Virtually as quickly as I obtained again residence to Israel from my summer season journey to Las Vegas, I started planning for the following one. Particularly, I began engaged on placing collectively what would turn out to be Blended Sport Competition XII. In truth although, I had “greater desires,” far past “simply” internet hosting one other five-day poker occasion. I needed the following Vegas poker journey to be longer. I wanted it to be longer.
My poker-writing inspiration Brad Willis as soon as mentioned one thing that has all the time stayed with me: “A variety of one of the best writing comes from individuals who have been in the course of the expertise they’re writing about.”
For 16+ years I’ve written in regards to the sport, promoted blended video games, interviewed the individuals who play them, and watched numerous others reside the poker-grinding life I’ve (not so secretly) envied. I used to be all the time the tortoise — affected person, deliberate, watching, and dreaming. Whereas so many others have been enjoying poker on the tables, I labored alongside them… and carved out no matter treasured little time I might to play. Because it occurs, I’ve felt that a few of the finest writing I’ve finished has been in regards to the particular experiences I’ve had as a participant.
READ MORE: The Low-Stakes Participant Who Swam with the Sharks within the $80/160 Combine
However my youngsters was quite a bit youthful, and my priorities have been precisely the place they wanted to be. Now the circumstances are completely different. My youngsters are older, extra impartial, and I’m 44 years previous. I’m not content material simply writing about poker world anymore. I desperately wish to be part of it as a participant, too.
As such, you possibly can solely think about my elation as I booked my journey to Las Vegas for November 4-December 4. This was actually taking place! I used to be going to have the chance to reside the lifetime of a semipro blended sport poker participant for a complete month!
OMG. Wow, what an unbelievable begin to the journey…! #improve 😲
Perhaps somebody at Delta noticed it was my birthday yesterday? 🥳
Whenever you’ve obtained a 7,500-mile journey to take, that is only a WHOLE different degree of journey!
So grateful 🙏 not gonna take a single second of this as a right. pic.twitter.com/VyGmS8GUVB
— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) November 4, 2025
The Poker Dream I Lastly Let Myself Prioritize
Thus, past internet hosting and selling the most recent Blended Sport Competition, I headed out to Las Vegas aiming to see if I might actually do it — to reside, at the least quickly, as a semipro blended sport poker participant.
Enjoying poker is simply one thing that I like to do. I’ve longed for this for years: the rhythms of the grind, the problem of the video games, the camaraderie of regulars who share this ardour for poker and reside a “Cardplayer Way of life.” Extra importantly, as I wrote again in September, I’ve began cultivating a extra skilled mindset after I play, and I imagine I’ve sufficient ability to compete “on the massive stage in Vegas” and win.
Early this yr, I declared my intention for 2025 to be my “yr of quantity.” Previous to departing on this journey, I had logged extra hours this yr than any yr earlier than — one thing that may have appeared absurd to me a decade in the past. However the aim wasn’t simply to play extra. It was to play critically, to check myself, to see if poker play might contribute one thing significant to my household’s revenue.
In 2024, I performed 545 hours of poker.
I made a decision to make 2025 “the yr of quantity”.
I’ve performed 581 hours of poker this yr… and I’m about to embark on a month-long journey to Vegas.
I flip 44 years previous at this time, and I’m simply so grateful and in love with the sport. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/eLmqTvIwLT
— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) November 3, 2025
Fortunately, I wasn’t risking something dramatic in addition to merely not being residence for a month. However even that concerned some sacrifice. My spouse, Miriam, carried that weight with love and optimism, giving me a rare quantity of help and house. She hoped — proper alongside me, from 7,500 miles away — that I’d win, that I’d show my concept to be true, and that I’d come again feeling fulfilled. She is the one who made this complete experiment doable, and she or he deserves monumental thanks.
My Documentary Strategy: How This Miniseries Got here Collectively
From the start, I knew that if I needed to really seize what a month as a blended sport poker semipro seems like, I wanted to doc it in actual time. So I did my finest to be disciplined {and professional} all through the journey.
Throughout every day — whether or not I performed umpteen hours of poker or none in any respect — I jotted down little notes. Typically I snapped an image. Different occasions I recorded voice notes, to make sure I’d bear in mind the precise tone of how I used to be feeling. The purpose was to protect the small print whereas they have been nonetheless recent in my thoughts. To seize the feelings I used to be feeling earlier than they obtained diluted or diminished by hindsight or rose-tinted lenses.
