Phil Ivey is the first player to step into the firing line and put up the sphincter-loosening USD10m buy-in

It’s official! Poker is now the biggest game in the world. A new $60m payout is set to eclipse the paltry purses put up for sports like boxing, golf and football, making cards the single most lucrative pastime in history.

Mansion – a Gibraltan-based online casino and sports betting operator – is set to cut a swathe through the competition when it enters the poker arena in February. It has struck a deal for six of the world’s best players to sit down this summer and play for $60m in the first of three multi-million dollar, winner-takes-all events, which will act as the jewel in the crown of the forthcoming Mansionpoker.net Pokerdome Series. Unsurprisingly, Phil Ivey is the first player to step into the firing line and put up the sphincter-loosening $10m buy-in.

‘Not Mike Tyson, Michael Schumacher or Tiger Woods have ever collected this much in one outing,’ said Fox Sports head honcho George Greenberg, who expects the show to be a global hit.

Chip technology

The high rollers will play at a state-of-the-art poker table complete with special cameras and computer chip-laden cards that will allow the viewer at home to see burn cards, track who’s the odds-on favourite and even rabbit hunt turn and river cards to see whether folded flush draws would have hit or not.

A new big name player will be revealed each month in the lead up to the July 12 event. It may be an obvious attempt to build hype but, like waiting to see which actor is to star in Tarantino’s next film, the anticipation is unbearable. So check out PokerPlayer each month to find out the other brave souls willing to stake their life savings in the biggest ever game.

But wait…there’s more! The Pokerdome Series is set to run for three years with mega-event pots swelling to $100m by 2008. Among more traditional formats, the staple of the series will involve speed poker tournaments that will see winning players compete in $1m winnertakes- all end of season finales.

Sponsor Mansionpoker.net has signed a deal with the Rupert Murdoch-owned American broadcaster Fox Sports that will see Pokerdome piped into homes across the States and, we hope, over here. Fox Sports’ last big event – the Full Tilt Invitational – was broadcast live from Monte Carlo on Sky Sports 1. And who is the head honcho of Sky? Mr Murdoch. Bring. It. On.

Qualifying tournaments will be run on Mansionpoker.net, which launched in January