Cambridge University has beaten its Oxford counterpart to win what is hoped to become an annual Varsity Poker Match.
The competition, relaunched and now sponsored by Full Tilt Poker, was followed a day later by the Oxford Cup, which is now in its 12th year. The Cambridge Poker Society, which is also in its 12th year, has overseen the rise in poker playing in the University and beyond through the last decade and, though the Varsity Match has not always been held in that time, there are now hopes that it will become an annual event in the same way as the Oxford Cup has established itself in the calendar.
The competition demonstrates the widespread appeal of the game and is a world away from the old-fashioned image some have of a poker game being played in smoke-filled rooms. The growth of playing poker games online has fuelled this mass appeal and the Varsity Match, with some of the brightest young minds pitting their wits against each other, offers a glimpse into the skills needed to succeed.
The Varsity Match featured several players from each team competing against each other in a heads-up shoot out to determine how many chips each competitor would take to the final table. The tournament then intensifies and the winning team is the one that knocks out all the opposition players.
The players were competing in Texas hold’em, a variation of poker that sees two cards dealt face down to every player and then a further five cards dealt face up. The game then becomes a series of deals with players after every hand having the choice to either check, bet, raise or fold depending upon the hand they have been dealt.
To see Oxford and Cambridge Universities battle it out demonstrates the mathematical and psychological skills needed to determine when to make the best moves.
As for this year’s Varsity Match, it was Cambridge who dominated from the start with the first round of tables resulting in a 20–16 lead over Oxford going into the final rounds. This gave the light blues a decisive edge over their dark blue rivals and, of the six Oxford players, five were knocked out early, leaving just PPE student Yousisif Moneimne hanging on.
He was at ‘home’, the event being played at the Oxford Student Union, but was unable to fight off the Cambridge challenge on his own and the Cambridge team completed the game with their victory assured. Cambridge University’s Captain, Mark Hammond, the President of the Poker Society, was there at the end, leading his team to victory.
Victorious Cambridge University Captain Mark Hammond with the Varsity Poker Match trophy
His counterpart, the Oxford Captain Gabriel Tiplady, said that, despite the result, it had been an excellent competition and the special and unique rivalry between the two universities, demonstrated in rowing and rugby among other sports, was now being applied to poker.
The Oxford Cup, held a day later, was won by Oxford’s Rick Hawkins who beat a field of 153 runners to claim most of the £4,500 prize money available.