Mixed Game Festival XV Day 3

Day 3 of Mixed Game Festival XV at Bellagio was the busiest session of the series so far, combining a full tournament schedule with packed dealer's choice cash games and a steady stream of merchandise giveaways. The day's centerpiece was the $300 Triple Draw Mix, which drew 32 entries — roughly 20 percent more than the TORSE event held the previous day.

Triple Draw Mix Draws 32 Entries

The $300 Triple Draw Mix generated a prize pool of $7,840, with four paid places. But as is typical for the Festival, the payout structure extended well beyond the official money. Players finishing from fifth through tenth place each received an envelope containing a mystery prize, and one of those envelopes held the final remaining seat in the $100,000 guaranteed Bellagio Fall Classic Main Event, a $1,100 value.

The first four envelopes opened contained smaller items such as poker books, Bellagio merchandise, and T-shirts, leaving two envelopes in play. Arthur Goltz, who had been eliminated in sixth place, faced a 50/50 decision and drew the grand prize seat.

With the mystery bounty segment complete, the remaining players focused on the tournament itself. Play narrowed to Aaron Foust and David Noh, who agreed to an even chop of the remaining prize pool, with an extra dollar and the title going to Foust.

• 1st — Aaron Foust, $2,823
• 2nd — David Noh, $2,822
• 3rd — Kentaro Fujita, $1,333
• 4th — Neil La Barge, $862

Cash Games Stay Busy

Tournament action did not slow the side games. About an hour into the day, four dealer's choice cash game tables were running — three at $4/8 and one at $9/18 — while tournament registration was still open. Roughly eight hours in, one $4/8 table broke, but the remaining three continued, with few players appearing in a hurry to leave.

Sponsors including DBPoker1, Faded Spade, and RunGoodGear supplied merchandise giveaways throughout the day, adding to the atmosphere that has become a signature of the Festival.

Player of the Day: Terry Basham

Terry Basham of Saint Louis, Missouri, was named the Pokercoaching.com Player of the Day. Basham has attended every Mixed Game Festival except the first, a run that began almost by accident. He was at Resorts World during the second Festival and, despite having no mixed game experience, decided to try it. What kept him coming back was the atmosphere and the willingness of other players to tolerate mistakes — an easy thing to make when some variants are entirely unfamiliar.

Basham, who works as a chief operating officer of a regional airline company, has since traveled as far as Malta to play in a Festival. He started playing poker in 2005 after a friend invited him to a $20 home tournament, an amount he considered significant at the time. Asked to choose between mixed games and Hold'em, he says he still enjoys Hold'em tournaments, but between a low-stakes Hold'em cash game and a mix, he will "always go for a mix, and it's not even close."

Reflecting on the Festival's growth, Basham noted that it is gratifying to see new faces each time alongside regulars who keep returning. Outside poker, he enjoys skiing, camping, and time with family, and recently became a grandfather for the first time.

Dealer of the Day: Ben Baggett

RunGoodGear's Dealer of the Day honor went to Ben Baggett, who is not a dealer but a shift manager and floor supervisor at Bellagio. A Las Vegas resident since 2018, Baggett came to the industry through playing poker as a way to relax, then spent a year in a California poker room before moving to Vegas.

Baggett says the best part of his job is the networking — meeting people from all walks of life and hearing their stories, all connected by a shared love of the game. He describes Bellagio as a property that lives by a customer-first ethos, and says that fulfilling a guest's request and seeing their reaction is genuinely rewarding.

This is the fourth time the Mixed Game Festival has been held at the property, and Baggett reports that the feeling toward the Festival crowd is overwhelmingly positive. He notes that players have been polite and friendly toward staff, which helps create a welcoming atmosphere — including in situations where a dealer may be less experienced with a particular variant. The rotation now includes more than 35 games, and Baggett says learning new variants is easier when players are ready to offer assistance rather than expect staff to know everything. Away from work, he enjoys disc golf with friends, which doubles as an outing for his two German shepherds.

What's Next

Both scheduled tournaments are complete, and all three $1,100 Bellagio Fall Classic Main Event seats have been awarded, but the Festival continues for a couple more days. On Thursday, Poker Hall of Famer Eli Elezra is expected to join the action for a period, and players hoping to share a table with him can call (702) 693-7290 to reserve a seat.

As the first three days demonstrated, the Festival's appeal rests on more than its tournaments. The combination of affordable mixed-game cash action, expanded payouts, and a welcoming player base has kept tables full even during what organizers describe as the October offseason.