Poker Dome Challenge
Encyclopedia
The MANSIONPoker.net Poker Dome Challenge was a 43-week series of speed poker
tournaments offering a grand prize of $1,000,000 USD. The tournament aired in the United States on Fox Sports Network from May 2006 to March 2007. The tournament featured a number of technological gimmicks in an effort to increase viewer interest and excitement. Commentating duties were shared by rotating hosts including Barry Tompkins
, Jon Kelley
, Michael Konik
, Michael Gracz
, Joel Meyers
and Chris Rose
with Leeann Tweeden
serving as co-host/exit interviewer (occasionally covered by Nafeesa DeFlorias
). Matt Savage
was the tournament director
.
The series consisted of single table tournaments of six players each. Five of the six competitors qualified through daily freeroll
tournaments held at mansionpoker.net. Another competitor came from the National Pub Poker League, an amateur poker league that partnered with MansionPoker.net and qualified its nightly bar tournament winners into a private weekly freerollhttp://www.nationalpubpokerleague.com/index.aspx.
http://www.mansion.com/content/poker/poker.aspx?pg=pd&page=2&cp=poker/tournaments/PokerDome&cn=. Winners of the online qualifiers were flown all expenses paid to Las Vegas, Nevada
and received $500 in casino chips and other amenities.
Professional poker players Tony G
, Dennis Waterman
and Perry Friedman
and reality television
personality-turned poker pro Rob Mariano
have appeared in the Dome.
Players started with 50,000 in tournament chips and play continued until one player had all 300,000. The tournament was single-elimination and only the winner of each table received prize money. Players had just 15 seconds to act on a hand before it was ruled dead. Each player was given one 30-second time extension that could be used at any time. When the table got to heads-up, each player received another 30-second time extension (although if a player hadn't previously used the extension he or she did not then have two). Betting was pot-limit pre-flop and no-limit post-flop until heads-up play, when it became all no-limit.
Each preliminary winner pocketed $25,000 in cash and advanced to the semi-finals. After each set of six preliminary tournaments, a semi-final single table tournament was played among the six winners, with the winner of that table taking $50,000 and advancing to the final table. After the six semi-final matches were played, the finalists played one more single table tournament for the $1,000,000 winner-take-all grand prize. Each of the other finalists won a prize package from Mansion Poker worth $13,000.
display for the dealer button, hole card cameras, automatic card reading technology (described on-screen as "computer chips," possibly passive RFID tags) and built in LED hand timers. Two dealers worked the tournaments to maintain the fast pace, and players were attached to heart monitors. Players' hole cards and heart rates were displayed for the live audience and in particularly stressful situations like all in bets, heart rates were displayed to the home audience.
The Tropicana Resort & Casino
hosted the first several events prior to the completion of construction at the Neonopolis
.
qualifiers, who had access to three other pros for coaching. The top three spots paid, and if an amateur cashed the prize money would be split with the coach. Each amateur started with $20,000 more in chips than the pros and each amateur/coach team was allowed two time outs, one called by the player and one by the coach.
Speed poker
Speed poker is a live variant of Texas hold 'em inspired by online poker. A relatively new variant, it is the format of two major televised tournaments, the World Speed Poker Open and the Poker Dome Challenge, as well as the Asia-Pacific Speed Poker Championship. Card Player Magazine credits...
tournaments offering a grand prize of $1,000,000 USD. The tournament aired in the United States on Fox Sports Network from May 2006 to March 2007. The tournament featured a number of technological gimmicks in an effort to increase viewer interest and excitement. Commentating duties were shared by rotating hosts including Barry Tompkins
Barry Tompkins
Barry Tompkins is a well-known American sportscaster. He is better known for his work as a boxing commentator, but he has covered football and another number of sports as well.-San Francisco, New York City and NBC:...
, Jon Kelley
Jon Kelley
Jon Kelley is an award winning American sports journalist, author, producer, and television personality. Born and raised in Lincoln, Nebraska, Kelley played four seasons as a running back for the University of Nebraska before graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in broadcast journalism...
, Michael Konik
Michael Konik
Michael Konik is an American author, television personality, jazz singer, improvisational comedian, blackjack player and poker player. Konik has a degree in Drama from New York University.Konik currently resides in Hollywood, California.-Writing:...
