In between the end of the PokerStars Players Championship and the start of the first European Poker Tour stop in Paris, there was a gap for big buy-in poker events. The PokerGO Tour has taken advantage of these windows to offer high-stakes No Limit Hold’em series over the last couple of years, but during a 10-day span at the start of February, they tried something different to tap into a previously overlooked audience.
PGT ran an eight-event mixed game series, culminating in a $25,500 10-Game Championship that wrapped up on Sunday with Jason Mercier claiming victory and $367,500. He chopped with defending WSOP Player of the Year Dan Zack, with Zack claiming Player of the Series honors and a $25,000 bonus payout after making final tables in five consecutive events for a total payout of $550,000 for the series.
Over the course of those eight tournaments, records were set for events held in the PokerGO Studios. Most unique entries in a tournament, with 67. Fields of 87 and 88 players, respectively, for the $10,300 HORSE and $10,300 8-Game events that opened the series. In all, the turnout shattered expectations for both the PGT and the players and marked another major milestone for the mixed-game community.
“We knew some people were coming, and I thought it would be successful if we averaged 40 entries,” said Tim Duckworth, Senior Content and Live Reporting Manager for PokerGO and one of the driving forces behind this series. “Then, during the two satellites we ran, we gave away 14 seats. We had Dan Zack and Adam Friedman rolling through during the satellite just to pop in, and they both said ‘You’re gonna need more tables for the HORSE.’ So yeah, we were completely overwhelmed by what ended up happening.”
This series was the latest step forward for those who prefer and specialize in non-No Limit Hold’em events, like HORSE, Triple Draw, and different variants and combinations of those games that define some of the most well-rounded poker players in the world. Historically, outside of the World Series of Poker and a few outliers, mixed game tournaments were hard to find.
“It’s so nice to have this,” Zack said of the PGT Mixed Game series. “There were no mix game tournaments outside of the WSOP before this at reasonable stakes, and so it’s incredible to have another chance a year to play each of these events, given how fun mixed game tournaments are and how much demand there is for it among the high stakes mixed game community.”
Mixed game attendance has seemingly been on the rise across the board. Wynn Las Vegas has included at least a handful of non-Hold’em options in each of their series over the last few years. That peaked in December during the WPT World Championship festival, with seven different mixed game tournaments on offer. A $600 Pot Limit Omaha tournament hit 407 players and more than quadrupled its $50,000 guaranteed prize pool, while a $3,000 8-Game event, which nearly doubled its $200,000 prize pool guarantee, was the low water mark at 131 players. Every other non-Hold’em tournament during that series hit at least 225 entries.
Though the numbers were certainly inflated by all of the players in town for the series, it’s indicative of the appetite for mixed game tournaments across the board in Las Vegas, from the highest stakes down to buy-ins as low as $100. At every level it’s been a movement driven by the players, with grassroots efforts to drive turnout and build community. Jeanne David, a Las Vegas resident who served as the head of responsible gaming for PokerStars until her retirement a few years ago, has been one of the loudest proponents for players who appreciate mixed game tournaments at those more achievable buy-in levels.
When Wynn first added an Omaha 8 or better event to one of their Wynn Millions series a few years back, David played the event. And while there was enthusiasm and excitement among the players in attendance, there wasn’t as big a turnout as she expected. In that moment, David saw an opportunity to start getting the word out.
“I started telling a bunch of people about it,” David recalled. “And I said give me your email to a bunch of players, because there’s not a lot of advertising going on. I just wanted to get the word out, and now a few years later that list has grown to 400 or 500 people – some local, some who come into town every couple of months.”
Poker room managers started to take notice of the growing fields, and the number of options for players grew locally in Las Vegas. Now, in addition to events during each series, there are multiple weekly events at The Orleans and South Point with guarantees alongside weekly No Limit Hold’em offerings.
“I think that the tournament staff and the people who make these decisions are now recognizing that mixed games are something that an increasing number of players want,” said David.
As much as PokerGO was tapping into a different pool of mixed game players, their outreach happened in a very similar way. It was one thing to come up with the idea for a mixed game series, with conversations starting as far back as July, but getting the word out through the same channels they advertised their other series wasn’t going to work the same way.
“Outside of listing the events on Hendon Mob and a few other spots, I reached out to a few players through emails, texts, and Twitter DMs, and asked them to get the message out,” said Duckworth. “With the mixed game community, there are lots of WhatsApp groups, so I asked people to help promote it and get it out there.”
The results of the PGT Mixed Game Series speak for themselves. One of the biggest keys to bringing in players that might not normally travel for anything other than the WSOP from around the world was offering them 10 straight days of mixed game options.
“It seemed like there was a definite need for a high roller mix game series,” said Duckworth. “Looking at our normal tournament schedules, we have had a random 8-game or big bet mix during a series, but for specialists it was hard to justify coming out for one event.”
“I really never play tournaments outside of the World Series,” Zack said. “And so I only made an exception to come to this. If they have this again, I will definitely continue making that exception, but I’m not a No Limit tournament player – I’ll only play No Limit tournaments if it’s part of a festival that has high stakes mixed tournaments.”
One of the other major factors in bringing these players into the PokerGo studios is a side effect often seen during the WSOP and a handful of other major series – juicy cash games. With so many players flying in to play these events, those who went out of tournaments after registration closed or only had their eyes on a handful of events hopped into one of the nosebleed cash games going on around Las Vegas.
For Mercier, who has reduced his travel schedule over the last few years and had never been inside the PokerGO Studios before this week, those cash games were a major draw in and of itself.
“Honestly, I wasn’t even sure if I was going to play this tournament,” said Mercier. “I came out to play cash, play the tournaments and watch the Super Bowl with some friends. I had a four-day weekend planned but wasn’t sure what I was going to do. The cash game was kind of popping off – I played on Friday and then played on Saturday and the game broke up at around 5:30. So I had enough time to come over here and play, so it made sense to come register and everything worked out.
“[After] I played cash for two days, I felt like my mix games were oiled up, ready to go,” said Mercier. “I was never all in, I feel like I played really well, ran well, and I’m super happy to get the W and a nice payday.”
After this kind of turnout and positive reaction, discussions of a fall version of this series have already begun. While the chances of reaching the field sizes and prize pools of a WSOP main event or WPT main tour are zero, there are opportunities for venues and tours willing to put on events to satisfy a growing desire for players looking for something outside the scope of No Limit Hold’em.
“I feel like [mixed games are] already becoming more popular each year – at the World Series, the numbers have been going up, and the turnout here beat everyone’s expectations,” said Zack. “I think the momentum that’s already existing is just going to continue towards mixed games.”