Every summer a large contingent of mixed game enthusiasts make their way from the Gopher State to take part in the festivities that is the World Series of Poker. While no group is in the same league as the passionate and flamboyant Brazilians, the level of support and pride that the Minnesotans exhibit whenever one of their make it deep in an event has no equal domestically. And when they aren’t playing tournaments, they will often try and organize a Minnesota Mix over at Resorts World.
What is Minnesota Mix? Simply put, it’s everything and anything, a $15-$30 or $20-$40 dealer’s choice rotation where no game is off the table, even those made up on the spot.
If they wanted to take each other’s rolls they could have stayed in Minneapolis, however, they have a sincere desire to expose others to their degeneracy, and the game is a big hit with many Vegas locals, traveling pros, and tourists.
One evening the legendary Minnesota (Chris) Jester invited me to the game. Unfortunately, I had dinner plans but walked over later to take in some of the action. While observing the proceedings, I inquired if anyone had yet called Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw Lowball Red/Black, a one-winner variant where the goal is to make the superior deuce-to-seven low that is of a single color.
In a sense I was semi-bluffing as this is a game that I invented on the way over, but once they decided to call it, I had to quickly flesh out the rules for them.
Any hand containing a single color beats a four-card or worse holding. For example, 3♣5♠6♣9♣9♠ would trump 2♥3♥4♦5♦7♠. If it comes down to two four-card hands (or two three-card holdings) then the winner would be decided by the best overall five-card low, e.g. 3♣5♠6♣8♣9♥ beats 2♥3♥4♦7♦10♠.
Casey took down the first ever contested pot with a pair of threes holding all red fading Matt’s premium 2♣4♣6♠7♠ draw that couldn’t find another black card.
Most pots ended up going off three or four ways and the average hand showdown in this small sampling appeared to be a jack low. Given this, it seems that a decent starting hand would be something like a two-card draw to a nine or one-card draw to a jack or better.
This is a pure guess, of course, and the beauty of this is that no one knows and is forced to figure things out on the fly. Since it’s likely that the game had never been played before, a set of game theory optimal solutions didn’t even exist in the universe until the game got called and the dealer started pitching the cards.
It appeared as if the game went over well because the next person ended up choosing Ace-to-Five Triple Draw Lowball Red/Black.
While I did not play that night, I do intend on participating in the future and calling Ten-to-Ace Triple Draw Highball, another one-winner game where the best possible hand is A-K-Q-J-10. In this game you read the hands from the bottom up and the object is to showdown an unpaired holding with the highest low card. For example, K-Q-J-10-9 would beat A-K-Q-J-8.
While this may seem confusing, it is simply a mirror parallel of Ace-to-Five Triple Draw Lowball where the goal is to produce the lowest high card. In this case K-Q-J-10-9 (straight nine) and A-K-Q-J-8 (eight perfect) are equivalent to a straight six (2-3-4-5-6) and seven perfect (A-2-3-4-7) respectively in Ace-to-Five Triple Draw Lowball. Ace-to-Five is one of my favorite games and it would be a little goofy but challenging to play it upside down.
One popular game that often gets called is Pass the Pips, a split-pot contest where the holder of the most points chops with the least. Kings, queens, jacks, and tens all count as 10 points and the deuces through nines are worth their face amount. Aces are very powerful since they count as one point for the low side and eleven for the high making it possible to scoop.
While the game was played with a button there was no posting of blinds, everyone would ante $5 and receive five cards from the dealer. Before the first round of betting all players are tasked with placing five white chips in front of them (representing how many cards you currently have) and giving one card each to the player on your immediate left and right.
Action commences starting to the left of the button where the first player has the option to check, come in for the minimum of $15, or raise to $30. Subsequent players act in turn; they can check if no one has yet put money into the pot, match the current wager, or raise.
After the first round of betting the dealer spreads out a flop. If the flop matches any of your hole cards, you must flip them face up and the dealer places them on top of the board. In addition, you must also adjust the number of white chips placed in front of you to accurately reflect the current number of cards that you now possess.
For example, if you start with A-K-K-9-5 and the flop comes K-J-5 you must flip over and hand the dealer your two kings and the five and reduce the number of chips in front of you from five to two. If you fail to make the appropriate discards your hand will be fouled and relinquish any claim to the pot. Anyone lucky enough to pair all their hole cards automatically wins the entire pot!
Action after the flop, turn, and river begins with the last aggressor. If at any time during the deal the board pairs the dealer will replace the card so at the conclusion of any hand, there will always be five unique cards.
While all of this might seem a bit confusing at first, the new players seemed to pick it up fast and the dealers handled it flawlessly.
If you are going low, you are hoping to pair your cards and pray that you dodge the board when holding a high hand. I was sweating Chris’s hands this round and on one hand he held 3-3-4-4-6 where the board ended up A-2-5-7-8 with his two opponents each discarding only one. From this he was able to easily deduce that he held a virtual lock low, only losing to an ultimate cooler hand if someone else had specifically 3-3-4-4.
Pass the Pips is a game unlike any other and many of the locals and tourists quickly became addicted. The mixed game community is full of interesting characters that are generally a pleasure to play with, but at times the initial selection of or adding to the list games can get contentious. The carefree attitude that the Minnesotans exhibit where they simply call the game and the dealer starts pitching the cards is as refreshing as a cool mister on a summer day in the desert.
More From This Series
Introduction
Old School Dramaha
Super Sized Stud Hi-Lo
Badugi Dramahas
Simultaneous Omaha And Hold’em
Point-Based Dramaha Variants
Archie And It’s Variants
Badeucey And Badacey
Kevin Haney is a former actuary but left the corporate job to focus on his passions for poker and fitness. The certified personal trainer owned a gym in New Jersey, but has since moved to Las Vegas. He started playing the game back in 2003, and particularly enjoys taking new players interested in mixed games under his wing and quickly making them proficient in all variants. Learn more or just say hello with an email to haneyk612@gmail.com.