, Michael Gracz
Michael Gracz
Maciek Gracz is a Polish professional poker player, based in Raleigh, North Carolina.Gracz learned poker from his father and played regularly whilst studying at North Carolina State University....
, Joel Meyers
Joel Meyers
Joel Meyers is an American sportscaster and former play-by-play announcer of the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association on Fox Sports West and KCAL. Meyers left the Lakers at the end of the 2010-2011 season when the team did not renew his contract.-Career:Meyers joined the Lakers...
and Chris Rose
Chris Rose
Christopher Rose is an American sportscaster.-Early life and career:Rose attended University School in Hunting Valley during high school. Rose attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and graduated in 1993...
with Leeann Tweeden
Leeann Tweeden
Leeann Velez Tweeden is an American model.Tweeden was born in Manassas, Virginia. She graduated from Osbourn Park High School in 1991. Tweeden skipped college altogether and instead pursued a career in modeling...
serving as co-host/exit interviewer (occasionally covered by Nafeesa DeFlorias
Nafeesa DeFlorias
Nafeesa Leilani De Florias is a beauty pageant contestant and television personality from Phoenix, Arizona who has competed in the Miss USA pageant....
). Matt Savage
Matt Savage (poker)
Matt Savage is an American poker tournament director. He has officiated at a number of televised poker and gambling events, including the World Series of Poker , Bay 101's Shooting Star stop on the World Poker Tour, Poker Dome Challenge and King of Vegas.In 2001, along with Linda Johnson, Jan...
was the tournament director
Tournament director (poker)
In the game of poker, the tournament director is the individual charged with running the poker tournament. The job encompasses many roles, the most public of which is typically announcing the phrase "shuffle up and deal!" at the beginning of the day...
.
The series consisted of single table tournaments of six players each. Five of the six competitors qualified through daily freeroll
Freeroll (poker)
In poker, a freeroll has two distinct meanings. One applies to the play of a single hand, and the other describes an entire poker tournament.-Freeroll hand:...
tournaments held at mansionpoker.net. Another competitor came from the National Pub Poker League, an amateur poker league that partnered with MansionPoker.net and qualified its nightly bar tournament winners into a private weekly freerollhttp://www.nationalpubpokerleague.com/index.aspx.
http://www.mansion.com/content/poker/poker.aspx?pg=pd&page=2&cp=poker/tournaments/PokerDome&cn=. Winners of the online qualifiers were flown all expenses paid to Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
and received $500 in casino chips and other amenities.
Professional poker players Tony G
Tony G
Antanas Guoga , more commonly known as Tony G, is a businessman and professional poker player. As a child, he was the Rubik's Cube champion of Lithuania before moving to Melbourne, Australia at the age of 11. He has played poker since the age of 18, and is known for his outlandish table talk and...
, Dennis Waterman
Dennis Waterman (poker player)
Dennis Waterman is a professional poker player and writer. He has over 30 years of poker experience with reported career winnings that exceed $1,000,000....
and Perry Friedman
Perry Friedman
Perry Friedman is an American professional poker player who won the 2002 World Series of Poker $1,500 Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better event, a founding member of the Tiltboys and is a Full Tilt Professional.- World Series of Poker :...
and reality television
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
personality-turned poker pro Rob Mariano
Rob Mariano
Robert Carlo "Boston Rob" Mariano is an American television personality, widely known for appearing in several reality shows, including Survivor, and The Amazing Race with his wife, Amber Brkich Mariano. Mariano won Survivor: Redemption Island and the $1,000,000 prize after competing on the show...
have appeared in the Dome.
Players started with 50,000 in tournament chips and play continued until one player had all 300,000. The tournament was single-elimination and only the winner of each table received prize money. Players had just 15 seconds to act on a hand before it was ruled dead. Each player was given one 30-second time extension that could be used at any time. When the table got to heads-up, each player received another 30-second time extension (although if a player hadn't previously used the extension he or she did not then have two). Betting was pot-limit pre-flop and no-limit post-flop until heads-up play, when it became all no-limit.
