Poker players are constantly looking for new challenges when it comes to strategy. Learning new poker rules and playing different variants — including trying mixed games and other non-hold'em formats — is one good way to exercise those "poker muscles" and think about various aspects of the game differently and more skillfully.
In an article for PokerNews last month, Lee Jones wrote "In Praise of the Banana Games," alluding to the mixed games on PokerStars dubbed by Team PokerStars Pro Jason Somerville as "banana games" in part because of "the sometimes crazy nature of such mixes.