When my brothers started having children a little over 17 years ago, I made a promise to myself that – despite us living an ocean apart – I would do everything in my power to be present for milestone moments in those children’s lives. One such moment came up recently, as my nephew Ari was due to celebrate his bar mitzvah.
As the date grew closer and I started looking online for flights, I realized that the unfortunately cost of traveling from Israel to New Jersey for just a couple days would be exorbitant. On a whim, I investigated what the cost would be to add a Las Vegas leg to the trip for a few days prior to the bar mitzvah. To my surprise, for just $200 more I could spend a few days in Vegas, circle back to New Jersey for the celebration, and then head home to Israel.
That, in a nutshell, is how my planned family trip turned into a tax-deductible business trip.
Why Vegas? Why Now?
Beyond meeting with the heads of a few Las Vegas poker rooms to discuss future Mixed Game Festival plans and capturing some photos for future articles, my main goal for the Las Vegas portion of the trip was simple: play as much mixed game poker as possible. Writing up a trip report about those sessions would suffice as the “business” element.
A quick apology to my many friends living in Las Vegas: usually, I announce my Vegas trips publicly and pack them with meet-ups. This time, I deliberately kept things quiet. My typical visit to your wonderful city last 2–4 weeks. This was just four days, tacked onto a family trip, and I wanted to dedicate them exclusively to playing. My next trip is already planned for November, when I look forward to seeing you all at Mixed Game Festival XII at Resorts World.
Also important to note: I hardly play Texas Hold’em anymore. From past experience, it can be frustrating to finally have time freed up to play mixed games only to find no tables running. So I owe a special thanks to Chris Schmiz at Wynn Las Vegas, who assured me that a $20/40 mix was running there daily since the WSOP ended, and who kindly saw to it that I’d be on the starting list each day I was in town.
A Pre-Poker Pep Talk with Eli Elezra
Before my first session, I had lunch with my friend and mentor, Poker Hall of Famer Eli Elezra. Over the years, I’ve probably spent over 100 hours railing his high-stakes sessions, asking questions, and absorbing as much poker knowledge as I could.
Beyond his much-needed pep talk, Eli generously staked me for this trip. With a $5,000 bankroll – five $1,000 buy-ins – I felt both empowered and humbled. The money might not mean much to Eli, but knowing he believes in me and thinks highly enough of my skills to back me means the world.
Treating the Poker Trip Like Work
I don’t rely on poker as my livelihood but, while I’m still a recreational player, I’ve made it a goal to start cultivating a more professional mindset when I play. That meant finishing my work and taking care of my personal errands in the mornings so my afternoons and evenings could be fully dedicated to poker. When Eli leaves for a session, he always says, “OK, time to go to work.” After our shawarma lunch, that’s how I felt too – it was time for me to “go to work.”
Even though four days is too small a sample size, and by definition whatever happened — win or lose — it would be difficult to discern any meaningful conclusions from my results, this trip gave me the chance to “dip my toes” into approaching poker with that same workmanlike discipline.
As far as that was concerned, in retrospect I consider the trip to have been a great success: I woke up bright and early each day, said my morning prayers, studied my daily page of Talmud, prepared healthy meals and snacks, and went for invigorating exercise walks. Plus, I never went to sleep too late, ensuring that I’d have plenty of energy to “rinse and repeat” the following day.
My shopping cart was full of healthy food for this trip
The Four Mixed Game Poker Sessions
Day 1: A Brutal Beatdown
I got my ass handed to me. My first buy-in disappeared so quickly I barely processed it before reaching for a second.
I’d been on a heater back at home, where I hadn’t booked a losing cash game session in weeks, and suddenly I found myself feeling like the stereotypical “home game hero getting roasted in Vegas”. Sure, I ran badly, but I also have to admit that I played poorly: too eager, too action-hungry, bleeding chips in small increments that added up quickly. Those sorts of things can cost you quite a bit, especially in higher-stakes games
Suddenly, two buy-ins were gone in a matter of 3.5 hours, and my confidence was shot.
Morale crushed, I quit early. It didn’t matter that I had played and won big at $20/40 before, and also at $40/80 and $80/160… such a quick decimation and disappearance of 2 buy-ins after one of just four trip days is incredibly demoralizing.
But instead of wallowing, I tried my best to reset and put the devastating loss out of my mind. I took a long walk, ate a healthy meal (as opposed to letting myself sink into a calorie-infused feeling-sorry-for-myself junk food-fest, as I’ve done in the past), got some work done, and resolved to come back sharper the next day. There was more poker yet to be played.
