Full Review of Mansion Poker
Summary of Mansion Poker
For a new independent poker room, it's almost impossible to break into the highly competitive online-poker industry. Mansion Poker, however, has shown that it's actually possible.
The site has only been online since 2006, but during a relatively short time it has managed to gather a rather big and loyal player base.
So what’s the secret formula? Mansion Poker listened to the poker community and started offering what poker players want: Good sign-up bonus, promotions for loyal players, freeroll tournaments, tournaments with added value and poker software with great usability.
Nevertheless, after a long and expensive campaign of guaranteed tournaments with good overlay, Mansion chose to join the Ongame network. Surely it’s easier to find a solid player base in an established network, and being part of a network definitely means a much greater choice of games and a huge increase of opponents on your preferred stakes.
The exclusive guaranteed tournaments continue though, and even if more players show up now, the value is still very attractive at times. If you’re interested, by all means check out the weekly $150,000 and $110,000 guaranteed events!
For bonuses purposes. 80 Mansion Poker Points (MPP) release $10 of your bonus into your account. In ring games, MPPs are computed from the table rake. Only players who actually contributed to the pot get point. In tournaments, every dollar spent in tournament fees give you 5 MPP.
Except for poker, Mansion also operates casino and sportsbook sites. We all know what this means for poker: you’ll find many casino gamblers with little or no poker experience at the tables.
The site being heavily promoted in media adds to this aspect. If you’re a football fan you might recognize the Mansion logo from Tottenham Hotspurs’ match kit. Lots of new players means lots of dead money, and that, I think, is reason enough to at least try this new poker room.
Poker Traffic
At this writing, Ongame places fifth among the biggest online poker rooms. Most of the time there are plenty of games to choose from at most low and mid stakes in no-limit and fixed-limit holdem. More and more players try their luck in Omaha and Seven Card Stud. Sometimes their strategy contains little more than luck.
At peak hours, Mansion Poker has real-money cash-game traffic at around 8,000 simultaneous players (January 2008).
Software & Graphics
The old software was developed by Mansion and it was actually one of the better pieces of poker software in the industry. The games did run really fast and quite a few useful functions were offered.
Now when you log in to Mansion, you’ll recognize the familiar Ongame poker client – no bad alternative. Mansion has made their own branding, of course, and chosen its own range of colors. More greenish than the soft red we’d gotten used to with Mansion.
Table graphics use the really high definition style that’s typical to Ongame. The design is sober and crisp and offers good usability. Obviously, it’s a matter of taste if you like it or not, but on this site, software design certainly won’t ruin your gaming experience.
Mansion calls Omaha by its original name, Omaha Holdem – charming though possibly a tad confusing for younger players.
Game Variety
After the move to Ongame, Mansion tends a number of poker variations: Texas Holdem, Omaha, Omaha High-Low, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud High-Low and Five Card Draw.
Games are played in no-limit, pot-limit, and fixed-limit. Full-ring, shorthanded and heads-up tables are available in the usual mix. Mansion features some ultra high-stakes tables such as $1,000/$2,000 fixed-limit and $50/$100 no-limit Texas Holdem. The smallest games are played at 10¢/20¢.
The games vary from very loose at the lowest stakes to still rather loose at higher stakes. At times you’ll see games of $5/$10 no-limit holdem with a viewed-flop rate in the 40 percent.
However, don’t go looking for soft games at the high stakes tables. The Ongame network is home for some of Europe's absolute top players.
When it comes to tournaments, Mansion runs well-attended tournaments in the lower ranges day and night. In the smaller buy-in events, tournament play is generally very loose from start all the way through to the final table.
The fine guaranteed prize pool tournaments continue at Mansion even after the jump to Ongame. Today, there are often more entrants, and there’s no guaranteed overlay. Nevertheless, sometimes the value in these tournaments is still very attractive.
More About
Shannon Elisabeth is a new promise on the pro tournament poker circus. Several WSOP cashes and an advanced finish in the NBC headsup championship says a whole lot. Elizabeth is now joining the Mansion Poker team and starts wearing the
Mansion Poker logo in Aussie Million 2008.
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