Whenever I catch one of Mansion Poker's slick new TV ads, I'm reminded of that bygone era where poker was an elegant pastime straight out of film noir and James Bond capers, where the men dressed in tuxedos and the women used their wit and beauty to deceive . Though Bond's game was baccarat, his fearless spirit and polished style lives on at Mansion Poker, where the action is plentiful, the games aggressive, and the atmosphere imbued with a touch of class all too often missing in online poker.
The first thing a player will notice upon signing up for a Mansion account are the not one, not two, but three deposit bonuses available for new players. The first deposit bonus is a 100% match bonus up to $1000, while the second and third bonuses are for 50% up to $500. Deposit the maximum each time and you're looking at $2,000 in free money just for playing your regular game. Compared to many online sites, Mansion's bonuses clear at a very reasonable rate. The interface is clean-looking, designed in an chic muted color palette. No flashing lights, no cartoon avatars. Deals and flops move very smoothly and I've never experienced a disconnection problem.
If you have ever dreamed of playing poker on national television, your absolute best chance to qualify to do so, right now, in the world of online poker, is by playing Mansion's Poker Dome Challenge satellites. For 43 weeks, Mansion is qualifying six players per week to compete in a televised sit & go where the winner takes home $25,000 and earns a berth in a semi-final round, from which a six-handed championship final table will emerge. The winner of that final round will take down a $1 million prize. These six-handed Poker Dome tournaments are shot at the Neonopolis Poker Dome in downtown Las Vegas and air on Fox Sports Net on Sunday nights. At the Poker Dome, the game is speed poker- a fast paced version of no limit hold'em in which players only have only 15 seconds to act on a hand. In addition to qualifying to play on TV, players also earn a $7,000 "Poker Dome package" with their win, which includes roundtrip airfare, accomodations at Caesar's Palace, VIP transportation, a $500 casino credit, and champagne upon arrival...where do I sign up again? Two Poker Dome Challenge satellites run each week, a $215 NLHE freezeout and a $109 NLHE rebuy. Feeder satellites into these tournaments are available at the $5.50, $11 and $22 buyin levels.
Another great opportunity at Mansion Poker lies in their added value tournaments. Added value is just what it sounds like- Mansion kicks in extra free money into the prize pool on top of all the player buyins, anything from $500 to $5,000. For example, a recent $500 added $11 NLHE freezeout with 45 players created a prize pool of $450, the added value more than doubling the prize pool to $950. If that's not a sweet overlay, I don't know what is. $22 rebuy tournaments with $1,000 added run frequently, and a $109 freezeout with $5,000 added runs weekly.
Satellites to the $5,000 added start at only $11 and are offered twice a day. Overlays also can be frequently found in Mansion's guaranteed tournaments where prize pools from $500 to $20,000 are ensured for players, regardless of how many entrants the tournament draws.
Guaranteed tournaments start with buyins as small as the $5.50 rebuy $500 guaranteed and go as high as the $215 weekly $20,000 guarantee on Sunday nights. A variety of cash game options are also available at Mansion Poker.
Limit, no-limit and pot-limit hold'em, limit and pot-limit Omaha and Omaha hilo, and 7-card stud are spread with limits as microscopic as $0.01-0.02 blind, $2 buyin NLHE and as sky-high as $200-400. Full-ring 9- handed tables, shorthanded 6-max tables and heads-up cash game options are all available.
Mansion's low-limit no-limit hold'em and pot-limit Omaha games are great especially in the daytime, when our European friends across the pond are hitting cocktail hour just as we're settling in for lunch. Sit & goes also run 24/7 on Mansion Poker with buyins ranging from $1.05 to $515 and are available in hold'em, Omaha, Omaha hilo and 7-stud.
So mix yourself a martini (shaken, not stirred of course), throw on an old jazz album and take your chance on the felt at Mansion Poker. Who knows, by this time next week, you could be living a poker player's dream on TV in Las Vegas. How's that for adventure?
