Since the premiere of World Series of Poker on ESPN in 2003 and a host of imitations, what was once a late-night workingman’s game has become a growing fad among young men. Recently, this trend has spread to Wesleyan, where increasing numbers of students are playing poker—often for high stakes.
A recent New York Times article claims that televised poker has created a particularly great trend among teenage boys. For some, a night of poker has become the equivalent of gathering around the television for Monday Night Football. The same seems to be true at Wesleyan.
“We’re about bragging rights and hanging out,” said Mike Goodman ’05.
For evidence that the poker craze has spread to Middletown, one need look no further than the plethora of games on campus.
Dan Schlauch ’06, who began playing in a small weekly game in the Butt C lounge his freshman year, said that he knows of games in the Butts, Psi U, Lo-Rise, and even a girls only game on Washington Street.
“The stakes range from nickels to hundreds, tournaments and ring games, limit and no-limit,” Schlauch said.
Schlauch isn’t playing for nickels anymore either. He said that he, Goodman, and Brad Swift ’06 frequently play at the no-limits table at Foxwoods Casino. The online games they often join cost between $100 and $600 just enter.
Goodman has been a poker player since high school but only in the last year has he begun to take the game seriously.
The stakes in Goodman’s game are not nearly as high as those of online games or international tournaments. No one makes a profit from hosting the games and the $10 entry fee is small compared to those required in other venues.
Nevertheless, the gambling has been lucrative for some.
“All of my spending money at school comes from poker,” Goodman said.
In fact, Goodman will travel to the Bahamas over winter break, where he will compete against some 700 participants in a tournament, the final game of which will be televised. He earned the opportunity to compete after winning an online game, for which he risked $150, a small sum in comparison.
Goodman said that the key to poker is good math skills, particularly an understanding of probability. According to Schlauch, people often don’t win on skill alone.
“The appeal is a perfect balance of skill and luck,” Schlauch said. “New players can beat more experienced and skillful players a large portion of the time. People enjoy the adrenaline rush that accompanies a risk.”
Swift, who has played in games with stakes that run into the thousands, insists that poker is a game of perceptions.
“It seems the more you play the more you realize that the cards aren’t that important,” Swift said. “Someone decides that the other guy’s hand is better and they fold. Now every time someone folds to me when I have a good hand, I realize that I never really needed those cards. I just have to know what the other players will think my actions mean.”
With such confidence, the stakes don’t seem that important either.
“Sometimes we win big, sometimes we lose big, but over time the chips tend to fall in our direction,” Schlauch said.
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