Your Stack Changes Value Every Orbit in a Mixed Game

The $25,000 High Roller PLO/NLH Mixed just reached two tables, and the players still alive face a problem that doesn't exist in any single-game tournament: your stack is worth different amounts depending on which game is next.

With 16 players remaining in Event #64 of the 2026 World Series of Poker, the chip leader is Edward Leonard at 2,060,000. Leonard, a two-time WSOP Circuit ring winner with $429K in lifetime cashes and 46 career final tables, holds nearly double the stack of Amit Benyacov (1,135,000) and Lithuania's Dominykas Karmazinas (1,085,000). Nick Schulman, the eight-time bracelet winner with $11.1M in career earnings, is also among the final 16.

But in a PLO/NLH mixed event, raw chip count tells only half the story.

The Core Problem: One Stack, Two Games

In a standard no-limit hold'em tournament, 40 big blinds is 40 big blinds. You know your effective stack depth, and your decisions flow from it. In a mixed event, the game rotates at fixed intervals, and the same 40 big blinds behaves completely differently depending on which game is being dealt.

In NLH, a 40-big-blind stack is comfortable. You can open, three-bet, and still have room to maneuver postflop. You're deep enough to set-mine, float, and put together multi-street bluffs.

In PLO, 40 big blinds is a short stack. The pot-limit betting structure and four-card starting hands mean that pots balloon faster. A standard open to 3x draws a three-bet to roughly 10x, and suddenly you're looking at a pot-sized commitment on the flop with almost no room to navigate. Equities run closer together, which means you need more chips behind to realize your edge.

The same 40 big blinds that lets you three-bet bluff in hold'em barely survives a single raise-and-continuation-bet sequence in Omaha.

What Smart Players Actually Do

The best mixed-game players adjust their aggression based on what's coming next, not just what's in front of them.

Accumulate Before PLO Rounds

If you're about to rotate into PLO, you want to enter the round with a deeper stack. That means the last few hands of NLH become accumulation windows. Players like Schulman, who has navigated 46 career final tables, understand that a marginal spot in hold'em becomes more attractive when the alternative is entering PLO on a short stack. Winning a small pot in NLH might add the 8 or 10 big blinds that keep you out of shove-or-fold range once Omaha cards start flying.

Tighten Up Early in PLO Rounds

Conversely, the first few hands of a PLO round reward patience. Pots inflate quickly, and the players who survive are the ones who don't volunteer chips in marginal four-way situations. When you know NLH is coming back, your 30-big-blind PLO stack will feel like a healthy 30 big blinds in hold'em. But if you punt 12 big blinds chasing a wrap, that same stack drops to 18 big blinds in NLH, and suddenly you're the one getting shoved on.

Don't Treat Both Games the Same at Pay Jumps

Pay-jump math changes between formats. In NLH, a 25-big-blind stack can ladder comfortably because the game allows selective aggression. In PLO, a 25-big-blind stack often forces you into coin-flip situations against deeper opponents. When you're near a pay jump, the game that's currently being dealt should influence how aggressively you pursue chip accumulation versus survival.

The Leonard Example

Edward Leonard's 2,060,000-chip lead looks dominant. And in NLH, it is. He can open wide, apply pressure, and absorb bad beats. But when PLO rounds begin, his stack advantage compresses. Deeper stacks in Omaha mean opponents can play back at him with greater confidence, because PLO's pot-limit structure caps how much pressure a big stack can apply on any single street. Leonard can't shove over a three-bet the way he could in no-limit. He has to navigate postflop equity realization like everyone else.

That compression is exactly why mixed events are so hard to dominate. The chip leader changes identity every time the game changes.

The Heuristic

Here's the one rule to take with you: in a mixed tournament, value your stack in the game that makes it weakest. If you have 35 big blinds heading into a PLO round, you don't have a medium stack. You have a short stack. Plan accordingly during the NLH hands that precede it. Win one extra pot, take one slightly thinner value bet, pick up one set of blinds. Enter Omaha with 42 or 43 big blinds instead of 35, and you've bought yourself an entirely different decision tree for the next orbit.