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. Today, this high-profiled online poker room is well established among the players.
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 a network. First it was Ongame, now they've moved to iPoker. Surely it’s easier to find a solid player base in an established network, and being part of a network means a much greater choice of games for you as a player as well as a huge increase of opponents on your preferred stakes.
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 out Mansion Poker.
Poker Traffic
At this writing, iPoker places third 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, which spells luck for the more reflecting player.
At peak hours, Mansion Poker has real-money cash-game traffic at around 9,000 simultaneous players (October 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 iPoker client – no bad alternative. Mansion has made their own branding, of course, and kept its characteristic, elegant colors.
Table graphics use the "simplistic" style that’s typical to iPoker. The design is a bit crude, but 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.
Game Variety
After the move to iPoker, Mansion tends a number of poker variations: Texas Holdem, Omaha, Omaha High-Low, Seven Card Stud and Five Card Stud.
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 $100/$200 no-limit Texas Holdem. The smallest games are really small: 1¢/2¢! Unfortunately, they are not rake free.
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.
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.
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.
Sign up with Mansion Poker now!
