This Week in Vegas: Mix it Up at Bellagio

Over the next seven days in Las Vegas, you could transform your bankroll, take on the tournament titans of the PokerGO Circuit, or mix it up at Bellagio, where the Mixed Game Festival XV takes place. 

With big names and new players alike winning big inside the PokerGO Studio at ARIA, the PGT PLO Series has been going off, and other rooms, such as South Point, have improved their daily tournament schedules. 

Let’s get into it in Las Vegas with a lot of poker to be played this week on the Strip. 

Playing the Board: Go Big at Bellagio

Over the past few weeks, I’ve not held back on where I feel Bellagio can improve, but I can only tip my hat to them over the next 10 days or so. In addition to their usual action, they’re hosting mixed games that could inspire you to win big in various poker formats.

The Mixed Game Festival XV takes place at Bellagio from Monday, October 5 to Friday, October 9 and is unmissable stuff. Mixed cash games run on weekdays with limits as low as $4/$8 and $6/$12, plus two tournaments in T.O.R.S.E. and Triple Draw Mix, respectively. 

Each of the tournaments starts at 12 noon Pacific Time, costs $300 to play, and you can find out more details on them, as well as their full blind structures here.

Over the course of 14 previous Mixed Game Festivals, Robbie Strazynski has been the host with the most, and I spoke with him at length last week to find out what makes the man living life in the mix tick ahead of the latest series. It’s essential reading if you’re thinking of breaking your mixed game duck.

Around the Rooms: Big Wins for Smaller Names in PGT PLO Series

As I mentioned last week, the PokerGO Studio at ARIA on the Strip is the place to be if you can cope with Nick Palma’s incessant social media posting, ahem, I mean, the four-card game’s unique variance. 

In all seriousness, ‘Nicky P’ has been a passionate advocate of both his own play (shock!) and the series overall, but he’s certainly correct about the latter. Sam Soverel won the opening event for $122,850, but two wins by much less well-known players followed. 

Robert Chorlian’s win in Event #2 earned him $135,150, a career-high poker score and a pretty transformative one for his bankroll, given his total earnings through last week were just over the $500,000 mark. 

He was followed into the winner’s circle by Greek player Roussos Koliakoudakis, whose victory in Event #3 was worth an astonishing $198,000, which again represents his highest ever poker result.

Two events remain. Event #7 is a $15,700 on Thursday, and the series closes on Friday with Event #8, the $26,000 PLO Championship, both starting at 7pm. If those are out of range, satellites into them run from $560. 

And if you simply want to watch the best in the world play the four-card game, the PokerGO Studio does not go quiet afterward: Super High Roller Bowl PLO IV brings a $103,000 buy-in to the same room on Monday, with more Super High Roller Bowl action running through the middle of next week.

The Wynn Fall Classic started this week at Wynn Las Vegas and, on the face of it, it’s been a big week all round. There were 122 players in the Friday $40,000 guarantee event independent of the series, which saw a four-way deal award Jerrold Son the top prize of $9,536, a very big payday at that price point. This week’s highlight is very straightforward, and in a usual week without the Mixed Game Festival it might have been my highlight. 

Event #5 costs $600 to play, gives you a 40,000-chip starting stack and 40-minute levels, and carries a $250,000 guarantee, with flights on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 11am before Day 2 on Sunday. It’s well worth making this the sole NLHE event of the week that you take your shot in.

At The Venetian, their DeepStack Showdown series continues apace. The uniquely named British player Dual Narkiss won after a heads-up chop in the second DeepStack Showdown event of the series, a $200-entry NLHE Bounty event with a $10,000 guarantee, netting him the DeepStack Showdown bronze coin and $2,258, plus his bounties. Not a bad return, and I’d say they’re worth the trip if all else fails or you aren’t ready for either a big-bankroll PLO at ARIA or mixed games at Bellagio. 

The Venetian is also the place to be if you’re a PokerAtlas PRO. That’s because this week’s ‘Valuetown’ Bounty event is offering PAP players the chance to register for $180 instead of $200, cutting $20 from the house fee rather than taking anything out of the prize pool. With a lip-smacking $20,000 guarantee, that’s actually our value tip for the week in NLHE and at the Venetian. 

What can I say, I’m always looking out for value that applies to players with bankrolls as limited as my own! 

South Point has changed up their daily tournament schedule a little, with entries now starting at $120 and going up to $200. The guarantees now run from $2,000 up to $15,000, an increase of $5,000 at the top of that guarantee from $10,000 until this week. Of the $120 standard entry, $96 goes into the prize pool, with $12 going to the house and $11 to the staff, with the extra dollar going into ‘promo’ from now on.

At The Orleans, the promotions have been paying out, with two big winners pictured above. George took $1,999 from the Football Mystery Hot Seat Envelopes on September 28, while Carlos Garza Jr banked just under $3,000 on September 24 after flopping quad threes in Hold ’em Dash 2 Deuces. 

Between the football tie-ins and the high-hand jackpots, playing poker at The Orleans during football season could well pay off, if the last fortnight is anything to go by. With The Orleans hosting a Mix Game Carnival from October 20-30, there’s a lot to like about one of Las Vegas’ oldest poker venues.

One to Swerve: Beware the Canceled Event Mid-Series

When a tournament is canceled, it’s never a good feeling for tournament organizers and players alike. When Wynn Las Vegas called time on a regular event in the middle of their Fall Classic series this week, it wasn’t a surprise, but it was definitely a disappointment. 

While I applaud them continuing to run smaller events alongside bigger ones, the difference between the buy-ins is clearly not stark enough. If it were, players who couldn’t afford the Fall Classic buy-in would still total enough to run the standard evening events.

Off the Felt: Arte Museum at CityCenter

Image source: Arte Museum Las Vegas

Located at CityCenter next door to ARIA, Arte Museum is an immersive digital-art experience like no other. Blending projection mapping and interactive displays, the 30,000-square-foot exhibition is currently themed ‘Eternal Nature’, which, after a day of looking at chips, coffee and someone else’s hands praying they call your value bet, is a good palette cleanser. 

With massive projections, custom soundscapes, scents galore, and a Musée d’Orsay collaboration that reimagines Monet and Van Gogh, it’s a treat for the senses and is a short walk from the PokerGO Studio if you’re playing in PGT PLO Series events or satellite qualifiers. 

Relatively unknown compared to the popular Sphere, this goldmine of creativity is the antithesis of Sin City’s glorious neon excess. Arte Museum will bring you into a world of wonder and takes between 60 and 90 minutes to experience, costing $50 admission for adults (Monday to Thursday) and $55 (Friday to Sunday). It’s open 10am to 10pm daily, with last admission at 9pm.

Whether you’re taking on the mixed games at Bellagio this week or going big in some major No Limit Hold’em action at Wynn or Venetian, make the next week in Vegas your own… then tell us about it on socials.