Once we final left off, I used to be deep into the ultimate stretch of a month-long Las Vegas grind. Greater than three weeks of combined recreation poker have been already behind me, full with some stable wins, painful losses, silly unforgivable errors, psychological fatigue, and moments of readability that solely come from prolonged time at (and away from) the tables. With just some days remaining earlier than flying house, my focus shifted definitively in the direction of “how properly can I end?”
I received’t lie. Treading barely above the breakeven line, I additionally felt some desperation creeping into my thoughts for the primary time. Whereas I do know to not be results-oriented as a poker participant, a greater backside line end result would definitely make a greater impression upon crossing the end line (and, frankly, an thrilling and uplifting finish to this miniseries).
What follows isn’t just a recap of my remaining classes, however a sequence of reflections on how my month as a semipro combined recreation poker participant in Las Vegas got here to its conclusion.
Having spent a number of time at Orleans’ poker tables over the past week of my journey, the adjoining Baskin Robbins definitely introduced me a great deal of pleasure.
Days 24-25 | November 28–29: Pressured Relaxation and a Reminder of Why the Grind Issues
My remaining week in Las Vegas didn’t start the way in which I had envisioned. Put up-Thanksgiving, I received sick with abdomen flu all through most of Friday and Shabbat. I suppose, in hindsight, that it was for the most effective. A great dose of sleep, relaxation, and restoration would allow me to cost full pressure into my remaining few days on the felt. If I used to be destined to have gotten sick, let or not it’s on days that I wasn’t going to be enjoying poker anyway, proper? 🙂
Fortunately, by Saturday night time, my starvation — and my starvation to get again on the market and play extra poker — returned in full pressure.
I late-regged for the $240 Triple Draw Combine event at Orleans. Two hours later I used to be out properly wanting the cash, ending a disappointing twenty seventh out of 40. It was irritating as a result of I merely couldn’t get something going, however typically that’s simply how event poker goes.
From there, I moved right into a $4/8 Restrict Maintain’em money recreation with a really particular purpose: attempt to make again the event buy-in and name it an evening. What adopted was an eight-hour session that became one of the crucial thrilling wins of my journey.
Over the course of the session I managed to bob and weave my option to successful $165. Together with that, I had additionally received an additional $75 from a poker site promotion for hitting quads. Then, on what turned out to be my remaining hand, I flopped quad aces and was awarded an enormous $450 bonus. I stop instantly. In any case was stated and finished, I completed up $690 on a $200 buy-in!
If you begin a $4/8 Restrict Maintain’em session hoping to hit a promo… and finally, after 8 hours, you do 😁🎉
Thanks @OrleansPokerRo1 🙏
Flopped quad aces by no means felt so good 😊 pic.twitter.com/ACfjWlLo3V
— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) November 30, 2025
What made the session particularly significant was the context. With a $5 rake plus a $3 jackpot drop virtually each hand, the sport successfully sheds round $350 per hour. That’s a troublesome recreation to beat! After eight hours, I used to be the one participant nonetheless sitting on the desk from the unique lineup, and I’m not certain any of the others booked a revenue earlier than leaving. To come back out forward naturally, even earlier than bonuses, felt like a real achievement. The remainder was gravy.
Day 26 | November 30: Lengthy Classes, The Agony of Missed Bets, and a Decided Grind
With the tip of the journey approaching, each remaining hour I nonetheless needed to play poker felt valuable. It’s with that sense of urgency that I settled right into a $6/12 combine session (with a half kill to $8/16) at Resorts World.
Fewer issues are extra “motivating” poker-wise than solely having just a few days left of a visit…
The shortage ALWAYS makes it such a valuable commodity to me.
As at all times, excited to play some combine right here at @PokerRoomRWLV
Let’s make some extra recollections (and cash) 🤑 pic.twitter.com/HHXSzKkdOp
— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) November 30, 2025
General, I used to be doing okay, however I might really feel some dangerous habits creeping in. I chased a bit too usually as an alternative of tightening up, and I made just a few outright errors. Essentially the most evident have been lacking bets on the finish after I was good. As an illustration, in a single Drawmaha 2-7 hand, I ended up checking again the river as final to behave after I ought to have realized I used to be assured not less than half the pot. These moments of lapsed focus proceed to hang-out me. You’ve received to make the fitting strikes whether or not you’re enjoying with $2 chips or $20 chips!
Even so, just a few hours in I had labored my means as much as about $280 in revenue and had my sights set on hitting $400.
It didn’t occur.
After the sport mixed to a single desk, I steadily misplaced all of it because the playing cards went chilly. When the sport finally broke after 9 hours, I used to be proper again the place I had began. Dissatisfied on the end result, I discovered myself wishing I had stop earlier to lock up the earnings. I assume that’s solely pure, however I don’t consider it’s a really wholesome option to method poker. In any occasion, I wasn’t able to throw within the towel on my day simply but.
