When to hold ‘em or fold ‘em

    The Campus Activity Board hosted a poker tournament on Feb. 3, letting students show off their card playing ability.  Over 72 students lined up to try their luck to win $300 worth of prizes.  The main prize was a DVD player, along with three DVDs. 
    Eight tables allowed 72 students to participate in a Texas Hold’em tournament.  Many students who came late were not able to join the game because there was not enough room.  The line went out the door of the Student Activities Center and up the stairs near the main desk.  Natalee Mayo, a CAB representative helped organize the event.
    “We had a great turnout,” Mayo said.  “We had to turn around 10 people away.  We only had so much room for so many tables.”
    All players started out with 100 betting chips with a GCSU insignia, as well as free food and drinks.  The aim was to be the last player sitting at a table with all 7,200 chips in their possession.  At around 6 p.m., Phillip Halcomb, a freshman business marketing major did just that. 
    Nearly four hours after sitting down to play his first game of poker, Halcomb was in possession of all the chips.
    “It feels good,” Halcomb said about winning. “When we got down to the final three competitors I was just glad that I was going to get a prize.  Then I got a couple good hands and I won.”
    The top two runners-up received video games.  However, an assortment of CAB items was available for everyone.  Dexter Carr, a freshman pre-mass communication major was eliminated in the last position before the final table.
    “(The poker tournament) was nice,” Carr said.  “Even if you lose early, you still get a free coozy.”  
    A $200 Wal-Mart gift card was not the main prize for the first time at a poker tournament held by CAB.  Carr would have rather won the Wal-Mart gift card because it is more versatile.  Many of the poker participants held the same      opinion. 
    CAB is working on a way to reincorporate the gift card rather than pre-picked prizes.  CAB did not switch gift card with the prizes because it felt that the accolade would be greater.
    “We can’t give out gift cards anymore because we don’t know what the winners are buying with their gift card,” Mayo said.  “(CAB) just doesn’t want a student to buy alcohol or cigarettes with money that they won from the school.”
    Regardless of the prize, playing poker is a hobby.  Carr found the poker tournament as another reason to not go home for the weekend and to play poker for free. 
    Players stayed after they were eliminated from the event.  Justin Burch, a senior history major, continued to play hands of Omaha, another style of poker, after he was eliminated.
    “You know you are a poker addict when you’ve just been eliminated from a poker game and you still want to play,” Burch said.  “Especially when there aren’t any chips.”
    Burch went down to the SAC with 12 of his friends who always play poker.
    The next Texas Hold’em tournament will be held April 6 in the Magnolia Ballroom.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Feb 9 2007. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry