Mixed Poker Games

Mixed poker games are a great way to let loose and have some fun. We all need a break every now and then from the daily grind. Mixed games are an awesome way to have a good time and experience some new poker situations. Mixed poker games will significantly improve your general poker skill, if you take them seriously. Being a truly great poker player is all about knowing poker to the core; there’s no better way to know something at a fundamental level than to explore all its variations. Thus in the spirit of fun and skill, here is a short guide to getting the most out of mixed game poker.

Learning to Selectively Adapt in Mixed Poker Games

The point of mixed game poker is to broaden your poker experience. This is achieved by playing games you’re not necessarily familiar with. However you don’t need to dive off the deep end into a mixed game filled with variants you know nothing about. There are lots of mixed poker games to choose from.

Mixed game offerings vary from site to site. Full Tilt Poker is pretty liberal in their game spreads. Among their most popular mixed games are:

• HORSE (Holdem, Omaha 8/b, Razz, Stud, Stud Hi-Lo)
• 7 Game Poker
• HOSE (Holdem, Omaha 8/b, Stud, Stud Hi-Lo
• HA (Holdem, Omaha)

There are lots more to choose from at Full Tilt, although some games are definitely hotter than others. In any case, there’s probably a variant that includes a mix of games perfect for your skillset.

PokerStars also offers some mixed poker games, the main ones being HORSE and 8 Game Poker. 8 Game Poker is pretty neat if you’re a no-limit player; it’s one of the only mixed games to include both No Limit Holdem and Pot Limit Omaha. Between the two sites, there’s most certainly a game that will fit your temperament nicely.

Mixed Poker Game Structure

Mixed games come in lots of different shapes and sizes. The most significant things to pay attention to are blind/ante structure and per-game time.

Mixed cash games will require you to buy in for a specific amount from the start. This amount will correspond to the blind and ante levels, and these levels will not change over the course of the game. In a mixed game poker tournament however, you will most likely find that blind levels increase over time. This is an important thing to take into consideration, as it will require you to alter your mixed poker game strategy.

You should also be aware of how games switch over. In some mixed games (mainly cash games), one type of poker will be played for a set number of hands. This number is usually between 6 and 10 online, although offline it can be whatever players agree it should be. In HORSE for example, once 10 hands of Holdem finish up, the game will switch over to Omaha 8/b.

In tournaments, the game will most often switch with the blind levels. For example, once the first level of a HORSE tournament has finished, the game will switch from Holdem to Omaha 8/b.

Mix it Up: Know a Little Bit of Everything

Surely, you have a favorite game of poker—one you play really well. In mixed game poker however, that’s not enough. You need to know at least a little bit of how to play each different game. At the very least, know the rules.

That said, it’s impossible to be an expert at all of the games in a mixed game. No problem—you shouldn’t expect yourself to master every kind of poker, as nobody else you play against will have themselves. The trick is to really push your edge where you have it (your specialty game) and at the same time punish your opponents where they’re weak.

Crushing mixed game poker is more of an exercise in exploitation than pushing your own skill. You’re going to come across players who absolutely suck at certain games, and yet will still try to play them. When this happens, you want to recognize where they’re going wrong, and make them pay for their mistakes. This is the essence of how to squeeze long-term profit out of mixed game poker, and will separate the winners from the losers.

• Mixed Poker Games