From Hold’em to Mixed Games: Shawn Grigus on His Poker Journey and Passion
The Festival Series is all about offering a great mix of poker formats. Even though this means there are plenty of mixed games such as HORSE, 8-Game, Sviten Special, and Omaha, the majority of events are still played in the No-Limit Hold'em format. Nevertheless, we're on a mission to create awareness for all sorts of poker!
Recently, Martin 'Franke' von Zweigbergk appeared in a podcast called 'Poker: All the Games'. He was asked about his passion for the game, his recent victory during the WSOP Circuit in Tallinn, and about The Festival Series.
Thanks to Shawn Grigus, who is managing the podcast together with Martin Smith, people can get a glimpse of the life of the founder of The Festival. Likewise, we wanted to know everything about the enthusiasm of Shawn and his heart for the game of poker. Let's get to it!
Melvin Schroen: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and introduce yourself to our poker community? Most mixed games players will recognize you from your podcast about mixed games, but how did you end up being in the poker scene?
Shawn Grigus: I got into poker after seeing the final table of the 2003 WSOP on ESPN. I played for quite a few years both online and live, in tournaments and cash games. I played mostly in Atlantic City casinos, but also in New Mexico, California, and I attended my first WSOP in Las Vegas in 2008, where I cashed in a six-handed NL Hold’em event.
After playing for a few years, life happened — family obligations, then I opened several businesses, etc. — and I got away from poker for a number of years. During Covid, I had time on my hands and began rekindling my love of poker by learning mixed games.
At that time, I started reading books and signing up for poker training sites focusing on mixed games. Since the poker rooms were closed during Covid, I began playing small buy-in mixed games on PokerStars. Once the poker rooms began opening, I was living just outside of Atlantic City, and with the Borgata very close by, I started by focusing on 7-Card Stud, which runs every weekend.
As I was learning mixed games, I realized there weren’t a lot of resources. Something else I quickly noticed was that the rules and specific play of each variation could differ slightly depending on what room you’re playing in or who you talk to. That was the desire for me to write a book on non-Hold’em poker — to definitively write down the rules for 23 poker variations so players, dealers, and card room managers have a resource to turn to find the rules of each game.
From there, I started the podcast to provide some of the information from the book in the form of a podcast free of charge to players interested in learning mixed games. Martin and I now have the rules, play, and basic strategy for 50 poker variations available on the Poker: All The Games podcast.
The general gist of the story is similar to others, but the details are unique. I was out of work at the time and wound up at my parents’ home for a couple of months in 2003. One night, my father yelled upstairs for me to come down and take a look at the television.
While he was channel surfing, he happened upon an ESPN event—a NL Hold’em final table with pot sizes in the hundreds of thousands (chips, not cash). There sat Chris Moneymaker and Sam Farha playing poker for millions of dollars of prize money. My father was amazed at the money they were playing for in a poker game, and I quickly became interested in learning more about the game that friends grew up playing in grade school, but I never actually took part in.
Melvin Schroen: The Festival Series is heading to Malta next month, and at the end of the year we go ‘home’ to Bratislava. Currently, we have The Festival Online ongoing. Are you planning to visit one of our upcoming events?
Shawn Grigus: Yes! I have plans to attend The Festival Series Malta from 08-15 September 2024. I am very excited to be playing mixed games outside of the U.S. for the first time ever! I cannot wait to sit at the felt again with Martin, and for the first time with Franke, and enter events with European mixed game players.
Melvin Schroen: Mixed games are poker formats which have a big effect on our live events. For decades already, the mixed games community has been battling to increase the player base all over the world. What’s your take on this? Where are we standing at the moment? If you had to think about it, what would you organize/change/adjust to increase the community even more?
Shawn Grigus: There are several reasons why it is challenging to bring players into mixed games. First, NL Hold’em is so easy to learn. Second, NL Hold’em is the easiest variation to televise, so it has gotten the most exposure. Third, NL Hold’em can be dealt rapidly, and a winner determined quickly, hence rake can be taken at a higher rate than slower games (think 7-Card Stud). All of this benefits the playing of NL Hold’em for the player base, as well as for the venues hosting poker.
There are more and more mixed games tournaments being offered than ever before. I also see different variations of cash games being offered, or at least player lists being started for different games in areas that haven’t hosted those games before. There are also more resources becoming available for mixed game players. One such resource is Poker: All The Games podcast, which talks about non-Hold’em poker.
First and foremost, mixed games need more exposure, i.e., to be televised more and to be talked about more, in general. We need more tournament series, like The Festival Series, The Moneymaker Tour, and of course, WSOP, that offer non-Hold’em events.
