Cardplayer Lifestyle’s Mixed Game Festival X runs from February 16, 2025, to February 20, 2025. It is presented by the PokerGO Tour, which runs a tournament series at Aria and its studio in late February and early March.
The main focus of Cardplayer Lifestyle’s Mixed Game Festival is cash games. Players choose from dozens of mixed games, which rotate based on which one the player with the button chooses. The typical limits are 4/8 and 8/16 fixed. These games are rare in most Las Vegas poker rooms outside the summer tournament series season.
Two $300 tournaments run during this event. On February 17, 2025, it is a half Seven Card Stud hi/lo and half Omaha hi/lo. On the 20th, the $300 tournament is HEROS. It starts with Texas Hold’em, then Seven Card Stud hi/lo, Razz, Omaha hi/lo, and Seven Card Stud hi. All betting rounds are fixed limit.
“At the Mixed Game Festival, our cash games are a true ‘dealer’s choice affair’. What that means is that as tables kick off the action, each player at the table chooses a game or two that’s put into the mix,” Robbie Strazynski, founder of Cardplayer Lifestyle, told Vegas Advantage. “All game variants are played fixed limit, and pretty much all categories of poker are spread, including flop games, stud games, and draw games, as well as a number of different Drawmaha variants. Some tables run more conservative mixes, featuring traditional mixed games like Omaha Hi/Low, Razz, and 2-7 Triple Draw, while other tables are a bit more ‘wild and crazy’ featuring spicier games like Drawmaha 49, Archie, and Double Board Omaha ‘best-best’, Strazynski said.
When Vegas Advantage asked Strazynski which mixed game is his favorite, he replied, “I personally tend to enjoy stud and draw games more than flop games. If I had to pick favorites, I’d probably choose Stud 8 or Better and 2-7 Triple Draw.”
Types of mixed games played
Vegas Advantage’s favorite mixed game is also Stud 8 or Better. This author played a variant of that game in Las Vegas called “Hoggie” for years. It had a two pair qualifier for high and the standard eight or better for low. The high card brought in and it had a kill on a $100 scoop. The betting was 2-10 spread limit with a $20 max on seventh street. It started at Sam’s Town and moved to Suncoast, where it was dealt until that poker room closed in 2018. Suncoast is one of 40 closed Las Vegas poker rooms.
It would be fun to play Hoggie Seven Card Stud again. Cardplayer Lifestyle’s Mixed Game Festival X is a great place to find players who enjoy stud games.
2-7 Triple Draw is a game dealt in either fixed limit or no limit versions. Players receive five cards and have three draws for the best low hand. Unlike typical lowball games like Razz, straights and flushes count as high in 2-7 Triple Draw. Aces are the highest card. The best hand is 7-5-4-3-2.
Drawmaha is a split pot game. One half goes to the best five-card hand held by the player. The other half goes to the best Omaha hi hand. The draw occurs after the flop. The game is played in a pot limit betting format. In Omaha, a player uses two hole cards and three from the community board to make the best hand.
Seven Card Stud games include the traditional hi version, Razz, which is lowball where straights and flushes play low, and hi/lo which combines hi and low for split pots. In hi/lo, the lo hand must be at least an eight or better to qualify.
Another game Strazynski mentioned is Archie. That is a triple draw split pot game between the high and low hands. There is a high qualifier, often a pair of 9s, and a low qualifier of eight or better. Double Board Omaha has two five-card community boards. One hand takes half the pot for the first board and half is awarded to the best hand on the second board. A player may scoop the pot by holding the best two cards that play into each board.
Great series for mixed game players
Many other games will be dealt at the Mixed Game Festival. Most are similar to the major games described above and are easy for players with basic poker knowledge. The best part about mixed games is that there are few experts. The tables are friendly and less aggressive than cash games and tournaments.
