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Robbie Strazynski

Poker Lessons from Me and My 10-Year-Old Son: Don’t Be Afraid to Try Something New

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My son is 10 years old now and it’s special to watch him grow up. He reminds me of myself, in particular how he gets obsessed with certain toys and games. Back in my day it was action figures and Nintendo. For him it’s Rubik’s Cubes and Minecraft. He’s bright, intelligent, competitive, and highly motivated to succeed. When he doesn’t win or can’t solve a particular cube for a long time, he gets frustrated. But he’s also very stubborn and determined, and keeps at it. He watches YouTube videos to learn cube solutions, strategizes with his friends before, during and after Minecraft sessions, and – again – is just committed to mastering his recreational pursuits. I’m pretty certain that when the “next big game” rolls around, he’s going to attack it with similar gusto and grit.

By now, you’re probably thinking something like “Your son sounds like a sweet boy, Robbie, but what does all that have to do with poker?” We’ll get back to him later.

My College Days and Early Jobs

When I had just finished University, earning my BA and MA in English Linguistics, I originally thought I’d become a copyeditor. To advertise my services I got business cards made, printed flyers, and hung them up around the university campus (yeah, I’m old… this was well before I knew anything about internet marketing, way back in the mid-2000’s).

At some point my wife questioned me: “Aren’t you kind of limiting yourself, Robbie? Why just editing? You can do writing, proofreading, teaching… maybe you can try journalism?” My response was, “Well, maybe, but I know copyediting… that’s what I’m most comfortable doing.”

What an immature answer that was!

The underlying reason for my answer was FEAR.

Thankfully, eventually I left my comfort zone and tried new things.

For a little over a decade, I held a variety of different jobs at over half a dozen different companies. While all of the positions were in line with my core academic background, I served in a number of different roles all well beyond the scope of just being a copyeditor. Along the way I amassed a TON of different skills and gained boatloads of valuable experience. All of that paid off in a big way when I decided to venture off on my own and become self-employed in March of 2017.

Here’s Where the Poker Comes In

I obsess about poker. It’s a game I’ve loved ever since I was a kid and I played 5-card draw for plastic chips at the kitchen table with my Dad. For a long time, I wished poker could be a bigger part of my life, but the idea of becoming a pro player wasn’t (ahem) in the cards. Eventually, however, I found a way in.

I’ve been able to make a career out of it, not as a player but rather in the poker media industry running Cardplayer Lifestyle and hosting podcasts and poker shows like The Orbit. As alluded to earlier, so many of the skills I picked up along the way during my decade-plus of being an employee have proven useful and even critical to being able to do what I do now.

Had my fear won out and had I resisted doing things that were new and different, there’s no way I’d have ever been able to broaden my skill set and have the tools needed to eventually pursue my dream career.

Back to My Son

I’m a pretty competitive guy, but there’s one exception where I don’t mind seeing someone better my own performance, and that’s with my kids. It gladdens me to no end to see that my son excels at such a young age at something that’s taken me years to master, namely not being afraid to step out of his comfort zone and try new things (except for foods, but that’s a different story, LOL).

Like many kids his age, he still has to work on being a “good loser” – after all, you simply can’t win all the time – but having a front row seat to watch him learn and grow from his competitive gaming experiences is a true parenting highlight for me.

So What’s the Poker Lesson?

I don’t just “eat, sleep, and drink” the game of poker as a media guy; I also play. Last summer I had the opportunity to play in my first WSOP bracelet event: the $1,500 Dealer’s Choice. I didn’t cash, but what an experience that was!

“What? THAT was your first bracelet event?!” I hear you collectively exclaim.

Yup, because ALL poker games are great; not just Texas Hold’em.

Did it take me time to learn all of the different poker variants? Yup.

Did it take me even more time until I felt competent playing all the different poker variants? Yup.

Way too many poker players choose to stay in their lane and just play Hold’em. I understand it. It may take a lifetime to master (or possibly a little less time if you train with The Poker Forge), but it really does only take five minutes to learn.

But why dedicate all of your poker time to learning and mastering just one game?

Much like I picked up tons of skills from all the jobs I had, so, too, I’ve picked up plenty of tricks and strategies from playing mixed games that have become useful when playing hold’em (and vice versa).

Overcome the fear. Overcome the laziness. Try something new and give mixed games a go.

Much like some of my best poker memories and relationships have come from playing mixed games, I’m confident that you, too, will only gain as a poker player from venturing out of your comfort zone.

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5 Types of Live Poker Experiences in Las Vegas

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As a recreational player, “peak poker” for me is getting the occasional opportunity to play in Las Vegas. Whether it’s a couple hours’ drive or half a world away by plane, that scene of arriving in the desert and walking into one of the city’s famed poker rooms to mix it up is something that’s whet the appetites of pretty much every casual poker player the world over.