From there, I headed again to Orleans to chase one other promo at $4/8 Restrict Maintain’em. I do know it isn’t a combined recreation, however having managed to attain a bonus there the night time earlier than mixed with the lure of extra promotions is why I selected to grind at that particular venue in the direction of the tip of the journey. What can I say? They received me 🙂 🤷♂️
After about an hour I used to be able to stop when I discovered myself down $110, however the desk broke and there was precisely one seat left on the solely different $4/8 Restrict Maintain’em desk within the room, so I took it with the remaining $90 in my stack. On the very first hand, I used to be dealt pocket aces and so they ended up holding at showdown. Due to a number of preflop callers and one opponent who caught round with pocket kings till the tip, all of a sudden I used to be again to even. From there, all the things clicked. I completed the session up $200 and left instantly, one other robust lead to a brutally raked recreation.
Alongside the way in which, I discovered a brand new Orleans-ism: six methods to the flop is seemingly referred to as “Orleans heads-up.” IYKYK 😂
Day 27 | December 1: Prioritizing Friendship, Studying, and Perspective
Although there was a low-stakes combined recreation operating on today, I made the choice to not play and as an alternative spend the day railing my buddy and mentor Eli Elezra. Between internet hosting my Combined Sport Competition and my very own grind, I had not had many possibilities to only sit with him, watch, be taught, and benefit from the expertise. I’ve put in couple hundred hours sitting on his rail through the years, and people signify a few of my most fulfilling poker recollections. I needed to have that have once more earlier than I headed house.
For about eight hours, I watched him grind his means from being barely down in his $300/600 combine to locking up a low five-figure win. As at all times, it was riveting to have a entrance row seat to the motion. I don’t actually do a lot formal poker examine, in order that’s my model of “being within the lab”: speaking by means of arms, debating choices, and continually asking questions. Old-fashioned-style.
All through the session, Eli and I additionally “talked by means of” my whole journey; the ups, the downs, and the teachings I must be aiming to be taught and internalize for subsequent time. It was additionally an opportunity to “personal up” to the primary errors I made throughout my month as a combined video games semipro that prevented me from being extra worthwhile, all of which might have added as much as one other $3K or so. Even so, Eli reassured me that to nonetheless nonetheless be up just a little in any case that illustrated “how properly I did” to face up to all of the inevitable bumps alongside the highway.
Let me let you know of us, having a Poker Corridor of Famer offer you that form of an open, trustworthy evaluation helps enhance your spirits quite a bit.
Later that night time, I squeezed in a brief $4/8 Restrict Omaha 8 session at Orleans, beginning sizzling and ending up with one other $200 revenue in simply two hours. That felt like the right instance of figuring out when sufficient is sufficient. Not each poker session must be 10 hours lengthy. Generally a clear, worthwhile two-hour session is precisely what the physician ordered.
Not Tainting the Purity of the Grind
Most money recreation gamers play low-stakes Texas Maintain’em or Pot Restrict Omaha, the place swings of $1,000 or extra are fairly commonplace. With combined video games, we take escalators as an alternative of elevators. That’s to say that, usually talking, it’s a much more gradual win/loss course of. As I famous initially of this miniseries, that’s how I constructed almost my whole bankroll. It has taken me years of effort.
I clearly needed to win extra money over the course of this journey, however with simply at some point left I wasn’t about to flip a swap and simply “gamble, gamble” at NLHE and PLO tables hoping to get fortunate and spin it up. That is primarily the identical motive why I by no means simply “put all of it on pink or black”. I’ve at all times been a poker participant, not a gambler. Plus, frankly, I wasn’t anyplace close to mentally ready to doubtlessly lose the few hundred {dollars} in revenue (or extra) that I used to be nonetheless clinging to by way of one or two loopy coolers.
I flew out to Las Vegas to grind combined video games, and I used to be going to honor that course of till I crossed the end line.
Day 28 | December 2: One Final Hurrah
With 24 hours left to my journey, I used to be optimistic that I’d be capable of finish issues off on a excessive observe. As per my standard, I deliberate for an all-nighter.
It was chilly. After arriving to shorts and T-shirt climate, the seasons had modified. I received right here throughout NAPT Las Vegas and was leaving simply because the WPT World Championship was kicking off.
It was a day of “lasts”: the final train stroll, ending off the meals I had purchased, filling the rental automobile’s fuel tank, doing a final load of laundry, and packing as much as head house.
I used to be proud that from a value/overhead perspective, I had finished a near-perfect job. Being in Las Vegas for a month meant I needed to deal with the time as if I lived there, not like I used to be vacationing there. With a acknowledged purpose of making a living, it additionally meant not spending it unnecessarily. This felt like a very worthy achievement in a metropolis constructed on lightening guests’ wallets.
It additionally ended up being an awesome enterprise day. This bolstered simply how necessary it was to not abandon my common work, particularly the worth of in-person conversations, whereas pursuing poker as a semipro.
And, after all, I had one remaining day of poker to play.
