As we noted in our Day 2 recap, Day 3 of Mixed Game Festival XIV was poised to bring a lot of excitement and heaps of value to the players as it featured the first $3,500 BetMGMPoker Championship seat giveaway.
For the third straight day, mixed game players filled four tables playing low stakes dealer’s choice poker for hours. The room was packed, as expected, and it wasn’t just the case that the day lived up to the expectations. Rather, it well exceeded them, as some lucky players were treated to four additional $300 seats to mixed game tournaments being held at the MGM Grand Summer Series a few blocks away on the Las Vegas Strip. This came as a total (and very pleasant) surprise, bringing with it smiles and exultation from the lucky foursome who secured their seats.
The Grand Prize, of course, went to Martin Mata, and he’ll be getting a free shot at the $3,500 BetMGM Poker Championship title and a slice of the massive $4,000,000 guaranteed prize pool. He’ll be joined by at least two more lucky seat winners from the MGF XIV giveaway and hundreds of other players early in July at ARIA Las Vegas.
Let the PLO Gods Decide
Make no mistake, poker players will never say no to free stuff, but the manner in which you give that free stuff away matters as well. At the Mixed Game Festival, the focus is always on the fun, so the first tournament seat was awarded using a tried and tested system of PLO flips.
Looks like we have 32 players with over $100 in equity, each of whom is very excited to potentially win a $3500 seat into the 2026 @BetMGMPoker Championship.
The giveaway will happen within the next 90 minutes here at Mixed Game Festival XIV at @BellagioPoker. 🎉 pic.twitter.com/rPi3Hs59Uw
— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) June 2, 2026
Sean McCormack, the Executive Director of Poker Strategy and Development for MGM Resorts, was on hand for the proceedings, and was also the one to deliver the pleasantly surprising news about the additional $300 tickets.
There were four tables going at the time, and each table ran out a blind Pot Limit Omaha flip. Then, hand winners proceeded to the second round to play for yet another PLO flip, with the winner of that flip winning the $3,500 ticket.
As you’d expect, it was a bit of mayhem (in the best possible way!), and our friends from PokerNews were kind enough to pay a visit to Bellagio and capture it in the video below.
(Video courtesy of PokerNews / Adam Peiken)
When the dust settled, it was Martin Mata from Denver, Colorado, emerging victorious and claiming the main prize. The other four hand winners to receive $300 seats were Nadi Medlege, Christina Black, Matt Bryant, and Scott Leader.
And if you’re wondering how there were four second-place finishers from just four tables, it’s because we had a chop in one of the round one hands, so five players actually progressed to the final round.
The extra prizes came as a courtesy from “the Poker Boss” Sean McCormack, and we can neither confirm nor deny whether there will be extra prizes awarded for upcoming draws. You’ll just have to be there for it and see for yourself if you might be one of the luck ones!
With the main highlight of the day out of the way, most players went back to their tables, and although we lost one table down the line, the action continued across three tables well past midnight.
Pokercoaching.com Player of the Day: Ben Kabatznik
It’s not only the tournament seat winners who got some free stuff yesterday. Not a day goes by at the Mixed Game Festival XIV without a bunch of prizes being distributed, and that includes one monthly PokerCoaching.com subscription given out every single day to the Player of the Day.
This time around, that honor goes to Ben Kabatznik from San Francisco, California. Ben is in the software-selling business, and he is in Las Vegas for a conference. His original plan was to play some $1/$3 No Limit Hold’em during his downtime, but when he discovered that a Mixed Game Festival was running, he changed his mind.
Ben’s experience with mixed games isn’t super extensive, but he enjoys Omaha Hi-Lo. As for the festival, he appreciates the opportunity to try his hand at some of the lesser-known variants, like Oma-Jack, which you’ll never come across in major tournaments or more formal events.
With a full-time job, he doesn’t have too much time to play poker, so when he gets an opportunity, he prefers to gamble and have fun. Mixed games offer that a lot more than Hold’em, which he says requires much more patience and a very analytical approach. Unfortunately, Ben doesn’t get a chance to play low stakes mix in Cali, so the festival came just at the right time for him.
His poker dream is to play in the WSOP Main Event. He says that at this point in his life, he can afford it financially, but now it’s more about organizing everything and finding the right time to do it and turning it into a fun trip for him and his wife.
While Ben doesn’t have much time to study poker, he greatly enjoys Jonathan Little’s free content on YouTube, so he’ll probably put his one-month subscription to PokerCoaching.com to good use.
RunGoodGear Dealer of the Day: Michael Godfrey
In the spotlight for this edition of the Dealer of the Day is Michael Godfrey. Originally from California, Michael has been living in Vegas for 21 years, and his role at the Bellagio is actually that of a shift manager.
Having spent over two decades in the casino business, he’s held many roles in places like Golden Nugget and South Point, and he’s been a member of the Bellagio team since August 2025.
He says that one of the main things he’s been focusing on since coming on board is to show people that playing poker at the Bellagio can be fun and light, even given the room’s elite reputation. In other words, while he’s got to suit up for work, he LOVES his new free Mixed Game Festival T-Shirt from RunGoodGear. 🙂
His experience notwithstanding, Michael tells us that he was nervous taking on his new role, explaining that working at Bellagio is just different. You can feel the energy of the place that he describes as “the mecca of all poker activities on the Strip.”
Back in the day, Michael arrived in Las Vegas during the Moneymaker boom, with the goal of becoming a professional poker player. A few years in, and having met his wife, he decided to opt for a more stable lifestyle, which is when he became a part of the industry, and he never looked back.
On a personal level, he enjoys the opportunity to learn from the likes of Bellagio Poker Room Director Craig Larson as well as Sean McCormack.
It’s a Wrap on Another Exciting Day
While Day 3 of Mixed Game Festival XIV has concluded, luckily there are seven more days left, so if you’ve missed out so far, there is plenty more to come. The action will kick off at 12pm sharp once more, and you can reserve your seat by calling the poker room at (702) 693-7291 – or just show up on time, and you’ll be guaranteed a seat.
Attention mixed game players:
Do you like the design of our @RunGoodGear shirts?
Come and get ’em at @BellagioPoker during our Mixed Game Festival 😁 pic.twitter.com/6BYEmMVqeL
— Cardplayer Lifestyle (@PokerLifeMedia) June 3, 2026
A reminder that there are some giveaways happening every day, with merch and poker books up for grabs. The next $3,500 BetMGM Poker Championship seat will be up for grabs on Sunday, so plan accordingly!
