LOS ANGELES - August 24th - The countdown is on. In just over three weeks, the U.S. will be introduced to a high-adrenaline, juiced up version of blackjack, the world’s most popular casino game. Ultimate Blackjack Tour™, debuting nationwide on CBS Saturday, September 16th (2:00 PM EDT, 11:00 AM Pacific) in the hour leading into the network’s college football broadcast, presents a brand new, fast-paced Elimination Blackjack™ competition where you’ll see your favorite professional card players sweating it out for 30 nail-biting hands that include three forced eliminations and "secret bets." Also, for the first time ever, the dealer’s hole card is revealed to the TV audience.

"Some of the sharpest minds in the professional gaming community came together to make blackjack exciting for TV," said UBT founder, expert gambler and 1994 WSOP Main Event winner Russ Hamilton. "The poker pros and blackjack players who have played Elimination Blackjack™ all agree that we have something very big on our hands, and now that our multi-million dollar, worldwide tour is in place, UBT is gearing up to be the next big craze in gaming."

The traditional format of blackjack tournaments encourages conservative play. Participants play 25 to 30 hands and the player with most chips at the end is walks away the winner. UBT’s brand of high-stakes blackjack incorporates three forced eliminations every eight hands, generating aggressive play right out of the gate. In addition, to appeal to master bluffers, the creators have added a secret bet component, which entitles each player one opportunity to outsmart the competition by concealing his/her bet. Double downs and insurance against a dealer’s showing ace also allow for creative play as contestants try to out-wit each other, survive the elimination rounds, and take home hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"This is a card player’s game," said 1996 WSOP bracelet-winner and cash game guru Freddy Deeb, who participated in season one action. "It’s a great game if you like the strategies you see in poker. Here you can bluff your bet, but you still have to make your hand. It’s totally new."

Ultimate Blackjack Tour’s high-intensity approach to blackjack has captured the interest of pro poker and blackjack players alike. Team UBT, fourteen of the most dangerous professional card players on the planet who have come together in support of Elimination Blackjack™, includes poker greats Phil Hellmuth, Annie Duke, Johnny Chan, Phil Laak, Jennifer Tilly, Freddy Deeb, Robert Williamson III, Antonio Esfandiari, David “Devilfish” Ulliott, Monica Reeves, Layne Flack, as well as World Blackjack Champion Kenny Einiger and blackjack stars “Hollywood” Dave Stann and Anthony Curtis.

"I’m a poker player, but this is a game I intend to make my own," said Robert Williamson III, 2002 WSOP Pot-Limit Omaha champ and 2004 and 2005 second place finisher. "For a blackjack game to excite the top poker players in the world, it has to be pretty special."

The ten-episode first season of Ultimate Blackjack Tour features every member of Team UBT in exhilarating action against the dealer, and one another. The season also includes two special episodes: The Ladies of Blackjack, which showcases top female gamblers the likes of Annie Duke, Jennifer Tilly, Monica Reeves and Erica Schoenburg, and The Legends of Blackjack, which puts blackjack whizzes Stanford Wong, Anthony Curtis, Kenny Einiger and others in exciting, head-to-head competition.

Additionally, through its web site, www.PlayUBT.com, Ultimate Blackjack Tour will do something never been done before. UBT will hold free online tournaments where winners will earn seats to the UBT season two final tables to be televised on CBS in 2007. The site will also provide Elimination Blackjack™ playing tips and in-depth analysis of the televised events.

In conjunction with the televised tournament and online action, UBT’s worldwide tour kicks off on September 23 at the Radisson Resort and Casino in Aruba and then on to St. Kitts at the Royal Beach Casino on October 28. Other locations will include Las Vegas, California, Atlantic City, Reno, and Paris, France. Information on tour schedule and how to enter can be found at www.PlayUBT.com.

UBT Press Contacts:

Fifteen Minutes PR (Los Angeles)
Ryan Croy 323/556-9700, ext. 306 Ryan@FifteenMinutes.com
Howard Bragman 323/556-9700, ext. 333 Howard@FifteenMinutes.com

Brain Trust Marketing & Communications (Las Vegas)
Michael Coldwell 702/862-4242 michael@braintrustcentral.com