Final full day of the journey and it has been a tremendous one…
At all times bittersweet, however grateful for what has been, what’s, and (hopefully, Gdwilling) for what shall be 🙏
Time to make the ultimate session rely right here at @ARIAPoker 😁 pic.twitter.com/gPDFpWQ4LG
— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) December 2, 2025
I took my seat in a $9/18 combined recreation at Aria and determined, for the primary time all month, to purchase in brief (for only one rack; $300). My hope was {that a} shortage mindset would assist me worth each chip. Sadly, after 3.5 hours, I wanted to rebuy. Earlier than doing so, I walked over to Bellagio to say goodbye to Eli and clear my head for one remaining push. On the spot, he determined to take a position a pair racks ($600) in me, primarily giving me one final freeroll. Sadly, over the subsequent 4.5 hours, I ran ice chilly. I received quartered repeatedly, couldn’t receives a commission after I was robust, and received outdrawn after I was forward. Nothing labored. Even with essentially the most constructive of attitudes, you may’t at all times will your option to a win on the poker desk. C’est la vie.
After the sport broke, I made a decision to “give it one final shot” at Orleans within the $4/8 Restrict Maintain’em recreation. I figured that in a worst case state of affairs, the harm wouldn’t be too dangerous. In a greatest case state of affairs, possibly I’d get fortunate and hit one of many excessive arms for a giant promo rating. I definitely got here shut on three separate events:
I flopped 4 to a 10-high flush (would’ve gotten $1,200)I flopped 4 to a royal flush twice, however missed (would’ve gotten $5,000 for flopping it, and $1,500 if I had hit it on the flip or river).
Shut, however no cigar. As if to rub just a little salt within the wound, a pair hours into the session another person took a seat on the desk and inside a couple of minutes managed to flop 4 fives, a promo hand price just below $2,000. He was utterly unaware of any promos operating within the poker site…
That was my cue to go away. No less than I received a couple of bucks earlier than racking up with a wistful smile.
Closing Ideas
I received completely demolished in my $9/18 classes (17.5 hours) and $20/40 classes (19 hours) over the course of the journey. In contrast, I received just a little in my $8/16 classes (55 hours) and was a giant winner in $4/8 classes (78 hours). Possibly there’s an actual bounce in participant caliber, and I clearly want to enhance and alter? Possibly I simply have to run higher?
If I’m being 100% trustworthy, I’d say it’s a mixture of the 2. In any case, I’ve received at $20/40, $40/80, and even $80/160 earlier than. These weren’t fluke wins. Plus, pattern dimension is a factor, each for higher and for worse.
So, sure, a number of it boils right down to self-discipline, constantly making good choices, and having first rate card distribution. On the identical time, I do know that I clearly have to maintain engaged on my recreation and actively heed the various classes I discovered throughout my month as a semipro combined recreation participant.
I’ll maintain taking pictures, and I’ll maintain enjoying the occasional event in pursuit of massive scores. These scores will finally come as a result of luck occurs when preparation meets alternative. My job is to maintain exhibiting up.
Even after a month, a part of me needed to remain and maintain enjoying. However the different a part of me couldn’t wait to hug my spouse and kids once more. The video games will nonetheless be there after I finally get again.
Ed. observe: I’ve included some graphs and notes under for full transparency, together with an epilogue.
Notes & Stats:
174 BB received over 159.5 hours of low-stakes combined money video games (22 classes)$525 received by way of poker site promotionsWon $150 enjoying $1/2 No Restrict Maintain’em for 1 hourLost $840 enjoying in (and busting) 4 tournaments over 12.5 hoursLost $50 enjoying video poker (sure, that comes out of the bankroll)My $20/40 outcomes and knowledge are not mirrored within the above graphs
Closing tally: 202 hours of poker performed | $600 total revenue
I got here to Vegas for a month.
To not cowl occasions, like prior to now.
However to run a Combined Sport Competition — and to play tons and much and LOTS of poker.
As I take off to the skies and head house, simply taking a second to specific absolute gratitude for having had the chance. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/9IcLFlvFXt
— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) December 3, 2025
Epilogue
In case you would have instructed me 10 years in the past, and even two years in the past, that I’d have the chance to grind for a full month in Las Vegas as a semipro combined recreation participant, I’d say “you’re out of your thoughts.”
Whereas it’s straightforward to lament having received solely $600 over the course of the month and ponder the futility of a $3/hour win fee, I as an alternative select gratitude:
I’ve the most effective spouse on the planet.I’ve the most effective poker mentors and mates on the planet.I received to reside out a poker dream.
I additionally received to have the catharsis of writing an 11,000-word, 5-part miniseries about my journey; a deeply trustworthy account of what it means to grind combined money video games over the course of a month. The swings, the errors, the wins, the losses, the camaraderie, and the numerous hours on the tables all blended collectively into an expertise that reaffirmed why I really like the grind within the first place.
I did my greatest, and I do know that sometime — hopefully not too far sooner or later — I’ll get to do it once more.
Once I do, it’s going to be superior.