Going for walk in beautiful September Vegas weather did wonders for my spirits
Day 2: Hope Isn’t a Strategy
While I can’t say that I was able to completely forget about the beating I had taken at the felt the day before, I certainly approached Day 2 with renewed energy. I knew it was just a matter of waiting for “the cards to come to me” and I’d be sure to gain back my mojo.
I started strong and climbed back steadily, nearly a full buy-in ahead after six hours. At that point, the right move would’ve been to quit. Instead, for some reason, I set myself a new goal: win back both of yesterday’s buy-ins.
That greed undid me. I kept chasing and hoping to hit, convinced I could grind my way back if I just got a little luckier. Lemme tell you, folks: hope isn’t a good poker strategy. My momentum had faded, cards turned cold, and by hour 14 I was exhausted, tilted, had lost those earlier profits, and was down yet another buy-in.
This was the lowest point of my trip. Instead of being about halfway out of the hole, the hole was 50% deeper.
I consulted once again with my coach. Eli didn’t necessarily tell me anything new that I didn’t know. He just reinforced what I knew to be true: don’t get spewy, don’t chase, let the cards come to you, and just have the wherewithal to get up if and when you’re not feeling it anymore. “I know you’re a natural poker player” he said. “Whatever happens, it’ll be fine. Just play your game.” He also reminded me that “it’s only a 4-day trip; even if you lose the entire stake, it doesn’t ‘mean anything’ just like even if you make back all the losses and win a buy-in or two, it also doesn’t ‘mean anything’.” Hearing him say that that helped me put everything into perspective and reminded me not to think beyond each individual hand taking place in the moment. Over a short time frame, we can’t really control what cards come our way; all we can control is our own decision-making and our self awareness.
Day 3: Finally, a Win!
Thankfully, I showed up for Day 3 with a positive mindset and put Day 2 behind me. The goal: climb steadily upward. Over seven hours I built a steady profit and, for once, quit while ahead: up one buy-in.
I had some rungood (hello, one-outer on the river in Omaha high!), but overall I also played disciplined. I still made some mistakes – overcalling and missing value with strong hands – but crucially, I recognized when fatigue started creeping in and racked up to book an important win.
Getting up from the table with $1,000 more than I started off with that day felt great. I knew I was still down overall, but the most important thing was feeling like I had regained my confidence and momentum.
I also simultaneously realized that I had probably passed the point where I’d be able to make back all of the losses, but I still had some hope. After all, just as I had lost big in a short period of time, it was still within the realm of possibility that I might be able to make it back over the course of my final session. Right?
I went to sleep happy and excited for the final day’s session, but also with a little sadness realizing that Day 4 would be my last day that I would get to play $20/40 mix for quite a while.
Undaunted, I was determined to ignore all the emotions I was feeling and just stick with what had been working: playing my game and making good decisions.
Day 4: Racing Against the Clock
With my flight that evening, I took my seat for my final session of the trip determined to maximize the opportunity. Early swings gave way to a strong run, peaking at +$1,200 before a couple sloppy mistakes crept in.
The game broke after six hours, which frankly was a blessing – it forced me to walk away while still ahead nearly a buy-in. Whatever “desperation” I had to keep trying to climb out of the hole thankfully didn’t have enough time to manifest before we all called it quits.
Final tally for the trip: down $1,100 after 34 hours of play. It had taken me about 30 hours to claw back about two-thirds of what I had dusted off in the first four.
Reflections and Lessons from Four Days of Mixed Game Poker
“Only $1,100 down after being -$3,000 feels like a win,” Eli said to me when I shared details of my final session with him. I’m supremely grateful that he was so good natured about it all, and that he remained “process-oriented” rather than “results-oriented”. He expressed full confidence in me that over time I was bound to keep winning, and full readiness to stake me again should the opportunity arise.
While the sample size was small, the lessons from my poker trip were so blatantly obvious. I just need to remember them and keep them at the forefront of my mind whenever I get the next opportunity to take a poker trip, to get myself mentally “right back in the zone”, as though I’ve just left off that final session:
- Don’t chase losses
- Quit while ahead (or at least when momentum shifts)
- Fatigue kills decision-making
- Stay disciplined in marginal spots
- Never give up or lose confidence in your game, regardless of how much you’re down
One thing’s for sure, considering all the hours I got to play and the wonderful people I got to spend all that time with at the felt, I’m sure glad I spent the extra couple hundred dollars to give myself the four days of poker in Las Vegas. Next time around, I’ll be sure to give myself longer and the chance to have a larger sample size, make fewer mistakes over time, and slowly but surely let the wins accumulate.
