Cambridge Beats Oxford in Full Tilt Sponsored Clash of Titans

Last weekend (June 7th-8th) was an exciting time for students at Oxford and Cambridge, as the brightest young minds tested their metal in the Varsity Poker Match 2014, which was followed by 12th Oxford Annual Cup. Both of these competitions are sponsored by Full Tilt Poker.

To kick things off, Varsity Poker Match featured six players from each camp, playing heads-up shootout matches which would determine the starting stacks of players in the competition. Cambridge managed to finish with slight advantage, with a total score of 20:16 in their favor. What started as relatively bad day for team Oxford turned out into quite a thorough defeat as the field dwindled down to five players, and only Yousisif Moneimne was still standing to defend colors of his University. Unfortunately for his teammates who were counting on him to make something happen, he was the next one out, leaving the remaining four players from team Cambridge to fight for the first with the victory already in their pockets. In the end, it was Cambridge captain Mark Hammond standing tall with all chips in front of him, and he was clearly proud of his team’s achievement:

Oxford captain Gabriel Tiplady, although certainly disappointed by the outcome, spoke highly about the event:

After Varsity Match completed, 12th Annual Oxford Cup started, and it gathered 153 players. The victory went to the Oxford local Rick Hawkins who claimed the lions’ share of the £4,500 prize pool. The Oxford cup has initially started as a tournament for the students, but has since grown to become quite a significant event, even attracting names like Tony G, Phil Hellmuth and Gus Hansen.

With a big rivalry always alive between these two Universities, this victory is, no doubt, a great achievement for Cambridge, as it secures them bragging rights for the entire next year. That’s how long Oxford will have to wait for the rematch opportunity.

Although the two institutions have a long tradition of rivalry, during the recent decades it has become much more a matter of fun and pride and once existing animosities are for the most part gone. Still, very few things feel better than beating an old rival, even when they are a friend!