With its innovative approach to rakeback and its roster of highly respected brand ambassadors, including the likes of Ben Heath, Phil Laak and Dan ‘Jungleman’ Cates, the online platform Phenom Poker has been blazing a trail of its own ever since its launch in late 2024.
Perhaps its most striking feature, however, is how much the site has leaned into mixed games. Check out the daily tournament schedule and you’ll quickly notice the difference.
Where most other sites place most emphasis on no-limit hold’em, often with a side of pot-limit Omaha, these games form just a small part of Phenom Poker’s regular tourney offering.
It’s an interesting approach, and one which has helped Phenom Poker carve out a significant niche among mixed game players, but as explained by the site’s Tournament Director Andrew Yeh — himself a WSOP bracelet-winner in the $10K HORSE mix — it’s a strategy that has been adopted on the fly.
“Initially, we did want to have a lot of mix," Yeh tells PokerOrg, “but the focus, obviously, was more on no-limit hold’em and PLO, because obviously that's where probably 90-95% of players are coming from.
“But it's very hard to get those players over here to play, especially when we don't have the volume or the kinds of guaranteed prizepools that others might. So, we have to offer something that players will want to play, which currently is mixed games.
“Before we launched, our first thought was no-limit hold’em. But, being that we want to be a site where everyone can play every game imaginable, we know that we want to have a lot of mixed game tournaments, as that's gonna be one of our biggest strengths — early on, at least.”
‘Whatever we can experiment with, we'll do it’
It’s a strength that Phenom Poker is certainly playing to, although the ambition to offer ‘every game imaginable’ comes with challenges that more pedestrian poker sites aren’t prepared to — or don’t care to — embrace.
But the other side of that coin is the reality that when it comes to mixed games online, there are few options out there.
“It's hard to find where to play mixed games,” says Yeh, “so that's why the majority of our offerings right now are just primarily focused on mixed games.
“People want to play small stakes tournaments as well as higher buy-in tournaments, whatever it is they can do to practice, to get better, to play for a World Series bracelet, so we’re trying to offer as many mixed games as possible, and as many varieties as possible, too. Whether that’s a single game or full mixes, it’s fun.”
The notion of practising mixed games at Phenom Poker in preparation for a tilt at a WSOP bracelet is not hollow.
Check out the Phenom tables on any given day or night, and you might come across 2018 2-7 lowball champion Brian Rast, 2003 razz winner Huck Seed, or previous winners of the Poker Players Championship like Dan Cates.
These ambassadors, like everyone else who plays at Phenom, are welcome to give feedback and help shape the tournament schedule.
“Player feedback plays a part quite a bit,” shares Yeh. “They’ll say, ‘Can we have this kind of mix?’, ‘Can you schedule these tournaments around these times?’ or ‘I have a bunch of friends who want to play mix at these times for these buy-ins, but you don’t have any.’ We try to please everyone, if we can.”
While the site’s contingent of champions are often in contact with Yeh directly, everyone has the chance to provide feedback through channels such as Phenom’s Discord server. And Yeh promises that all opinions are considered — and often implemented.
“We've always been listening to everyone's feedback from day one, and not even just tournaments, but cash games, features, everything. We take everyone's feedback, whatever it is.
“Tweaking the tournament schedule is always ongoing. Our current schedule was released in November, and I'd say about 30% of it has changed already.
“If a tournament's really popular, I up the guarantee on it. If no one plays it, I swap it off with something else, maybe another mixed tournament. We just keep trying different things until people stick with it.
“Whatever we can experiment with, we'll do it.”
‘I want to have a series, either right before or right after the WSOP’
That flexibility is vital when catering to a crowd that’s drawn to the sometimes traditional — yet ever-changing — world of mixed game poker.
Traditionalists may come looking for the familiar, such as 7-card stud, while others will be seeking a newer variant to keep things fresh. As Yeh explains, no plans are fixed forever; everything is negotiable.
“We thought initially that people were more into single-game mixed tournaments, like deuce or badugi or whatever, but it turns out that’s not really the case. They actually want to play more rotational mixed games. 6-game, 9-game, 12-game.
“And things change. Games that were really popular before, like straight Omaha 8-or-better, no one likes playing anymore. I thought that would be one of the ones that people will go to first, and that's actually one of the least played, and I'm actually about to replace it.”
If established games like O8 are not proving popular, we ask, what newer variants are taking their place?
“Our most unusual variant is probably Dramaha,” replies Yeh, pointing to the unusual yet fascinating fusion of Omaha and draw poker. “It's really hard to find it online, especially in a tournament format.
“And then some of the mixes that we actually created ourselves, like Fun Mix, Circus Mix, or even Super Circus Mix. I don't think there's ever been Archie in a mixed tournament before either; that's also really hard to find.”
With so much innovation taking place across Phenom Poker’s tourney schedule, one question springs to mind: When might we expect a full Phenom Poker tournament series? The answer is, probably sooner than you think.
“We definitely want to do a Phenom series,” Yeh confirms. “I don't want to give any dates, but I do want to say that I want to have a series, probably either right before or right after the WSOP.
“Like I said, it's really hard to find mixed games tournaments online, so if you have one with much bigger guarantees, it would draw a lot of attention.”
If you’re a mixed game poker player seeking variety online, you need a Phenom Poker account, like, yesterday. There’s simply nowhere else that offers the range of games you’ll find there.
And if you want to make a name for yourself with a win in the site’s inaugural tournament series, it’s time to start practicing your badeucy 2-7, double board Omaha and Archie 66.