Each preliminary winner pocketed $25,000 in cash and advanced to the semi-finals. After each set of six preliminary tournaments, a semi-final single table tournament was played among the six winners, with the winner of that table taking $50,000 and advancing to the final table. After the six semi-final matches were played, the finalists played one more single table tournament for the $1,000,000 winner-take-all grand prize. Each of the other finalists won a prize package from Mansion Poker worth $13,000.
The Poker Dome
Tournaments were played in front of a live audience in a structure called The Poker Dome. The audience couldn't be seen or heard by the players and players were screened before entering the Dome to ensure they were unable to communicate with anyone outside the Dome. The high tech table featured an LEDLEd
LEd is a TeX/LaTeX editing software working under Microsoft Windows. It is a freeware product....
display for the dealer button, hole card cameras, automatic card reading technology (described on-screen as "computer chips," possibly passive RFID tags) and built in LED hand timers. Two dealers worked the tournaments to maintain the fast pace, and players were attached to heart monitors. Players' hole cards and heart rates were displayed for the live audience and in particularly stressful situations like all in bets, heart rates were displayed to the home audience.
The Tropicana Resort & Casino
Tropicana Resort & Casino
Tropicana Las Vegas is located on the Las Vegas Strip, in the township of Paradise, Nevada. It is owned by Tropicana Las Vegas Hotel and Resort Inc. and operated by Alex Yemenidjian's Armenco Holdings. It offers 1,658 rooms and is attached to a casino...
hosted the first several events prior to the completion of construction at the Neonopolis
Neonopolis
Neonopolis, a shopping mall, is a $100 million entertainment complex in Las Vegas, Nevada located on top of a $15 million city parking garage. It is located on the Fremont Street Experience, at the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard...
.
Tournament Results
| Round | Winner | Hometown | Round | Winner | Hometown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preliminary 1 | Rhowena Colclough | Birmingham Birmingham Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a... , UK United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... |
Preliminary 7 | Reg Brittain | Northampton, MA Northampton, Massachusetts The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of Northampton's central neighborhoods, was 28,549... |
| Preliminary 2 | Andrew Rogers | Montgomery, MN Montgomery, Minnesota Montgomery is a city in Le Sueur County, Minnesota, in the United States, 45 miles south of Minneapolis. It was named after Richard Montgomery, an Irish-American soldier who served as a major general in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. The population was 2,956 at the 2010... |
Preliminary 8 | Neil Jones | Mankato, MN |
| Preliminary 3 | John Bowman | Surrey Surrey Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of... , UK |
Preliminary 9 | Rodel Tuazon | Des Moines, IA Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines is the capital and the most populous city in the US state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small portion of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines which was shortened to "Des Moines" in 1857... |
| Preliminary 4 | Marissa Chien | Las Vegas, NV | Preliminary 10 | Stan Poczatek | Woodbridge, VA Woodbridge, Virginia -Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 31,941 people, 10,687 households, and 7,769 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 3,047.8 people per square mile . There were 11,026 housing units at an average density of 1,052.1/sq mi... |
| Preliminary 5 | John Woods | Abbey Abbey, Devon Abbey is a village in the English county of Devon. It is located in the Blackdown Hills.... , UK |
Preliminary 11 | Ed Betzel | Fraser, MI Fraser, Michigan Fraser is a city in Macomb County of the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 15,297 at the 2000 census. The city is part of the Metro Detroit region.The Village of Fraser was incorporated by an act of the state legislature in 1894... |
| Preliminary 6 | Robert Brown | Shawassee, MI | Preliminary 12 | Rick Berger | Melbourne, FL Melbourne, Florida Melbourne is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. As of 2009, the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau is 78,323. The municipal area is the second largest by size and by population in the county. Melbourne is a principal city of the Palm Bay – Melbourne – Titusville, Florida... |
| Semi-final 1 | Andrew Rogers | Semi-final 2 | Rodel Tuazon | ||
