Ujogo, a Silicon Valley-based startup, just launched into public beta poised to create a more competitive and satisfying free online poker site than its competitors. Targeting the estimated 30 million free online poker players, Ujogo will cater to all demographics, including the 40 plus percent of woman playing online these days.
In talking with Ujogo founder and CEO Eric Gonzalez, he explained that the current set of free online poker options are highly unsatisfying because he believes people do not have enough at stake, therefore players have an unrealistic irrational style of play. Eric and his team looks to change that with Ujogo by offering incentives for solid play through monthly leader boards and tournaments. Ujogo offers two currencies within the application:
Ujogo points - frequent player points received for playing whether you win or lose redeemable in the Ujogo store.
Ujogo cash - internal game currency that can be accumulated over time (i.e. monthly winners, etc.) can be cashed in for additional points for prizes.
Ujogo includes basic social networking aspects within the site to enable player to find out a little more about their competitors. Ujogo incorporates educational tools to help players learn to play poker better. Included in site are videos from Expert Insight (Phil Gordon - Poker Player Pro) to help players to learn and improve. In addition, Ujogo gives players personalized analytical tools and metrics on their play that allows them to recall and better understand their poker trends.
Ujogo plans to roll out additional metrics options with time.
Ujogo received one million dollars in angel funding in February 2007 and followed it up by acquiring an online poker company called GamingEverywhere.com in April 2007. The GamingEverywhere.com poker application acts as the backbone of the clean and realistic online poker playing interface.
Ujogo's business model supports ad revenue and plans to offer about half that
revenue in prize packages for leading players within the Ujogo community. So if you want to win some great prizes and elevate your level of poker play you might want to deal into Ujogo for a few free online poker hands - You could win big!
