Oxford Cup and Poker Soc

The Oxford cup is run every year for the last six years I think and this was my last inter student poker tournament and was focused on 1st prize which was also a seat into the GUKPT London which is valued at £1,050 added by the sponsors of the Oxford cup this year. The format was a £20 rebuy and I drew my seat next to Tommo, which meant the £20 rebuy format could get expensive but on our table there were 5 dead stacks and 5 players. The tournament kicked off at around 11am and by 11.20am Tommo and I had been sworn at by the other players, one a young lady. Great stuff!! According to them string bets were allowed and swearing is the way to make a valid argument!!


The table broke quickly as there were only 5 of us and we all moved around, I found myself on Tom’s table (Flash), this would certainly get interesting apart from the fact I am his luck box! He does awesome whenever I am near by!! It helps that he is awesome at poker as well though! So anyway the rebuy period was going very slow so I stuck to my usual plan of doing the opposite of what the table does in the rebuy period, so I started raising every pot as everyone was sooooo passive. A strange point to mention is that there were a lot of beginners at the tournament who had never played live poker or had very limited experience as the way they moved their chips, sat in their seats and dealt the cards gave a lot of signs of how limited the experience was, which is surprising for a £20 rebuy which is relative quite expensive for people starting out to play poker especially students!!!


Currently writing this blog entry while playing the $50 rebuy on rivercard and the $100 freeze out, tired of playing cash today so thought I’d try the tournaments out on rivercard, especially as I lost my sats money on poker stars!! In the $50 rebuy there are 87 left from the 182 that started I am 15th in chips and in the $100 freeze 70 started and there are 59 left with me 42nd in chips! Will update the progress if i'm still in as I write this entry, so I guess this blog will turn into a love report as well!!
In the rebuy period at Oxford I helped create a 5 way Allin that was announced on the microphone! I was holding 34 against 57, 57, 99 and AJ. AJ scooped the pot and we got some rebuys are my table! I then doubled up later on with AK vs xx and then tripled up with A9 vs AQ vs KJ, lucky me!!! Flash also got a huge stack in a 5 way all in with KJ and flopped a flush!! The break came very quickly as the rebuy period was only 60 minutes long and with self dealt tables are slow players not many hands were dealt, about 140 odd runners turn up to play with about 130 odd surviving the 1st hour


I then picked up a few uncontested pots in the freeze out and took a few blinds before I went card dead and dead dead as I played no hands!! There was nothing I could really do, every time I had junk or people were beating me into the pot! Then I became short stacked as blinds went up. I had a tough player on my right, and when it was SB vs BB he would just shove against me, I kept looking down at 6-2 and kept losing my blinds!

UPDATE $50 Rebuy : Just won a nice pot with 56 as I missed my straight on the river and bluffed the guy off! Phhhhhewwwwwwwwww!

So the Oxford Cup tournament was pretty much dying for me. I then got moved to the final three tables. I survived by stealing blinds once every 2 rounds, which were the only spots I could really find, which meant my stack was decreasing a fair bit. We are playing 8 handed and UTG goes all in , I have AJ in the SB and decided with only 5 BB to call after thinking a while, the BB Simon Trumper also calls off his 4BB with 7-5 off, don’t know why to be honest. UTG had KKs and I go busto in 33rd or something like that! On the good side Guv and Flash made final with Guv coming in 5th and Flash coming FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Winning the seating and chopping the cash for a nice £2,200!!! Well Done Flash!!! I did not see much action but he was average for most of the comp and then excelled with 3 tables to go, he lost a big pot on final with JJ vs T4!! But came back strong, he even knocked Guv out who shoved with 99s and Flash woke up with QQs in the SB. So a big congrats to my boys!! Who represented Warwick well!!!!


UPDATE: $50 rebuy, odds call with A4 lost me some chips
$100 freeze 25th with 50 left

As I busted out I went and played a 25p/50p cash game which was short handed and had about £1,000 in the pot between 6 people, I bought in for £100 and played like a rock in the dealer choice game, it was a round of each with some good student poker players. It was a bit of a sad sight when I left the game thinking that was probably the last time I will play with these random student poker players that I see at every student poker competition across the UK, I wont go into hand detail but we played Omaha hi –lo, holdem, Omaha hi, Irish and 2-7 triple draw, where I pulled off the check call draw check call draw check raise stand pat bet with a pair!! Bascially some guy stood pat (no changes in 2 rounds) then I checked raised him with air and he called and then took another card! He paired up and could not call my river bet. I ended up about £145, which covered my tournament cost with a bit more cash in my pocket! Definitely helping me recover from my $2,000 downswing on rivercard on Friday!!

Poker Soc

£5 rebuy + Add on Comp at poker soc! Draw a tough table to start off with, Flash hot off the Oxford cup win, mongy and JD, I play QQs very slow early on a loses a lot of my stack and fold on the river on a T high board when flash pushed the river which smelt like a set although later he said he had the straight. I then started pushing all in as my chips were getting shorter and shorter. I then got a double up when I pushed with 55s and QT called me. But I was still short. I got very lucky against Flash as I shove with 4-6 suited UTG and he calls with 77s, I hit two pair!!! Then I lost a big flip when the button pushed and I was in the BB with 55s, this I always think is a tough spot. Blinds are 400-800 and the button pushes for 7k total, I have 15k behind, if I lose I still have 10BB and if I win I can play some poker. Now lets look at the button range, any pair, so I am crushed most of the time and any two high cards so a flip, and any Ace, which is a flip apart from A2 A3 A4 and A5. So against the range I am flipping most of the time and the way I see it if I am flipping I might as well be the 53% than the 47%, I decided to call with 3 tables to go thinking I need the chips and this could be a good spot, he shows KT and a King on the flop puts me to 8k. I stay in with two tables left then I find a great spot. Early position raises to 3k, MP is Allin for 3.2k, MP calls, I look and see KK in the SB and shove for 6k total, EP calls and Mp dwells and calls! Ok I cannot be in good shape with KKs here!! The flop is all middling cards and the dry side pot ends up with 2 Allin by the turn. I am up against 99s KQ and AT, on the T high flop!! So I am looking good also there are 3 clubs on board I have Kc and no one has a higher club! The river is a club and I scoop!!!!! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!

UPDATE: $50 rebuy Busto!! I raise with AK, and bigger stack shoves, he shoved on me earlier when I raised with A7 and he just won a big pot with AA, so I figured he was quite confident to move on me, I call and he shows AA again!! The pot was 30k, which put him 1st in chips! I went Busto in 50th! Top 20 pay oh well!! A very big pot, I like to fold there most of the time but I felt he was just getting busy but turns out he just picked up a few nice hands in a row! Fair play to him, I hate calling my stack off with AK but if I win that pot I have a great shot for 1st place and $5,000 but instead I went broke!!
$100 Freeze fell below average as I was checked raised all in on a Ace high flop when I was holding KJ, but still got over 30BB so not to worry.

So back to the poker tournament at poker soc, blinds were getting high and with two table left I aimed to steal once a round to get me to final and get some points on the player of the year leader board, http://www.sunion.warwick.ac.uk/poker/rankings/players.asp Flash was still in as well, infact me and him were next to each other for the whole tournament. We both get to final, he had a lot of chips and I was quite average. Then blinds were huge and it was allin or fold time! It quickly got 3 handed and Flash got knocked out and I was Heads up playing for £200 which is pretty nice for a poker soc tournament, I win a few 60/40 and take down another poker soc tournament this year! Which feels really good and takes me that step closer to player of the year!!!

Still in the $100 Freeze 41 left 22nd on chips

Rivercard Roll : $2,000 Live Roll : $2,010