Day 4 of the Cardplayer Lifestyle Mixed Game Festival IX quickly proved the busiest and most action-packed of the week so far!
The day started similarly to those preceding it, with two $4/$8 Dealer’s Choice tables full inside the Resorts World Las Vegas poker room. Within two hours, we started our first (ever!) $20/$40 game of the festival AND had a lengthy waitlist at $4/$8!
📣👉 A 20/40 game is up and running for the FIRST time as a part of our Mixed Game Festival. 👍🥳
👋 Come join the game at @PokerRoomRWLV and take @cardplayerlife‘s money! 💰#PokerLifeMedia pic.twitter.com/SQr95gZoQj
— Cardplayer Lifestyle (@PokerLifeMedia) November 6, 2024
The room’s excitement built throughout the afternoon, too, leading up to two drawings for 2024 NAPT Las Vegas $550 Mixed Game Tournament seats. Everyone who had played over the first four days of the festival accrued entries, and winners had to be present to claim their prizes.
What else went on during the day? Keep reading and find out.
Three Tables Running on Mixed Game Festival IX Day 4
The Resorts World poker room shone brightly for mixed-game action on Wednesday. The $20/$40 game became the third table in play for the festival, alongside the two lower-stakes games.
📣👉 Three tables running in @cardplayerlife‘s Mixed Game Festival IX at @PokerRoomRWLV! 👍🔥
👋Come join in the fun! 🥳
♠️♥️♣️♦️#PokerLifeMedia pic.twitter.com/6J9h8JdEwG— Cardplayer Lifestyle (@PokerLifeMedia) November 6, 2024
One of my favorite parts about mixed games, especially when covering events, is having a different story at every table. Unlike single-variant games, every table takes its own shape based on the games in the rotation, the current game being played, and the cast of characters at each table.
(Yes, I’m fully aware of the three fingers pointing back at myself while I call you all characters!)
Some tables choose a more conventional spread of mixed game plaques, while others get more adventurous. I’ve even seen games proposed where only one player knew the rules, explained those rules to the table, and everybody welcomed the game with open arms.
Other times, as you’ll see below, players incorporate a “game within a game.” 🙂
So, those three tables ran until midnight; the $20/40 eventually disbanded and a $4/8 took over the table. Two tables broke at midnight with action at the last one lasting well into the wee morning hours once again.
The “Stand Up” Game, Mixed Game Festival Style
After the day turned to night, one of the three MGF tables decided to turn the fun volume up a notch and create a novel version of the “stand up” game.
As Robbie described in the video below, each player at the table received a button. Rather than stand up after winning a pot or portion of the pot, a player got to return their button to the dealer.
The Mixed Game Festival IX version of the “stand up” game is in effect 😂
“Winner” gets a copy of @DylanLinde‘s Mastering Mixed Games (because if you’re the last one at the table to win a pot, clearly you need to read up a little, lol) pic.twitter.com/Qd13CbFtdG
— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) November 7, 2024
“And the last one holding a button gets [Dylan Linde’s] Mastering Mixed Games book. Because if you haven’t won a pot, you clearly need the book for help!”
(Just to clarify, Robbie said that with a laugh. Couldn’t we all use some of Dylan’s expertise, after all?)
NAPT Seat Winners: Chad McVean and Julie Marriott
As someone who loves mixed games and is primarily a tournament player, I can’t speak enough about how incredible it was for PokerStars to partner with us and offer two MGF participants a chance at getting into the tournament streets!
It’s not every day some of us low-stakes aficionados get to try our hand at mixed game tournaments, which often have higher buy-ins. Even the $550 price point is on the low end compared to the daily NLH tournaments you can find at poker rooms across the country (and the world). That $550 could, variance permitting, be an entire bankroll for all five days at the MGF!
Anywho, as promised, at 7pm Robbie sat together with Resorts World Director of Poker Operations Leon Wheeler to randomly draw our two NAPT mixed game tournament seat winners.
Julie Marriott won the seat to the NAPT $550 8-Game event on Saturday. Julie’s Hendon Mob database totals over $55,000 in live tournament scores, most of which are NLH events and the most recent of which is a fourth place finish in the 2024 NAPT Las Vegas Ladies Event just a couple days ago. She has a couple of mixed scores in there – we found at least one each in Omaha 8 and Crazy Pineapple – and we hope she shows the tournament crowd how formidable of an opponent she is at 8-Game this weekend!
As for the H.E.R.O.S event that will take place later this afternoon, none other than Cardplayer Lifestyle Social Media Director Chad McVean won the seat! I’ll personally leave that up to the reader whether it was an inside job or good karma for calling Razz on Robbie multiple times this week; but regardless, we want to congratulate Chad as he is an awesome dude, and we couldn’t be happier for him to have some fun upstairs today!
PokerCoaching.com Player of the Day: Rachi Messing
Rachi Messing won the title of Day 4’s PokerCoaching.com Player of the Day, receiving recognition during the second MGF he’s attended. He also attended the inaugural Mixed Game Festival three years ago.
Attending MGF IX was such a priority for Messing that he flew to the US four days before an already-planned work trip just to participate! His first MGF experience included a small amount of poker, as he had also traveled with his wife. This time, he had put in close to 40 hours of play in less than three days when we interviewed him and said his “graveyard shift” sessions were the true highlight of his trip.
Rachi’s link to the Mixed Game Festival is extra special, though. Messing lives in Israel, like Robbie, and actually plays in the same weekly home game as Robbie and his dad, Josef.
“I love mixed games,” said Messing. “It’s pretty much the only thing I enjoy playing nowadays. And the chance to come and support Robbie for a couple of days, have some fun, and play some poker was too good of an opportunity to pass up.”
Why does Messing love mixed games?
“It really comes down to my ADD,” said Messing with a slight chuckle. “I need to have the diversity and variety of the games, and playing the same game over and over and over again gets boring, even though I fully realize that you can absolutely improve on a single game better than you can when you’re playing so many varieties.
“But at our home game, we actually change the game every hand, which is perfect for me. Whereas here, it’s a full orbit. So, it gets a little bit boring actually, for me. But it’s so much more fascinating; so much more strategy that goes into it.
“And more importantly, the people at the table are generally a lot more relaxed, having a lot more fun, and just enjoying themselves throughout the entire game.”
Day 5 Preview: H.E.R.O.S, Special Guests, and More Games
Thursday marks the fifth and final day of MGF IX. (How has it come and gone so quickly?!)
We expect several special special guests to join us at the cash game tables today. However, that will all depend on how their afternoons fare, as we expect to see a full cast of familiar faces taking their shot at this afternoon’s $550 Cardplayer Lifestyle $550 H.E.R.O.S. event that is part of the PokerStars USA NAPT schedule.
If you’re around, be sure to say hi and take a seat. We are sure to have one available for you — and likely some great poker merchandise from our sponsors D&B Poker, RunGoodGear, Pokercoaching.com, and PokerGO. And if you haven’t played mixed games before, this is the absolute best place to learn. We promise you’ll have a blast and would love to include you in our mixed game family.
Busted a @PokerStarsUSA NAPT tournament?
Come downstairs and have a blast with us at the @PokerLifeMedia Mixed Game Festival at @PokerRoomRWLV!
Action will keep going until after midnight and then again tomorrow from noon 🚀
Now: 3 dealer’s choice tables and a waitlist 💪 pic.twitter.com/xPBub6vrYo
— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) November 7, 2024
About The Author
