InnovationPlay was founded in 1997 by Mike Hickle and John Pollock. Its original charter was to use high technology that we were exposed to through our automation business (Unique Equipment Co.) to better our off work 'play time'.

Our original idea was to use smart, controlled laser texturing of golf club heads to help golfers control the spin of the golf ball based on their swing. We had a lot of fun texturing club heads and then ripping into golf balls but we eventually abandoned the idea because there were just too many club head alloys to deal with.

Soon after that idea fizzled we sold Unique Equipment Co. to Newport Corp. We both ended up technically getting laid off as the DOT COM boom ... busted.

In 2005, Texas Hold'Em fever was alive and well on the Internet and in semi-retirement along with a monthly poker game in the garage, John started development on InnovationPoker with the follow question in mind:

Why would so many people play cards interactively in front of a computer, wasting an enormous amount of time, when they could create a virtual player to do the work for them while they are off enjoying the world?

InnovationPoker is a fully automated poker environment that you upload your virtual player into and sign up for tournaments, five minutes later its over, email is used notify you of your results with statistics attached, and if you are a winner you have the option of automatically entering another tournament. What could be better, a small investment that could pay off a 100 times over (like a lottery) and yet you control the outcome and the host can actually make some money because the tournament doesn't take days....it takes minutes, even with a 1000 players. Now that's why computers were invented....to do the work for you....just like a calculator!

The question of whether anyone would participate was answered 20 years earlier at Northern Arizona University, THANK YOU Dr. Lanny Mullens.

The UIGEA put a stop to the urgency and the flow of money (out the door) but the fire burns. The electronics for the keyfob version were designed and tested and we have 200 or more of every device including the usb micro-controller, a small OLED display and small lithium polymer batteries. We have a pc based version of the virtual player creator application that is pretty cool. Patents are pending!

Thanks for stopping by. If your interested in anything on the site, just drop me an email HERE.