The Mixed Game Festival is back for its landmark tenth edition! Taking place at Resorts World Las Vegas and hosted by Cardplayer Lifestyle founder Robbie Strazynski, the festival offers affordable mixed game action with a focus on camaraderie and having a good time on and off the felt.
Yesterday, as per tradition, the Mixed Game Festival got underway once again with a traditional pizza party. What better way than free food to give you the energy required for the long grind ahead?!
The event has now become a staple among mixed game enthusiasts, so it attracted many familiar faces who look forward to the opportunity to catch up with their poker buddies and play their hearts out for several days.
Even high-roller Justin Saliba popped in for a few! While the stakes for these games may be well below what he’s used to playing, Justin caught the mixed game bug during one of the previous festivals, and he seems to enjoy the challenge and the atmosphere more than anything else.
Always awesome when @Justin_Saliba pops in to visit us at the @PokerLifeMedia Mixed Game Festival.
Did you know he first learned mixed games with us?
His story here: https://t.co/q9B9TG8niD pic.twitter.com/9daigjikWt
— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) February 17, 2025
A Passionate, Enthusiastic Crowd of Mixed Game Lovers
The opening day of the Mixed Game Festival X was all about the cash game action, with two full tables running for full 12 hours and the last hand dealt right around midnight.
As is often the case with any poker festival, the first day tends to attract a smaller crowd of those who simply don’t want to miss out on any of the action. It may have been just two tables of $4/$8 dealer’s choice, but the action was good, surpassed only by quality table banter, with a rotating cast of characters filing through the Resorts World Poker Room throughout the day and some regular festival participants logging a full 12-hour session.
Two tables of raucous mixed game action still going at @PokerRoomRWLV. 🔥
Special appearance from @PokerGOTour Commish @Tim__Duckworth. 😁 pic.twitter.com/dub4UJEUFi
— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) February 17, 2025
One of the tables featured a very specific rotation of 10 games (see below), selected to commemorate the “AVP mixed game” that used to run every Sunday many years ago at the Imperial Palace (RIP). The other table’s mix of games included many well-known variations like Badugi, 2-7 Triple Draw, Stud 8, and A-5 Triple Draw, as well as some lesser known ones like Drawmaha 49, Watermelon, Action Razz, and Archie.
Pokercoaching.com Player of the Day: Joseph Konstan
Joseph Konstan traveled to Las Vegas all the way from Minnesota after finding out about the Mixed Game Festival on Facebook. He saw it as a perfect opportunity to escape the cold for a few days and enjoy some poker.
Joseph has been playing mixed games for nearly 20 years, and, like many others who subscribe to non-Hold’em poker, he likes the fact that most games in the mix have not been “solved,” so there is much more room for creativity.
Back in his home poker room, Canterbury Park, he’s used to playing a couple of times a week, mostly playing $20/$40 mix, so it’s a bit of a drop in stakes, but Joe still figured it was worth making the trip out to Vegas for the experience. Exactly because the stakes are lower, players are more willing to take risks and splash around in pots, and everybody’s having fun, not having to worry about as much about financial implications.
For those who are still hesitant about mixed games, Joe has a very simple message: “come, sit, and watch. If you can play poker, you can play any of these games, and people are generally friendly and willing to help you along.” You may not play the perfect game right off the bat, but, as he correctly points out, “neither do many who have been playing for several decades!”
As for what he likes about mixed games versus Texas Hold’em, Joe replied that “there is usually a lot more action and more thinking involved, as you need to think about what cards may or may not still be in the deck based on the other players folding, so it is a rather different experience worth at least trying.”
Joseph’s Player of the Day selection comes with a free 1-month Pokercoaching.com Premium membership.
RunGoodGear.com Dealer of the Day: Josh Wilgoren
Every time it runs, the Mixed Game Festival tries to introduce something new to the mix. Our Player of the Day segment has been around for a while now in our daily recaps, and now we also introducing a new Dealer of the Day segment, sponsored by RunGoodGear.com. This segment will give us an opportunity to meet the people who make the magic happen for our players at the felt, seamlessly shifting between a numerous different games and keeping the action going.
To kick things off, we spoke with Josh Wilgoren, the man who is no stranger to dealing cards, but who hasn’t been actively pursuing a dealer career for a few years now. With things being a bit slow at his day-to-day job and Resorts World needing some reinforcements for the Mixed Game Festival, he saw it as the perfect opportunity to get back in the mix. We caught up with him on what turned out to be his first day on the job at the property!
Josh started dealing back in 2011 in charity poker rooms in New Hampshire and then progressed to join the army of the World Series of Poker dealers. Although he enjoyed many aspects of it, he decided to switch careers after getting married, looking for something that didn’t require a lot of traveling and long nights spent on a casino floor.
One of the main reasons he decided to temporarily come out of his retirement for the Mixed Game Festival is that — and I speak from a good deal of personal experience here — Resorts World is the kind of place that looks for dealers with personalities who are friendly with the players and help to create a fun and relaxed environment.
As far as dealing mixed games vs. Hold’em, Josh doesn’t hide the fact that dealing Hold’em is more profitable for a dealer (more hands an hour tends to equal more tips), but he insists that dealing the mix is much more enjoyable on a personal level. Plus “I see that festival players tip pretty well, which is nice!”
As you can see in the image above, Josh took home one of our newly-designed RunGoodGear.com T-shirts, which comes in a variety of sizes and in blue, black, and gray.
Day 2 Preview: $300 “Miami John Commemorative O/E Event”
While the first day of the festival was all about the cash game action, we’ll be shifting gears a bit for Day 2 (Monday, Feb 17), with the first of our two tournaments taking place.
The first time we ran a $300 O/E (Omaha 8 + Stud 8) event back at Mixed Game Festival IV, the great “Miami” John Cernuto emerged victorious. In the wake of his recent passing, we’ve decided that renaming the tournament in his honor would be a fitting tribute to the mixed-game poker legend who holds the all-time record for tournament cashes.
The tournament kicks off at noon, with the cash game action commencing simultaneously on the other side of the room.
Day 1 of @PokerLifeMedia Mixed Game Festival X is in the books.
Two $4/8 Dealer’s Choice tables went for 12 hours.
Tomorrow at noon is the $300 Miami John Commemorative O/E event.
Plus, a cash game mix will run from 12pm as well.
Call in to get on the list: (702) 676-7680. pic.twitter.com/YxkTZrHS0R
— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) February 17, 2025
If you’re in Las Vegas and love mixed games, head over to the Resorts World and get in on the action. Everyone’s welcome, and even if you lack experience, you’ll quickly find that the atmosphere here is really friendly, and the other players will make sure you don’t feel uncomfortable. And if you’re not in Vegas, there’s still plenty of time to hop on a plane or get in your car and make your way over! 🙂
For everybody else, we’ll keep bringing you daily updates from Mixed Game Festival X to share the experience with you and perhaps inspire you to join one of our future events!
*Our coverage of Mixed Game Festival X is brought to you, with much appreciation, courtesy of our presenting sponsor, the PokerGO Tour.
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