With that said, not every Las Vegas poker experience is the same; and I’m not referring to whether you’ll walk away a winner or loser at the end of your session. That, of course, depends on numerous factors including how well your game stacks up against the opponents who happen to be seated at your table, and good old fashioned luck. While there’s not much you can do about that latter bit, folks who want to boost their overall poker performance these days tend to enroll at the best poker training sites. But I digress…

The dozens of poker rooms in Las Vegas offer a wide variety of different games, atmospheres, levels of luxury, and other distinguishing factors that mean multiple types of live poker experiences you can have in the city. As such, depending on the type of experience you’d like to have, you ought to make sure you choose the right category of poker room to play in.

The five types of Las Vegas live poker experiences I describe below are based on my having visited upwards of two dozen of the city’s rooms over the past few years. No matter which you choose, you’ll have a great time, but it never hurts to be somewhat “better informed” going into your next session.

The Classic Las Vegas Strip Experience

The Las Vegas Strip

When you watch movies or TV shows depicting gambling in Las Vegas, 99 times out of 100 they’ll be situated in a Las Vegas Strip casino. Pure recreational players (e.g., wearing nametags after exiting a convention room) almost exclusively play poker in rooms on the Las Vegas Strip. These rooms also tend to feature bachelor party groups, tourists who’ve just taken in musical shows or comedy acts, home game poker enthusiasts, and bunches of folks just looking to have some fun and get in some gamble.

While there are some factors that set rooms apart within this category, for the most part, you’ll have a similar type of poker experience in each of these rooms.

Poker rooms that fit this description would include (but are not limited to): MGM, Mandalay Bay, Caesars, Bally’s, Harrah’s, Venetian, Flamingo, Planet Hollywood, and Excalibur.

The Luxury Experience

While the poker rooms in this category are also located on the Las Vegas Strip, there’s no arguing that they’re a cut above the rest. There’s a good bit of prestige associated with playing poker at the Aria, Bellagio, and Wynn. As the three rooms are located in three of the most upscale properties in the city, it’s perhaps to be expected that “the typical players” in these venues would be somewhat more well-heeled.

The Aria poker room in Las Vegas
The Aria poker room.

Moreover, Aria’s poker room is home to Table 1 (formerly the “Ivey Room”) and the Bellagio houses the famed Bobby’s Room. If the top poker players in the world have chosen these establishments, it’s for good reason.

The Local Experience

Some tourists prefer to experience destinations like the locals do; that goes for poker players visiting Las Vegas as well. With over 2 million people living in the Las Vegas metro area, many of them also enjoy a good game of poker, and they tend to frequent what are known as the “locals casinos,” all of which are located away from the Strip.

Red Rock poker in Las Vegas

Resorts like the South Point, Red Rock, Green Valley Ranch, and the Station Casinos (Santa Fe, Palace) all have well-appointed, spacious poker rooms that offer plenty of action with a local flavor. In particular, don’t be surprised if the dealers know most of the players’ names in these rooms and vice versa.

The Mixed Game Experience

In popular culture, “poker” has essentially become synonymous with Texas Hold’em. While it’s by far the most commonly played variant, there are plenty of other great variants of the game we all know and love. The challenge then, for lovers of mixed games, is finding rooms where non-hold’em games are spread.

While PLO has grown enough in popularity that a table or two can be found spreading it in most Las Vegas poker rooms, it’s exceedingly rare to find any other poker variant being spread, except perhaps at the highest limits… unless you know where to look.

The Orleans poker room in Las Vegas
The Orleans poker room.

The Orleans, Westgate, and Sahara poker rooms are known for featuring low-limit mixed games, with the Orleans even regularly hosting low buy-in mixed game tournaments. So, while there may be some exceptions with other Las Vegas poker rooms occasionally having a mixed game running, if you’re seeking out fellow mixed game enthusiasts, you’ll usually know where to head.

The WSOP Experience

While the WSOP in the the summer of 2020 is the obvious exception to the rule, there’s nothing like having a WSOP live poker experience in Las Vegas. There’s more poker going on throughout the city during the summer than at any other time of year, with rooms packed and waiting lists common. The true WSOP experience, however, is of course had within the walls of the Rio, and is quite simply incomparable.

WSOP at the Rio in Las Vegas
Day 1B Players Pack the Pavilion Room

Between bracelet events, satellite qualifiers, and daily deepstacks, the venue hosts the greatest variety of tournaments, period. Tournaments aside, though, even taking a seat in a cash game in the Pavilion Room is quite the experience in and of itself. Every game available at every limit, with seemingly unending streams of players at all hours of the day; it’s poker heaven featuring the impossible-to-forget soundtrack of thousands of chips being shuffled.

Honorable mention goes to the permanent 10-table poker room, open all year round, located at the opposite side of the Rio. Enough players who’ve competed in WSOP events pop in there for cash game play with plenty of great stories to tell from their adventures at the felt to make it worth at least one visit during your Las Vegas WSOP summer sojourn.

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