If mixed games are your thing, then WSOP 2012 is your time to shine. This year’s Series has a wealth of mixed events with softer fields than you’ll find anywhere else on planet poker, with buy-ins ranging from $1,500 to $50,000 across all of the popular poker variants.
The first mixed tourney is Event #3 on Tuesday May 29th at 12 pm, a $3,000 heads up No Limit Holdem/ Pot Limit Omaha mix that’s perfect for big bet game specialists and a new addition for 2012. It has a cap of 512 players and round one starts with 9,000 chips and the blinds at 25/50, but you can take your chips in chunks of 3,000. Levels are 20 minutes long and each round sees players start with about 180 big blinds.
The first chance for more traditional mixed action comes on Wednesday June 13th at 12 pm in the form of a $1,500 HORSE event, which is Event #27. Players start this one with 4,500 chips and the blind levels are an hour long, with the starting big bet fixed at 100. Aaron Steury won this one last year, besting a field of 963 entrants and walking away with $289,000.
The $10,000 HORSE championship Event, #32, kicks off at 5pm on Saturday June 16th. Players begin this one with 30,000 chips and the big bet is set at 800 in the first round. Again, each blind level lasts an hour. French pro Fabrice Soulier won the bracelet last year and the 240 runner field netted him $609,000 first prize payment. He saw off some big names like Tom Dwan and Shawn Buchanan at the final table in taking down the title.
Next up is Event #35 on June 18th at 5 pm, the $2,500 mixed Holdem, which switches between the limit and no limit variants of poker’s most popular game. Levels last 60 minutes and the game swaps over every 30 minutes. For the first level, the no-limit blinds are set at 25-50 and the limit blinds will be 50-100. Players start with 7,500 chips. Last year’s winner was Matt Matros who took away $303,500 in an event that saw 580 runners. Past winners of this one include Gavin Smith and Erick Lindgren.
The next mixed event comes the following day, June 19th at 5 pm. This is an Eight Game Mix event which feature HORSE, No Limit Holdem, Pot Limit Omaha and Limit 2-7 Triple Draw. The structure sheet for this one is a bit confusing for people not used to Eight Game tourneys, but the upshot is that you start with 7,500 chips which is 300 big blinds for the PLO/NLHE and 50 big bets for the limit games. For most of the tournament, the big bet in the limit games is 4 times the big blind in the NL/PL games. Games change every 8 hands and the blind levels are an hour long. Tables will be 8 handed but 2-7 Triple Draw can only be played 6 handed, so the two players to the left of the big blind will be forced to sit out each 2-7 hand. The reigning champion for this one is John Monnette and it drew 489 runners last year.
Friday June 22nd at 5 pm sees the start of Event #42, a mixed Omaha hi/lo / Stud hi/lo event with a $2,500 buyin. Players will receive 7,500 chips and the big bet for the first level will be 150, with levels lasting an hour. Owais Ahmed saw off 449 opponents last year in this one, and took away the $256,000 first prize.
Event #45 is the big one for mixed game players. The $50,000 Players’ Championship kicks off at 5pm on Sunday June 24th and is another 8-game mixed event. The levels for this one are 100 minutes long and it sees the field start with 150,000 chips with the starting big blind for PLO and NLHE set at 300 and the starting big bet for the limit games set at 1,200. Brian Rast won last year after a memorable battle with Phil Hellmuth that saw The Poker Brat denied his 12th gold bracelet. Other winners of the event and the accompanying Chip Reese trophy include Scotty Nguyen, David Bach, and the late Chip Reese himself.
Your last chance for mixed game action comes on Friday June 29th at 5 pm in Event #53, the $2,500 10-Game Mix. As well as the games from the Eight Game Mix, this one contains No Limit 2-7 Single Draw and Badugi. Again the structure sheet is complicated for this event; players start with 7,500 chips and the blinds for the big games are 25-25 with the big bets for the limit games set at 150. As with the Eight Game, the big bet usually hovers about four times the big blind for the NL/PL games. Levels in this one are 60 minutes long and last years event got 431 players. Chris Lee topped the field and won $255,000 seeing off Shaun Deeb along the way, who only this month won 5 events during the PokerStars SCOOP series.
