Summary (Rated 7 out of 10)
Mansion Poker is one of the most popular rooms on the iPoker Network. With a great reptuation and excellent support, Mansion is regarded as one of the best rooms to play at online. Sharing a player pool of over 30,000 players, there's never a dull moment to be had! Mansion offers every game from Stud to Hold'em, and tournaments for as little as $1! New players get access to exclusive bonuses as well.
Players earn Mansion Points the fastest via Sit N' Go Tournaments, at a rate of 20 Points / $1 Tournament fees paid.
Game Selection (Rated 6 out of 10)
The major problem at MANSION Poker at the minute regarding the above mentioned teething issues is the lack of player traffic which they have so far been able to build. As a result the current game selection at the site has been quite dramatically effected. The cash game tables consist of the usual basics in game type; NL, Limit and PL Hold’em, Omaha, Omaha HI/LO, 7-card stud and 7-card stud HI/LO, as well as a reasonably workable range of stakes; from as low as 1c/2c to $200/$400 for NL Hold’em, though the limit stakes are strangely narrow. MANSION’s larger problem though, in terms of table range, is that at certain times of the day it is simply too difficult to find enough players to fill the seats. One nice touch though is the option to play any game 9, 8, 6 or 2 handed and to play these in a choice of currencies.
The general feel of their tournament selection is that it is in the process of being expanded. The amount of sit-and-go games is most appropriately described as being suited to the traffic level in that there aren’t a huge amount of them. The buy-in range is ok for the lower-stakes player with plenty of $1 and $5 games though the highest buy-in is $50 which, needless to say, does not allow for those frequenting the $500 or $1000 tournaments in some other rooms. This can also be said for the scheduled tournaments, though here there are a decent amount of ‘rapid’ and ‘rebuy’ games to choose from.
Quality of Players (Rated 5 out of 10)
When considering the newness of this site, combined with the levels of player traffic and the fact of its derivation from online casino play it is easy to imagine the standard of play at MANSION…that is, low. Straight away when arriving at the cash games on this site it is relatively easy to spot the predominance of novice type play, as if regular casino gamblers have just come over for a spot of poker, which is probably true. This also leads to the players not only being quite inexperienced but also being prepared to play on the higher-stakes tables and most importantly of all, gamble!
This can be seen to be another aspect the room’s growth process, during which the many good players in the online poker community will begin to discover MANSION and on realising its fishiness will be eager to participate in the bloodbath. Like the rest of the site, the quality of its players is something which will likely strengthen over time, so for those wishing to feed before the sharks arrive, now is the time.
Software (Rated 9 out of 10)
The one factor which bodes well for MANSION on its venture into the poker industry is the quality of its software. The strength and size of its casino has given the new poker room a good platform to build on with its software being one of the best around. Download and installation are, of course, smooth and trouble free, as is registration. The downloaded site is about as bug and glitch free as they come with extremely efficient movement around the site in general. Site organization is also second-to-none with preference checking to isolate precisely which tables you are interested in meaning that, for instance, if you wanted to see the 6-handed, limit hold’em tables you can eliminate all other variables.
Once you arrive at one of their tables all aspects of play are up to scratch. Their software creates a general feel of playability in terms of quickness of card and chip dispersal as well as the specific details of raising mechanisms and even chat capabilities. There is also a sense that tournament play has been well researched with good management of blind structures and table organization. The top level customer support and cashier options have been brought over from the casino as well, so there is none of the information finding or deposit problems which exist elsewhere.
Graphics (Rated 8 out of 10)
All in all MANSION is quite an attractive site to play at and, unlike many others, has an individual and identifiable look and feel about it. The main user interface and lobby is well designed with quite a minimal yet sophisticated approach. There are none of the flashy, casino-esque promotions surrounding the table lists resulting in a slightly more refined feel which will certainly suit many players, after all part of the reason many people play online is an aversion to casinos. This simplicity in design also leads to an extremely user friendly lobby.
Table graphics are equally user friendly, avoiding many of the playability pitfalls of some other rooms. The sleek and sophisticated approach has also been adopted here and, while there is definitely a casino feel about it, it is at least the feel of a slightly higher-end casino. The one down point is the lack of any sort of avatar for player identification so the tables aren’t the most exciting but this doesn’t dampen the experience too badly.
Profitability (Rated 9 out of 10)
Despite problems with game selection which, for the obvious reason of no game, no profit, restricts the amount of money to be made, MANSION is a very profitable site to play at. On downloading this site there is little sign of any sign up bonus but on further investigation into the ‘Promotions’ section of the main interface it becomes clear that the bonus is pretty decent and, even better, can be repeated with further deposits. Also under this section are various very interesting and potentially lucrative opportunities.
The other side to MANSION’s profitability is the weakness of the opponents you will likely face. The lack of traffic and therefore games at particular times during the day means that there aren’t a huge amount of novices but there is high percentage and it is through these players that some serious profit can be made. The likelihood that MANSION will expand and grow in the near future will inevitably bring with it more sharks so as far as this site is concerned, now is the time to go swimming.
