Mixed-Game Strategies

1. I’ve played in some low-stakes mixed games around Las Vegas recently, and some of the games that are included are just getting kind of silly. Razz-dugi, badeucy etcetera. Now, obviously these games feature aspects of other games that I’m comfortable with, but am I being a stick in the mud for just wanting to play the standard H.O.R.S.E. games? It seems like more and more, if you want to be able to play a mix, you have to put up with these weird variants. I feel like I have no choice but to try to get better at these games. What have you done as new games crop up?

If you want to play live poker full time at medium or high stakes you really need to know all the games. I have many friends in poker that are specialists in one or two games but never branch out to other games and will always find themselves at a huge disadvantage when entering a poker room. They can only select from a few tables in the room, (that are playing their games), and are unable to scan the poker room and just jump in the most juicy game at any given time. Game selection is so important to being a winning player and when your options are limited by your own lack of poker disciplines it becomes more difficult to find profitable spots. You don’t need to be the best at any one game to be a huge winning player. Being decent at all the games without having holes at any one game is the true key to winning in mixed games. The popular misconception, but more romantic belief is that the best players are just straight up outplaying everyone else. The hidden truth in poker is that you make almost all your money simply from your opponents making mistakes.

As an East coast player I only experienced HOSE (limit hold’em, omaha eight-or-better, stud, stud eight-or-better) no-limit hold’em, and pot-limit Omaha just up until a few years ago. The draw games were not state approved games in New Jersey until this past year. So I pretty much only got a chance to play the draw games when I went out west for the WSOP in the summer. It seemed like every summer for the last four or five years there would be one or two new draw games in the mix when I got out there. It would put me at a big disadvantage in the mixed games because no matter how good a game is there is nothing that beats experience in poker.

I strongly do not advise this for anyone else but how I always chose to do to tackle this issue is learn on the fly. While playing the games I was unfamiliar with I would play super tight but pay close attention to the players I knew had experience. I would learn fairly quickly what to do and what not to do strictly by watching my opponents and absorb whatever I could. Most of the games that were running were six or eight game mixes so there would never be more than two new games to me in the mix. I would always feel at an advantage in the games I knew, but those new games I always took as a challenge, understanding I was going to be at a severe disadvantage for some time. I was alright with that because I always try to think long term and look at the bigger picture.

Poker is poker! Whether I am playing no-limit, badugi, or deuce-to-seven triple draw, I feel most of the concepts are the same. I feel that I am an anomaly in this respect. I don’t have any game I prefer over another. I am always eager to play poker and happy to play whatever form of poker my opponents enjoy the most.
An example of my average schedule at Parx Poker Room lately:

Tuesdays

2pm-4pm $10-$10 no-limit (sort of a warmup until the mixed-game guys arrive)
4pm-2am Mixed game of $400-$800 Stud eight-or-better and $100-$100 PLO with a $6,000 cap

Wednesdays

Noon-whenever $150-$300 HOE or $75-$150 HOE

Fridays

3pm-midnight $10-$10 no-limit.

Saturdays

12pm-bust $200+$30 NL tournament with re-entry
After bust- $10-$10 no-limit for the rest of the evening

So you can see it is something different for me every day and it keeps me on my toes and more importantly keeps me interested in the game.

I know I got a little off track here but to answer your original question. You do have a choice, but I think the choice is clear. Do what you can to get better at all the games new and old. From experience, I can tell you it seems so much harder at first than it actually is and you will only benefit your skills in the old games from putting more work into the new games. The concepts you will learn are interchangeable in all forms of poker. ♠

Matt Glantz, Ambassador to Parx Poker Room (just outside Philadelphia, PA), is serving an integral role in the development of the fastest growing poker room on the East Coast. Matt has shown a consistent passion for growing the game of poker and has demonstrated high-stakes versatility, becoming the World Series’ most consistent performer in big money mixed-game tournaments. Since 2008, he has made four WSOP final tables in mixed game events with buy-ins of $10,000 to $50,000 and is considered one of the top mixed-game cash game players. For more strategy and updates from the tournament trail, check out www.mattglantzpoker.com