It’s a tense silence, the kind that makes you look around to see if there’s someone behind you. Chips clank together on the table with the sound that is only known by those who play the game. Everyone focuses on his or her hand, waits for the dealer to make his move. Then the river hits and you hear shouts of “Yes!” along with others not suitable for print.
In the past few years poker, particularly the type called Texas Hold ‘Em, has become immensely popular all over the country, but especially at college campuses where students, either bored or in search of a fun, new activity, have started up poker nights, often several a week. The reason for the seemingly sudden boom in gambling can’t be exactly pinpointed, but some guess the addition of poker tournaments on networks like ESPN has something to do with it.
Gambling has been around for ages, and the true gamblers are the ones who were gambling before the whole poker craze began. But this poker phenomenon has found a place among college students, many here at MSU, because it’s exciting and easy to learn. ESPN was on the money when it decided to broadcast national poker tournaments because it is like watching a sport. You tense up when the cards are dealt, you try to read the other players’ moves, second-guessing the whole time.
It’s non-coincidental then, that PartyPoker.com caught on to the craze and sent one of their Hummers stocked with merchandise and prizes for a gambler’s dream to our campus on Oct. 13. They knew there were eager poker enthusiasts that would bite at the chance to play in a nationally known poker tournament with the chance to win a free poker table.
PartyPoker.com was promoting their free online tournament that will be held tonight at 7 with a grand prize of $3,500 for the lucky winner. Joel Hopkins, an R&S Report representative hired by PartyPoker.com, talked about what he was doing with the company and how they want to get their name out to as many colleges as possible.
“We’ve just been going around to different universities, passing out fliers, promotional materials like hats and shirts, just letting people know about the tournament,” Hopkins said. “In Starkville, there’s not many places we can do this, so we’re going around to all the fraternities on campus. Sometimes, we go to bars around town, but apparently in Starkville it’s illegal for bars to have any type of gambling or card games, so we’ve been doing it at fraternity houses.”
A couple of students that got the chance to play in the tournament shared their thoughts about the impromptu event and how PartyPoker.com could achieve better results.
“It was a fun experience, but PartyPoker.com could have probably done a better job of advertising to allow people to find out about it,” Cassie Jackson, a sophomore Business Management major from Cordova, Tenn., said. “We didn’t know about it until that night.”
“I thought PartyPoker.com stopping by was really cool,” Davis Quick, a sophomore civil engineering major, said. “We got to play poker like they do on TV., and they gave out actual prizes, so it was definitely better than your average poker night.”
Jackson and Quick also said that the whole concept of poker tournaments would be great for parties and would like to see more of them in the future.
“I think they should start coming all the time,” Quick said. “I play with my friends at least once a week, and I know everybody else does, too. It’s really popular right now, and I think they should keep doing this because there’s definitely a market for it.”
“The free prizes were fun, and the friendly rivalry was exciting,” Jackson said. “Everyone’s true colors came out. It’s definitely a good way to meet people, and it would be a good idea for a party, to get your friends together and do something different for a change.”
Jackson and Quick said their favorite parts of the tournament were the free prizes and proving there’s room for girls at the poker table as well.
“My favorite part was that I got a free hat and polo,” Quick said. “Although, the poker table and cards would’ve been better.”
“My favorite part was making it to sixth place out of 30 guys,” Jackson said. “That was definitely a confidence booster.”
Hopkins added that the surge in poker enthusiasts has definitely help put poker back in a good position and helped show it’s not just a game for crusty Las Vegas loners.
“It’s just blown up,” Hopkins said. “Poker has always been big, and the history of poker dates back further than baseball, which is supposed to be America’s national pastime. It’s been around forever, but it’s just that poker has been in a better light lately. Now, it’s on television, whereas poker players used to be viewed in a negative light. Now, they’re famous people on television. And ESPN and the World Poker Tour putting it on television definitely helped its image.”
Whatever its past connotations may have been, poker is definitely in the forefront of popular culture again. Just by turning on the television, you see celebrities playing their best hands, and average-Joe poker players turning into celebrities after a championship win. Time will tell if poker stays as popular as it is now, or if it gets flushed down the river.