By Bessie King
The poker fad is sweeping the nation. Shows such as Celebrity Poker on Bravo and World Poker Tour on The Travel Channel are apparently not enough for poker aficionados. Now, an online Texas Hold’em No Limit poker tournament series offers scholarships of up to $15,000 to the best college poker players.
College students can compete to win cash scholarships totaling $50,000. Also, winners can choose charities to which donations, ranging from $50 to $3,000, will be made.
This is the first annual online college poker championship, open only to college students worldwide. Therefore, the winner can claim the title of best college Texas Hold’em No Limit poker player in the world.
Entry into the tournament is free and the sign up process is simple. Students go to www.collegepokerchampionship.com and follow three steps, where they register, download the program and sign in to play. Collegepokerchampionship.com is a non-profit organization that receives all of its tournament funds from another online poker Web site, RoyalVegas.com.
Some of the goals for this tournament are, “to support the use of poker as a strategic learning tool and support students’ educational endeavors with large cash scholarships,” according to the organization’s Web site.
Students, however, said they think the goal is to indulge gambling.
“I know how to play poker fairly well and this is a good chance to get scholarship money, but I think it is more of a marketing plan to indulge online gambling in college students who have credit cards and don’t think of consequences,” said Frank Grajales, a middler entrepreneurship and management information systems major.
Still, other students are interested.
“Anything that you can get scholarships from is good, if I knew how to play I would do it,” said senior criminal justice major Stephanie Saia.
Each week players are sent e-mail reminders for the next game. Participants can play in any of the qualifying rounds, but can qualify only once for the semi-final game. The top 30 players each week qualify for the semi-final where they play against 500 players for the 200 spots in the final event, occurring May 30, according to the Web site.
Some of the basic requirements to participate are being 18 years old or higher, being enrolled in a college and being able to provide transcripts to prove student status in case the player advances to the final round. As for security, collegepokerchamionship.com and royalvegas.com assure everything is legitimate.
“All shuffling techniques are strictly reviewed and anti-collusion software protects you against hustling,” according to the Web site. The number of students registered, as well as personal information, is not available for other players to see. Participants do not know the level of experience of other players, but since there is no risk of losing money, students rely on their skills and their luck to win.
To add a touch of reality, the tournament is “hosted” by Lou Krieger, a renowned professional poker player and co-author of “Poker for Dummies” and “Internet Poker.” As their only source of help, players can chat with him and even play against him if they dare. Also, there is a game information section with game rules and a terminology dictionary as a means of support for those who are new to the game.
This type of help encourages students, who usually do not play poker, to participate.
“I don’t know how to play, but if I am helped I’d definitely try it because there is no risk, if you win you win and if you lose there’s no personal money loss,” said Rosalind Dempsey, a freshman nursing major.
The first seven qualifying rounds have taken place, but there are still 11 rounds left. Students can still sign up to participate to try to win cash scholarships while playing a game instead of writing essays.
“This is definitely a great outlet for students who play poker, the money is going towards your education so it is not actually gambling, it’s just using your skills in a lucrative way,” said Mike Mathieu, a sophomore music industry major.
