$60 Million Poker Tourney Cancelled
Published: Tuesday, May 23, 2006 Online-Casinos.com
$60 MILLION POKER TOURNEY CANCELLED
But the alternative is none too shabby!
An ambitious $60 million poker tournament (see previous Online-Casinos.com &
InfoPowa reports) scheduled for July 12th has been cancelled according to planners
FSN and Mansion Poker.net, but a $1 million first prize alternative
at the same Dome venue in Las Vegas is shaping up to be a major attraction.
Details for an upcoming TV series branded The Mansion Poker.net Poker Dome
Challenge were released this week, and the first event will be screened on
FSN this weekend at 11pm Sunday.
As previously announced, the studio audience will be able to see the players'
hole cards, but cannot be seen or heard by the players at the table, who are enclosed
in a glass 'dome', with soundproof one way mirrors that prevent them from seeing
the audience. FSN is bringing back the heart monitor for this series, and commentators
will include several well known poker personalities.
The format for the new show is a weekly contest in which six highly experienced
qualifiers will face off in a one table tournament. The winner of that tournament
picks up $25,000, and advances to the semifinal round. The six winners of the
semifinal table square off in another single table tournament, with the winner
of that table picking up $50,000, and moving on to the final, where he or she
will play a winner take all tournament worth $1,000,000.
According to George Greenberg, FSN's Executive Vice President of Programming
and Production, FSN was simply not prepared to produce both the upcoming Poker
Dome series, and the $10 million buy-in event at the same time.
"When we took a step back and looked objectively at the size and scope of
producing both the premiere season of the Mansionpoker.net Poker Dome Challenge
series and the 2006 Mega-Event, we had to be honest with ourselves - these are
two massive projects, each requiring considerable resources and manpower."
Greenberg said "To produce them both simultaneously would compromise the
quality of each, a concession FSN is not willing to make. Therefore, we have decided
to cancel the 2006 Mega-Event and focus on delivering an explosive 43-week series
that will change the way poker is televised."