| Preliminary 13 | Gagan Virk | Sylmar, CA Sylmar, Los Angeles, California Sylmar is a district in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles, California. The northernmost neighborhood in the city, Sylmar is located east of Interstate 5 and north of the city of San Fernando... |
Preliminary 19 | D.K. Thomas | San Pedro, CA San Pedro, Los Angeles, California San Pedro is a port district of the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. It was annexed in 1909 and is a major seaport of the area... |
| Preliminary 14 | Jason Martyn | Ipswich Ipswich Ipswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell... , UK |
Preliminary 20 | Victoria Wale | Princes Risborough Princes Risborough Princes Risborough is a small town in Buckinghamshire, England, about 9 miles south of Aylesbury and 8 miles north west of High Wycombe. Bledlow lies to the west and Monks Risborough to the east. It lies at the foot of the Chiltern Hills, at the north end of a gap or pass through the Chilterns,... , UK |
| Preliminary 15 | Jerry Schrader | Woodbridge, VA Woodbridge, Virginia -Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 31,941 people, 10,687 households, and 7,769 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 3,047.8 people per square mile . There were 11,026 housing units at an average density of 1,052.1/sq mi... |
Preliminary 21 | Bruce Spencer | Pensacola, FL Pensacola, Florida Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752... |
| Preliminary 16 | Bill Sheldon | Cape May, NJ Cape May, New Jersey Cape May is a city at the southern tip of Cape May Peninsula in Cape May County, New Jersey, where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean and is one of the country's oldest vacation resort destinations. It is part of the Ocean City Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 United States... |
Preliminary 22 | Walter Graden | Statham, GA Statham, Georgia Statham is a city in Barrow County, Georgia, United States. The population was 2,040 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Statham is located at .... |
| Preliminary 17 | Jon Davies | Albrighton Albrighton Albrighton may refer to either one of two places in Shropshire, England:*Albrighton, Bridgnorth, in the east of the county, north-west of Wolverhampton*Albrighton, Shrewsbury, north of Shrewsbury... , UK |
Preliminary 23 | Ben Ludwig | Collegeville, PA Collegeville, Pennsylvania Collegeville is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, 30 miles northwest of Philadelphia on the Perkiomen Creek. Collegeville was incorporated in 1896. It is the seat of Ursinus College, opened in 1869... |
| Preliminary 18 | Marlon Delinois | Spring Valley, NY Spring Valley, New York Spring Valley, incorporated on July 9, 1902 is a village spanning the Town of Ramapo and Town of Clarkstown in Rockland County, New York, United States located north of Nanuet; east of Airmont and Monsey; south of Hillcrest and west of West Nyack... |
Preliminary 24 | Steve Goodemote | Canandaigua, NY Canandaigua (city), New York Canandaigua is a city in Ontario County, New York, USA, of which it is the county seat. The population was 11,264 at the 2000 census... |
| Semi-final 3 | Jerry Schrader | Semi-final 4 | Ben Ludwig | ||
| Preliminary 25 | Kristian Gilleland | Conway, SC Conway, South Carolina Conway is a city in Horry County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 16,317 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Horry County and is part of the Myrtle Beach metropolitan area. It is the home of Coastal Carolina University.... |
Preliminary 31 | Carl Olson | Seattle, WA |
| Preliminary 26 | Rob Sherwood | Manchester Manchester Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater... , UK |
Preliminary 32 | Zack Williamson | Ontario Ontario Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa.... , CAN |
| Preliminary 27 | Dale Rodda | Frankston, AUS Frankston, Victoria Frankston is a suburb within the Greater Melbourne metropolitan area in Victoria, Australia. It is located 40 km southeast of the state capital Melbourne at the southernmost edge of Greater Melbourne, near the beginnings of the Mornington Peninsula... |
Preliminary 33 | Ryan Hall | Sheffield Sheffield Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely... , UK |
| Preliminary 28 | John Ritchie | Dundee Dundee Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea... , Scotland Scotland Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the... |
Preliminary 34 | Dennis Waterman | Sedona, AZ Sedona, Arizona Sedona is a city that straddles the county line between Coconino and Yavapai counties in the northern Verde Valley region of the U.S. state of Arizona... |
| Preliminary 29 | Keith Hubbard | Brampton Brampton Brampton is the third-largest city in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, Canada.Brampton may also refer to:- Canada :* Brampton, a city in Ontario** Brampton GO Station, a station in the GO Transit network located in the city- United Kingdom :... , Ontario Ontario Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa.... |
