| MansionPoker.net and FSN create $60 Million TV poker tournament |
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| Tuesday, 13 December 2005 | |
 If you thought online poker couldn't get any bigger, you'll need to sit down for this. Because come 2006, poker will have a brand new face, $60 Million in the kitty and a full-scale poker dome in Vegas, constructed specially for the megamoney Mansion Poker event!I love playing online poker as much as the next guy but seriously, where and when is the line going to be drawn? Do we just keep expanding exponentially with bigger prizes and zanier stunts? $60 Million bucks at Mansion Poker is one thing - bring it on, I say. But do we really need to be building a poker dome on top of the gigantic cash giveaway? I guess it's par for the course when Fox Sports is involved. And definitely high up on the marketing agenda of soon-to-be-launched Mansion Poker, who'll need to go a long way to stand out from the clamoring poker crowd. But thanks to the huge check on offer and some techno wizardry at the card table, poker has a new future in store - and viewers around the world are in for a gambling treat. Say hello to the newest, biggest, latest and greatest poker room to deal a winning hand for poker players everywhere: Mansion Poker!  Take any of the big poker tournaments that come to mind and imagine them fading into run-of-the-mill mediocrity in a few months to come. World Series of Poker, pah. World Poker Tour, child's play. Who needs a luke-warm couple of million when you can leapfrog the whole lot and skip straight to the biggest poker purse on the planet: the 2006 PokerDome Series, hosted by MansionPoker.net.The Mansion Poker Poker Dome Series is scheduled to hit the small sports screen on 15 May 2006, for a very optimistic 43 week run! That's almost a year, with a whole lot of poker going on. But if this was just another poker series brought to us by another online poker room, it would be yesterday's news even though the event hasn't even happened yet. What makes this one so special? $60 Million in prizemoney and a custom-made real life poker dome, with a few new technologically-advanced rules.  The dome will house the players seated at tables within a high-gloss, high-tech cone of absolute silence and concentration, with a view out onto the Las Vegas Strip. Like all good reality shows, Fox has come to the party again on this one, placing microphones in strategic positions at the poker tables and constructing the outside walls of the dome in one-way mirrored glass. Fans see in, fans camp outside, fans don't eat or breathe or sleep until every second of the world's richest reality series is over. Let's hope they have a day job to go back to after the 43 weeks! This is HUGE money so FSN and Mansion Poker (apt project for the brand to sponsor don't you think?) have gone out on a limb, not only with the $60,000,000 in prize money but in redefining poker (and poker on TV) as we know it. The world-first PokerDome features tables with specially-crafted cameras and computer chips within the cards that capture and broadcast all hole and burnt cards as they come out. Viewers might even get to see the hands before the players themselves do! Not only that, in an industry ground-breaking move, FSN will feature a 'rabbit hunting' camera that will project what the outcome of the hand would've been if every player played until the river without folding. And all of this on a giant video screen for an extra bit of adrenalin and play-til-you-drop pressure.Until now, tv poker fans have had to work out what would've, could've and should've happened for themselves. FSN will be laying it out for all to see. Bluffers and nervous folders beware - it's all going to be caught on tape! But MansionPoker.net will be adding an additional twist to what we've come to expect from your average poker tournament: speed poker! As the name suggests, speed poker delivers the thrill of a real-world live tournament at a much faster rate, almost matching the speed of play enjoyed at online poker rooms. No more getting up from the table to 'um', 'aw' and throw temper tantrums. Each player now has to make all decisions within 15 seconds! Just like online! Play within the time or have your hand automatically folded. Can you imagine Arieh's face?  The PokerDome Series will consist of a number of smaller events over the 43 weeks that end with a $1 Million finale. The Mega Event is where things get serious. Already booked for 12 July next year, the tournament will consist of six selected players who'll need to ante up $10 Million each just to have the honor of playing for the big one - and the chance of proving their skills to fans in living rooms across the world. This unreal reality event will take place at Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia and Phil Ivey is already down to take one of the seats. If you can cough up the buy-in, you could join him!If all goes according to plan, FSN and Mansion Poker will be back in 2007, with a $75 Million poker tourney and again in 2008, where $100 Million will go to the world's best poker player at the table. Never before in the world of sports has this much money been given away in a single event. Mike Tyson hasn't. Neither has Michael Schumacher. Not even Tiger Woods has taken home this much money in a single outing. Roll on 2006! In the meantime, visit MansionPoker.net to order your free copy of their Ultimate Guide to Poker! It's a 70 page printed book that'll arrive on your desk in 6-8 weeks, long before the PokerDome series kicks off. The book's written by poker professionals to give you the strategies you need to hone your skills before hitting MansionPoker.net's real money arena, MansionPoker.com - also set to launch in 2006! A big dome. A huge television event. An enormous tournament. And a gigantic cash prize. Can poker really get any bigger than this? You can bet your bottom dollar that these guys are going to give it a try! |
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