PokerStars Ambassador Georgina ‘GJReggie’ James has been corralling new players into the Mixed Game side events on the UKIPT all year, her boundless enthusiasm infectious to people who might only have dabbled in Omaha when deviating from the ubiquitous Hold’em.
She might self-deprecatingly describe the lure of the multigame as something that appeals to her low boredom threshold, but James has made final after final in the mixed formats since 2022 (her second recorded cash was in an 8-Game tournament at EPT London).
She told PokerOrg in an interview in the run-up to the event she has worked tirelessly, alongside Tobias Leknes, to promote, “I think the mixed game crowd is more sociable, the tables are friendlier and chattier. The community is small, and it kind of knows it's small, so everyone ends up being super-passionate about the fact that they're in that niche.
“I think in terms of the game itself there's there's a lot of nuances to it that I think people kind of underestimate or don't realize, and they dust it off, like ‘It's fixed limit, it's so boring’, but once you understand it and see a few more of the intricacies to the game, I think it's super interesting.”
So do the 83 total players in the inaugural 2,200 EPT Prague Mixed Game Main Event, 11 of whom will share in the €159,360 prize pool. While Day 2 ticked down to the final table, we asked some mixed-game players still in the running (at that stage) in the event, including James, what they’d choose if they were introducing an 11th game.
What would be your added game for an 11-Game Mix?
PokerStars Ambassador Georgina ‘GJReggie’ James: I’d want to keep the balance between the fixed and pot limit games and game types. So Badugi/Badacey would be too much. But I don’t really like Courchevel… pot limit Courchevel Hi-Lo. There’s only one Pot Limit game at the moment.
PokerStars Ambassador Parker ‘Tonkaaaa’ Talbot [having super-late regged for the Mixed Game Main Event]: I’d just play Badugi again! I’m a big Badugi fan.
EPT Prague’s €1,100 Big Bet Mix 2024 champion Alexander Freund: Baduci.
Daniel Habl: Baduci. [Reconsidering after ten minutes] You could replace one game rather than adding more. For example, replace limit Hold’em – one Hold’em game is enough. Make it more 21st century! Three Stud variants are all quite similar. You could replace Razz with Super Razzduci.
Dario Alioto: Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo. Almost every EPT has it – no one would complain. [The dealer suggests ‘Big O’.] Start with PLO8 and go from there!
Thursday’s EPT Prague 8-Game champion Tobias Leknes: PLO8. It might be the most skillful poker game, but it’s not in any ‘mixes.’ It deserves more love than it’s getting!
Patrick Bueno: Maybe Ace-to-five?
Niclas Thumm: 5-card Omaha.
2023 NAPT champion Sami Bechahed: Ace-to-five? I like something more Big Bet… Double board PLO! There’d be lots of eliminations, maybe not great for the format – but fun.
Images courtesy of Manuel Kovsca, Jules Pochy and Danny Maxwell @Rational Holdings Ltd
