by UB.com (Ultimatebet) this week that its Aruba Poker Classic is to be put on the backburner, at least for 2010, has triggered speculation that the superabundance of poker tournaments across the globe may be approaching market saturation.

Ironically, the UB announcement notes that the 2009 edition of the well established tourney was the "most successful tournament series yet."

Paul Leggett, Chief Operations Officer of Tokwiro Enterprises, which owns and operates UB.com on the Cereus Network, has confirmed that the Aruba Poker Classic is on hold for 2010 in favour of the company establishing a larger presence at existing major poker events instead.

UB will also run additional online poker tournaments, including a new tournament series.

Leggett says that UB.com's plans for 2010 include developing a monthly $500 000 Guaranteed Tournament with an eye on building it into a million-dollar event; creating more pro-related competitions; and running the UBOC championship event twice a year.

This year's UBOC was UB.com's most successful online poker championship series in its over 10-year history. The 12-day poker series featured two $1 million Guaranteed Events, a number of promotions that awarded players of all stake levels with extra prizes, and over $4 million in promised prize pool money, Leggett revealed.

UB.com was able to over-deliver on that promise. The first $1 million guaranteed event attracted a record number of players, inflating the prize pool to over $1.5 million and the second $1 million guaranteed event was equally successful.

"It is with great regret that we are announcing that the Aruba event will not run this year but 2010 is going to be an exciting year for UB and its players," said Leggett. "Over the last year, we've been redefining the UB brand in every way. We love the Aruba Poker Classic event but we think we can do a lot more for our players by investing in new events and rewards."