An invitation

A few months ago I got a message from the Dublin City University Poker Society asking if I might grace them with my presence at a forthcoming tournament. Steve O’Dwyer had already committed, and veteran streamer Fintan “easywithaces” Hand (a past student of DCU apparently) and the boy wonder Thomas Murphy were also asked. Sufficiently flattered and intrigued by the invitation, I instantly said yes.

On the day Thomas arrived to give me a lift in his boywondermobile, my wife had to tell him I’d need a few minutes to finish evacuating the contents of my belly into a toilet bowl. She tried to persuade me to go back to bed, but in between barfs I told her:

“Can’t let students down.”

We arrived early and chatted with some of the students before Stephen and Fintan arrived. The organisation was impressive with designated dealers on all tables, proper chip sets and cards, and a very friendly vibe overall. The table talk was lively and intelligent and the playing standard, while varied, was overall a lot higher than your typical low buyin live event, something my driver also commented on on the drive home.

The youngsters

At my second table where some speculative plays were being essayed, the designated dealer joked I must be starting to despair for the young generation, but in reality I was greatly impressed overall. When one of my students Jack got a check raise bluff through on a board that favoured his big blind defending range, he quipped “I learned that from his book GTO Poker Simplified book” before tabling a three to a straight three to a flush double backdoor nine high hand for a well timed perfectly selected hand to bluff with.

the interview didn’t happen and I got home to my own couch

I didn’t exactly cover myself in glory, failing to win even a single pot on my way to being one of the earliest exits, thankfully followed shortly thereafter by my ride home. We hung around for a while as Steve had graciously agreed to give him an interview for his socials. In this case hanging around meant me slouched on a sofa trying to think unbarfy thoughts, watching Tomo wrestling with his camera. The camera won that match (kids and technology, tut) so the interview didn’t happen and I got home to my own couch that bit quicker.

O’Dwyer hustles

It was great playing against the University kids though, and brilliant to see so many enthusiastic studious minds taking the game of poker so seriously. My sponsors Unibet also kindly kicked in prizes in the form of tournament tickets for everyone in the tournament, and Fintan graciously put a bounty on the heads of myself, Steve and Tom out of his own pocket.

My student Jack went all the way to three handed before losing an all in for 70% of the chips in play with Ace-Queen against Steve O’Dwyer, who closed out the tournament from there, proving him to be a man for all occasions, be they Triton high rollers or student game low rollers. What a luckbox.