More poker rooms offering low-limit/low buy-in mixed games and having dealers trained to properly deal games other than Hold’em would be beneficial. Additionally, bad beat jackpots for mixed cash games would be beneficial, similar to Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut that offers a bad beat jackpot for 7-Card Stud (and they have a lot of Stud games running in part because of that).
Melvin Schroen: You’ve had Franke on your podcast. He explained everything about him being a fish at first and the thoughts behind the games we are offering. What games are your favorites and why? What makes them stand out compared to the rest?
Shawn Grigus: I mostly enjoy Draw and Stud. I probably like playing Draw the most, but it’s difficult to find Draw games being dealt, so I play more Stud mainly because it is available along the northeast corridor of the United States.
I like draw games because of the chance to improve your hand by making your own decision about which card(s) to exchange. Plus, a lot of players see much potential with the ability to draw, which can lead to wider opening ranges depending on the player.
I especially enjoy variations that turn the poker ranking hands on their head, like 2-7 Triple Draw and Razz. These twists require additional thought and go against the grain when it comes to what most players know. The use of brainpower in mixed games as compared to being able to be a Hold’em robot is why lowball games stand out to me.
Melvin Schroen: The Festival Series is not just about poker; there are daily activities planned away from the poker tables. It gives players a great experience overall and makes sure players don’t drown in the much of the poker action we offer. Do you have such live events as well in the area where you reside?
Shawn Grigus: Most, if not all, of the poker festivals in this area do not put on nor promote off-the-felt activities during poker tournaments. This makes what Franke is doing as part of The Festival Series a very unique and special offering, especially for players traveling from outside the area. It’s not that there aren’t other things to do in the areas that hold poker tournaments here, but they haven’t realized the importance of not only pointing those things out to the players but also supporting and hosting other events and activities off the felt as part of a tournament series.
Melvin Schroen: This year we had one new location in Rozvadov, Europe’s largest live poker location. Where would you like to see an event of The Festival Series next year? And what are your requirements for a great location to play some good poker?
Shawn Grigus: Somewhere in the United States for selfish reasons, i.e., not having to travel so far! I would like a stop in Italy, because of my Italian heritage and there are some beautiful spots in Italy to play poker.
My list of requirements for a good poker location includes the availability of food and drink choices, especially healthier food options nearby. With my love of trying new beers, local breweries close by are always a bonus. Other activities to do away from the felt in the area are also important. Finally, let’s also not forget decent accommodations at reasonable pricing for those traveling from outside the area.
As a bonus, I love the water and playing close by a body of water would be exceptional. I know it wasn’t ideal from a logistical perspective, but watching the PCA that took place in Atlantis with the final table over the water was amazing. Other reasons water nearby is nice are for potential walking along the beach, swimming, boating, jet ski activities, etc. Things to do off the felt.
Melvin Schroen: Who would you love to have on your podcast at some point? Is there a legend out there who you genuinely admire? Did you have other guests of note on your podcast?
Shawn Grigus: It’s tough to pick just one. If I had to go with one, it would be either Nick Schulman, Maria Ho, or Jamie Kerstetter. Ok, I realize that’s three, so let me explain. First off, Nick Schulman for his love of and accomplishments in mixed games, his commentating skills are wonderful, which makes for a good interview, but what makes him stand out above many others is his exuberant personality.
Maria Ho and Jamie Kerstetter fit the bill for the same reasons, and even though Jamie may not have as many accomplishments as Nick or Maria, it seems she has been getting into the non-Hold’em games a bit more. Maria and Jamie have glowing personalities, which is great for interviews and most importantly, is so good for the game!
I genuinely admire so many of the players. Some of them include Phil Ivey, Nick Schulman, and Cyndy Violette. Three greats of the mixed game arena that also have accomplishments in NL Hold ‘em. All of them are originally from the East Coast, with each standing out in their own right.
Most people probably know Phil Ivey and Nick Schulman, but many may not know of Cyndy Violette. Her mixed game success goes back to at least 1984/1985 when she was at the top of the game in 7-Card stud, which is also the same variation she won her WSOP bracelet in 2004. See where we are now with trying to grow Mixed Games, and we had a female playing Stud and winning some 40 years ago, when males constituted an even larger percentage of the player pool.
The podcast wasn’t intended originally for guest speakers. It began as a resource for players and dealers to find the definitive rules and play for dozens of Poker variations. However, after having now released 52 episodes, with 50 of them covering a different poker variation, Martin and I have recently begun expanding to having guest appearances from the Mixed Game Community. Our first guest appearance was Wouter Schuurbiers on in episode 30, and more recently we discussed the state of Mixed Games with Robbie Strazynski on episode 50 and Franke on episode 52 talking about The Festival Series Malta.
