Two sessions, two SCOOP FTs for BigGustago, the Mixed Games Movement member
No limit hold’em might be poker’s Cadillac, but it’s by no means the only game in town.
Throughout a series like the ongoing Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP), you’ll find tournaments in just about every form of poker running. They may have smaller fields, but believe us when we say the amount of players playing these games is increasing all the time.
One reason for it? There’s a movement taking place.
The Mixed Games Movement, led by PokerStars Pro Mason “pyefacepoker” Pye.
And one member of the movement–Angus “adrf1999” Foster, who streams on Twitch under the name BigGustago–is enjoying a breakout run of form in SCOOP 2022.
“It’s been absolutely insane,” Foster tells us. “I’ve only really played two proper days of SCOOP!”
And in those two sessions, the student from Glasgow, Scotland–who applied for Dare2Stream but was too young to enter (25 was the age requirement)–has made two SCOOP final tables.
First, Foster finished fourth in SCOOP-12-M: $109 5-Card Draw 6-Max PKO for $934 plus $411 in bounties. Then, the very next night he made the final table of SCOOP-14-M: $109 PLO 6-Max, finishing third for $8,737.
“I don’t normally play $109s, but when things started going well in the 5-card draw, I decided to treat myself,” he says. “Now it’s the biggest score I’ve ever had and probably will be for a long time.
“I was coming into this SCOOP just hoping for one deep run, and if I could make a final table it would be amazing. So to get two final tables in the first two days was just insane.”
Studying Economics at university means Foster doesn’t have as much time to stream on Twitch as he’d like. But when he does have time, he’s grinding as much as he can. “It’s my favourite thing to do,” he says.
Foster was introduced to poker when World Series of Poker clips started popping up on his Facebook feed. From there he discovered poker legend and streaming superstar Lex Veldhuis two years ago, which led him into the world of Twitch.
“I only really watched Lex but then one day he raided Pyefacepoker,” he says. “Pye obviously has a fantastic community and a really active chat–he seems to recognise everyone’s name and everyone knows each other–so I really liked that. If you watch Pye’s stream enough you simply have to start playing the mixed games yourself.”
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Despite his intrigue, Foster’s first foray into playing mixed games was completely by accident.
“I was playing poker on my mobile at that point and I had tournaments filtered out so I only saw NLHE tournaments,” he says. “But I’d forgotten to untick 5-card draw so every now and then I’d accidentally register a 5-card draw tournament.”
Determined to make sure his money wasn’t wasted, Foster gave those misclick registrations his all. “I quite enjoyed it so I started trying to figure out how to play it well by watching Pye’s stream,” he says. “I realised mixed games are a lot of fun and with smaller fields, it’s easier to make deep runs.”
Deep runs don’t come much bigger than during SCOOP. Thankfully, Foster had a cheering section not only in his Twitch chat but also in his house, as his mum was sitting beside him to rail the PLO final table.
“That was pretty funny,” he says. “I don’t think my mum really understands too much about poker or streaming and I know she was a bit apprehensive at first because I’m risking money and putting myself out there on the internet. But now she’s very supportive and she’s always asking questions.
“When I started running deep in the 5-card draw I told her how excited I was about it and then she kept popping in under the guise of asking if I wanted a cup of tea, but it was really so she could see how I was getting on. Then on the final table bubble of the PLO she just stuck around. It was really nice showing her how the stream worked–what I could see and what the viewers could see, plus the chat. She really liked how excited everyone was.”
“These results have given me a lot of confidence,” he says. “I’m really looking forward to the single draw, and I quite like razz so I’ll play that. Plus any 8-Game tournaments. I’ll give the $109s a shot while I have a bigger bankroll.”
That confidence has also led Angus to try out live poker for the first time. He recently made the trip down to London for the UK and Ireland Poker Tour event, where he played a £330 bounty tournament and got to meet some of the people he looks up to in Twitch poker, including Pye and Georgina “GJReggie” James.
BigGustago meets Pyefacepoker and GJReggie at UKIPT London
“It was fantastic as everyone was really nice,” he says. “I was nervous going down because you’re meeting people you’ve never met before, but I had an absolutely great time. The tournament went horrifically bad but I enjoyed it and I’ve since played live cash, which went a bit better.”
As for streaming, Angus is planning a big summer.
“I’ve purchased a mixed games training course so over the summer I want to do as much as possible,” he says. “I’ll be studying an hour a day followed by streaming. I really want to do the best I can to grow my stream and improve as a poker player by the time WCOOP [the World Championship of Online Poker] rolls around.
“I’ve already got a good community but I want to have a bigger community and I want to be a better player.”
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