Parting of ways is sad but perhaps when the parting is amicable then it is not so sad.

Mansion Poker, the Gibraltar based online poker room, and its software provider Ongame Network have amicably parted ways from the 24th of September.

Ongame Network had been servicing Mansion Poker for the last one year. A Mansion Poker release said that there had arisen strategic differences and it thanked Ongame Network for a “successful and productive partnership” and wished the network the best in its new venture. It is likely that this new venture had become the cause of the strategic differences. Ongame is set to launch new poker software known as P5 Engine. Meanwhile Mansion Poker has moved over to the iPoker network, poker sites that are not poker Mac compatible.

The iPoker network is one of the largest networks in the online poker industry and Mansion Poker hopes to benefit from this association. For one the player traffic is expected to increase because of influx from the other online poker rooms on the iPoker network. The iPoker network boasts of over 30,000 active players from poker rooms of the stature of Titan Poker, CD Poker and Paddy Power Poker. Also members of Mansion Poker can now compete in the European Championship of Online Poker, which is sponsored by iPoker. Players at Mansion Poker have been assured that the changeover will be smooth. The players’ accounts will be moved to the new network as they are. The existing player points will be converted to the new Mansion Club Points, which are based on the iPoker system. iPoker network uses Playtech software and offers all the usual games like Hold’em, Omaha, Omaha Hi Lo and Seven Card Stud and hence Mansion Poker players will not feel out of place. They also stand to participate in guaranteed prize pool tournaments that have prizes over $10 million every month. 

Mansion Poker was launched in 2004 and in four short years they have changed twice. The online poker room started as a stand-alone venture in that it was not a part of any network. It was doing extremely well when the UIGEA came along and put an end to its American customers. This forced Mansion Poker to join the Ongame network so that it could share traffic. In its short history there have been many memorable moments for Mansion poker, but perhaps it will be remembered for giving the first couple in poker, David Benyamine and Erica Schoenberg, their first sponsorship deals. 

Whether Mansion Poker made a wise decision in ditching Ongame only time will tell because Ongame appears to be launching software that is expected to revolutionize online poker. This software, known as P5 Poker Engine, has been design specifically for poker and has been enthusiastically received by the online poker industry when it was recently showcased at i-Gaming Congress and Expo in Barcelona. The press officer of bwin Interactive Entertainment, the owner of Ongame, said while exhibiting the P5 Poker Engine, “We decided to go to the very heart of our platform and rethink every line of code - and rewrite it if necessary.

P5 represents a shift in mentality as much as it represents a shift in technology. We are already very excited about what P5 enables us to - but this is nothing compared to what you will see in the months to come.”