August 1, 2006
By Daniel Cox
Editor, Gaming Review On Line

Las Vegas – On July 28, 2006, The MANSION Group, Promoter Hollybrook Regency, Inc. and Fox Sports Net unveiled the “next big thing” in Downtown Las Vegas, the MANSIONPOKER.NET Poker Dome. The New Poker Dome, home of the $2,000,000 Poker Dome Challenge was introduced to the media and special guests Friday. Guests were treated to behind the scenes tours and watched simulated tapings of one of the most popular televised poker events of the season. To work out the bugs between the players, Dealers Blaine and Leslie, Tournament Director Matt Savage and the extensive technical crew, they ran several simulated tapings.

The Poker Dome is located in a part of the movie theater complex above Jillian’s, at the corner of Fremont Street and Las Vegas Blvd. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman stopped by to help launch the new facility. According to Justin Simon, MANSIONPOKER.NET and Hollybrook Regency, Inc. built the facility here to “showcase their belief in the City of Las Vegas’ efforts to expand and revitalize Downtown and are proud to be a cornerstone in the continued process.” The Dome moved from its temporary facility at the Tropicana Hotel and Casino, where the first nine shows were taped.

The MANSIONPOKER.NET Poker Dome Challenge is Fox Sports Net’s hit new poker series where players compete in an innovative form of Texas Hold’em known as Speed Poker. Speed poker is an innovation that moves a 19^th century game into the 21^st century. Speed Poker is a concept first seen on American television with Fox Sports Net’s 2005 Asian Pacific Speed Poker Championship from the Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia and is played in live tournaments around the world, on TV and online.

You can think of Speed Poker as Hold’em on an NBA shot clock with the players always on a fast break. Two big difference between standard Hold’em and Speed Poker is the institution of a 15 second clock, forcing players to make more intuitive moves than analytical ones, and the use of an All In chip (copied by the World Series of Poker for the 2006 Main Event) to keep players from having to push their chip stacks to the center of the table. Another difference is the betting structure, with the game played as Pot Limit prior to the flop and No Limit thereafter. The game uses two dealers with access to instantaneous pot chip counts to move the action along at a faster pace, increasing the standard 20 to 30 hands an hour to an unprecedented 80 to 100.

The new set is an 80-foot by 40-foot Dome, housing the most technologically innovative poker table in the world. The set has more cameras than are used for any other weekly televised event. Each player has a robotic camera aimed at them and a pinhole camera so the television audience can see the actual cards. There are an additional 14 cameras, from wheeled cameras around the stage to huge boom cameras in the audience area to insure they cover every conceivable angle.  The table has several innovations to help speed the game along. The dealer button is a lighted yellow ring around the player’s time extension button mounted in the table. To further assist in the concept of Speed Poker, a light strip pointed at the player that counts down the allotted 15 seconds by filling in block with a red warning light every one and a half seconds. If the red light reaches the player, that player’s hand is automatically dead.

Not only is the set a technological marvel, the seating area is separated from the table by an ingenious one-way glass allowing spectators an unprecedented look at the action.  Above the stage are television screens for each player’s seat showing a close-up live feed from the robotic cameras. Below the screens for each player is a second monitor showing the hole cards and current chip count, as well as the players’ current pulse rate. The ability to see the hole cards instantaneously is through the use of RFID technology embedded in the cards. Instead of waiting for the players to show their cards to the lipstick camera located at each playing position as they do in other televised poker shows, wireless receivers are embedded under the felt allowing the cards to be “read” in the control booth. The thin transmitters in the cards themselves only increase the size of the deck by 50%, which is not a problem for either the dealers or the players. Specially built Suunto Team Pod Heart Sensors are wrapped around the player’s chest to provide constant heart monitoring via wireless transmitters integrated into the Card Tracking System. The 130 seat audience area maintains the feel of the set for American Gladiators, with smoke wafting through the seating area, huge television screens, roving spot lights and the card suits moving across the ceiling. 

Due to time constraints, the Poker Dome Challenge Charity Event was shortened, with each of the simulated taping table winners having $500 donated to a charity of their choice. Gaming Review Online Editor Daniel Cox, playing for The Wounded Warrior Project (WWP), took down the second event. MANSIONPOKER.NET will donate $500 to the WWP, an organization seeking to assist those men and women of our armed forces who have been severely injured during the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. In between his rounds of the WSOP Main Event, “Cowboy” Kenna James, one of poker’s most popular stars, sponsored a charity poker tournament on Tuesday, August 1, 2006 at the Caesars Palace Poker Venue to further benefit the Project.

With 27 weekly qualifiers remaining, those hoping to play for the $1,000,000.00 winner-take-all Poker Dome Challenge should register by visiting http://www.MANSIONPoker.net and then checking the tournament lobby for the registration times of the daily qualifier tournaments.  Regional Fox Sports Net stations air all the action of the Challenge Sundays at 11 PM local time. Besides the opportunity to win $25,000.00, the weekly qualifiers receive a prize package worth thousands of dollars in airfare, food, lodging and game play at Caeser’s Palace during the days surrounding the taping. Would you http://www.MANSIONPoker.net and click the link at the bottom of the page.

EDITORS NOTE: The Mansion Dome series was cancelled when the U.S. Congress passed UIGEA and Mansion Poker stopped taking US players.