Preliminary 35 | Jason Phipps | Omaha, NE Omaha, Nebraska Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River... |
| Preliminary 30 | Toly Braylovsky | Hamden, CT Hamden, Connecticut Hamden is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town's nickname is "The Land of the Sleeping Giant." Hamden is home to Quinnipiac University. The population was 58,180 according to the Census Bureau's 2005 estimates... |
Preliminary 36 | Clayton Mozdzen | Stonewall, Manitoba Stonewall, Manitoba Stonewall is a town in the Canadian province of Manitoba with a population of 4,376 as of the 2006 census. The town is situated approximately north of Winnipeg on PTH 67. It is known for its limestone quarries. The local festival is the Quarry Days which is usually held over three days in August... |
| Semi-final 5 | Rob Sherwood | Semi-final 6 | Dennis Waterman |
Final table
| Finish | Player | Total cash winnings |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rodel Tuazon | $1,075,000 |
| 2 | Dennis Waterman Dennis Waterman (poker player) Dennis Waterman is a professional poker player and writer. He has over 30 years of poker experience with reported career winnings that exceed $1,000,000.... |
$75,000 |
| 3 | Rob Sherwood | $75,000 |
| 4 | Ben Ludwig | $75,000 |
| 5 | Andrew Rogers | $75,000 |
| 6 | Jerry Schrader | $75,000 |
World Pro-Am Challenge
On July 12, 2006, The Poker Dome played host to the World Pro-Am Challenge, with a $1,000,000 USD prize pool. Three professional players were pitted against three amateur onlineOnline poker
Online poker is the game of poker played over the Internet. It has been partly responsible for a dramatic increase in the number of poker players worldwide...
qualifiers, who had access to three other pros for coaching. The top three spots paid, and if an amateur cashed the prize money would be split with the coach. Each amateur started with $20,000 more in chips than the pros and each amateur/coach team was allowed two time outs, one called by the player and one by the coach.
| Position | Player | Hometown | Coach | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gavin Smith | Guelph Guelph Guelph is a city in Ontario, Canada.Guelph may also refer to:* Guelph , consisting of the City of Guelph, Ontario* Guelph , as the above* University of Guelph, in the same city... , Ontario Ontario Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa.... |
$500,000 | |
| 2 | Scott Gardner | Spalding Spalding, Lincolnshire Spalding is a market town with a population of 30,000 on the River Welland in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. Little London is a hamlet directly south of Spalding on the B1172 road.... , UK |
Michael Gracz Michael Gracz Maciek Gracz is a Polish professional poker player, based in Raleigh, North Carolina.Gracz learned poker from his father and played regularly whilst studying at North Carolina State University.... |
$270,000 ($30,000 to Gracz) |
| 3 | John Gale John Gale (poker player) John Gale is an English professional poker based in Bushey, Hertfordshire.Gale is a relative newcomer to poker, having only begun playing Texas hold 'em in mid-2004. He first made a name for himself by qualifying for the World Poker Tour 2005 PokerStars Caribbean Poker Adventure tournament in The... |
Bushey Bushey Bushey is a town in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire in the East of England. Bushey Heath is situated to the south east of Bushey on the boundary with the London Borough of Harrow.-History:... , UK |
$200,000 | |
| 4 | Todd Brunson Todd Brunson Todd Alan Brunson is an American professional poker player and the son of poker legend Doyle Brunson.Although Brunson's father Doyle is a poker player, Brunson did not learn the game when he was young. It was not until he was studying law at Texas Tech University that he learned on his own how to... |
Las Vegas, NV | $0 | |
| 5 | Joe Isaacson | Eau Claire, WI Eau Claire, Wisconsin Eau Claire is a city located in the west-central part of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 65,883 as of the 2010 census, making it the largest municipality in the northwestern portion of the state, and the 9th largest in the state overall. It is the county seat of Eau Claire County,... |
Kenna James Kenna James Kenna James is an American professional poker player, television commentator and consultant who currently resides in Costa Mesa, California.... |
$0 |
| 6 | Andy Stoll | Cincinnati, OH | Tony G Tony G Antanas Guoga , more commonly known as Tony G, is a businessman and professional poker player. As a child, he was the Rubik's Cube champion of Lithuania before moving to Melbourne, Australia at the age of 11. He has played poker since the age of 18, and is known for his outlandish table talk and... |
$0 |