On the finish of daily — whether or not that “finish” got here at 11 p.m., 3 a.m., 5 a.m., and even 7 a.m. the following morning — I sat down and turned these notes, photos, and voice recordings into diary entries. The method was cathartic. The constant documentation of what occurred at and away from the felt every day throughout my journey helped me unwind, decompress, and make higher sense of every thing.
The 9,000+ phrases I drafted over my month in Las Vegas served because the clay that I ended up molding into this five-article miniseries. There’s no fanciful reconstruction from reminiscence weeks later. No romanticizing. No airbrushing. No forgetting or intentional omission of important particulars. Simply the truth of what it’s wish to spend a month battling, finding out, grinding, looking for the fitting steadiness, and residing the blended sport poker life.
The place I Match within the Blended Sport Poker Ecosystem
I’m clearly not the primary particular person to take a shot at enjoying poker semiprofessionally. However I believe there’s some uniqueness in what I tried: specifically enjoying low-stakes blended video games, versus no restrict Texas Maintain’em.
For additional context, I’ve constructed my bankroll through the years overwhelmingly enjoying low-stakes blended sport poker; very slowly and steadily. Usually I solely play as soon as every week, in my residence sport, for roughly 5-7 hours. Thus, one week of devoted play (e.g., 8-10 hours per day) in Vegas would equate to “a pair months” of what I normally play.
I’ve by no means had any large event wins or “inordinately enormous periods” (for good or unhealthy). Sitting at slightly below the five-figure greenback mark, I figured this was sufficient to take with me to Vegas for periods at limits starting from $4/8 to $9/18, maybe play within the occasional low buy-in blended sport event and, if issues went nicely, maybe take a pair pictures at $20/40.
In a best-case state of affairs I had hoped to strategy $5,000 in winnings, which might be superb! In a worst case state of affairs I envisioned shedding about half my bankroll, which might suck. Hitting both of these extremes could be troublesome, given the character of blended money video games, and neither excessive would make an enormous distinction to my life, which is one thing I’m supremely grateful for. On the finish of the day, I aimed to be a semipro; i.e., that any poker winnings could be along with revenues I’d earn from my common work. And if I’d lose, it will solely have an effect on my bankroll and never my household’s monetary state of affairs.
In opposition to Whom Did I Play?
Over my month in Las Vegas, I’m pretty sure I didn’t encounter any full-time professionals recurrently enjoying the lower-limit video games I used to be principally in. I don’t imagine it’s financially possible to make a full residing at stakes decrease than $20/40. However semipro? Supplementing different revenue? I believed that to be solely doable.
I imagine that many of the blended sport gamers I shared the felt with fell into a couple of classes:
vacationers testing the blended sport watersretirees enjoying to remain sharp, social, and energizedself-employed gamers or these with versatile revenue streamslocals squeezing in a session earlier than/after work
I additionally felt that whereas the ambiance was actually completely different after I was enjoying in tournaments, or on the uncommon event that I wasn’t enjoying in a blended sport, there was one noticeably frequent trait to just about everybody I performed with within the blended money video games: joie de vivre. The low-pressure-but-serious vibe of those video games matches completely right into a wholesome, lively, social life.
All of us have been having enjoyable, attempting to win one another’s cash, and conscious of how lucky we have been to be enjoying a sport we beloved “on a random Monday afternoon”. Greater than as soon as I caught myself pondering and hoping: “possibly this may very well be what my retirement will appear to be sometime?”
What This Miniseries Will Intention to Seize
This five-part miniseries will inform the total story of my month in Las Vegas: the ups, the downs, the breakthroughs, the setbacks, the grind, the fatigue, the enjoyment, the uncertainty, and my ever-present gratitude operating via all of it.
Frankly talking, this journey wasn’t nearly poker. It was about lastly giving myself permission to chase a dream I’ve held on to quietly for years and discovering what occurs while you put your self straight within the heart of the expertise.
I can’t wait to share it with you.
Lastly discovered my lesson and remembered to get a window seat…
…and was rewarded with essentially the most superb view 😍
Few issues get my coronary heart going like this superb metropolis.
Let a beautiful month start!
Ah… Las Vegas ❤️ pic.twitter.com/aXfh13bKVn
— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) November 5, 2025
