Sunday, May 27, 2007

Unusual Finish to Ultimate Bet $200,000 Guaranteed

There's news, and then there are the stories behind the news. The heads-up battle at the end of tonight's just-completed $200,000 Guaranteed on Ultimate Bet illustrated one of the pratfalls of the online game, one that in this instance cost a player a reasonable shot at $18,000, the difference between first- and second-place money.

The two players, 'FeedMEMunE' and 'raaazib,' were the last survivors of the 867 who entered the $200+15 event. FeedMEMunE had held the lead moments prior, only to see raaazib come from the rail's edge with three key double-throughs, the last two against an aggressive player named 'winnAA,' to send that player home in third.

Anyhow, the two began heads-up play, and raaazib edged out in front. When, the unthinkable happened: FeedMEMunE suffered an online disconnect.

raaazib immediately took advantage of the situation to begin speed-raising, which ultimately (no pun intended) consumed about two-thirds of FeedMEMunE's chips before he was able to reconnect. The image at right shows the speed-raising in process.

Yuck. I hate to see that garbage in a $22 sit-n-go. It's especially noxious when big bucks are on the line, as happened here or on one of the last episodes of MANSION Poker's Poker Dome Challenge a few months back.

Here's how the exchange went when FeedMEMunE was able to reconnect:

FeedMEMunE: classless
FeedMEMunE: steal 15k from me
raaazib: what can i do

raaazib then went on to say that it was online poker, thereby inferring that it was acceptable. Well, it might be legitimate by the rules of the site, but it's hardly acceptable, if you get the difference.

Perhaps this will energize Ultimate Bet to install a Poker Stars-style disconnect time allowance. The Stars process actually allows for a longer disconnect in the late stages of large tournaments, sometimes two or three minutes each for multiple occurrences, simply because no site in its right mind wants to see a tourney end like this.

2 comments:

WindBreak247 said...

Is there really anyone out there who wouldn't do the same thing if that happened?

I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone.

Not saying its right, just saying its part of the online game, and when $18k for nothing is staring you in the face I'd be surprised to see anyone wait patiently for their opponent to return.

Haley said...

Most would, but some wouldn't. I disagree with your blanket categorization, because I know better from personal experience. We'd all be tempted, though.

There was a situation with one of the late episodes of the Mansion Poker Dome Challenge that I wrote about on my own blog a couple of months back, which was exceptionally painful to me, since I was on that show myself earlier in its run and have come to know several people peripherally involved.