High stakes poker has come out of the basement and into the dorms. You in?
It had all come down to this, a standoff in the living room of a Grand Island home.
“Raise, here’s your 50, and I’m all in,” said Brad. A poker game that had started with 13 players had only two left. Two men at opposite ends of the table were slugging it out for the first place prize.
With those words Brad had forced Mike to make a decision for every chip he had left. Mike had a good hand, but a lot of money was at stake. If Mike won this pot he would double up and have a commanding chip lead. If he lost, the tournament would be over, and he would get a meager second place prize. Everyone in the room held their breath as Mike made his decision…
Poker has come out of the back rooms of nightclubs and into mainstream America. On ESPN last year, the Tuesday night broadcasts of the World Series of Poker Main Event brought in an average of 1.9 in the Nielsen ratings (about two million viewers). That is a higher rating than many Major League Baseball telecasts, and almost all National Hockey League telecasts.
Old, fat, bald men from televised poker have become celebrities. Underground, mostly illegal games are being played in living rooms and basements everywhere. And, many of these games include University at Buffalo students, who are sometimes playing for serious cash.
Hold ‘Em in the Dorms
Jimmy, a junior legal studies major at UB says he plays No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em about five to six times a week with his friends.
In No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em the object of the game is to make the best five-card poker hand from two hold-cards and five face-up community cards; “community” meaning that anyone in the game can use them to build their hand. The game is relatively simple, and follows the standard rules of poker hand ranking.
There are four rounds of cards, each followed by a round of betting. First, two cards come face-down to each player (hold cards). Next, three face-up community cards (the Flop). Then, one face-up community card (Fourth Street or the Turn). Finally, one last face-up community card (the River). At the end, everybody still in the hand turns over their cards to see who the winner is. A hand is also won if someone is the only player left in the hand.
Jimmy’s game boasts about eight students playing on a consistent basis, usually in UB dorms.
Poker Day
Even the UB Student Life office has gotten in on the poker craze. Recently, the Student Programming Board, a part of the Student Life office, hosted a Texas Hold ‘Em tournament in the Student Union. Rachel, a graduate student at UB, and Graduate Assistant at Student Life said the poker tournament was more like a “Poker Day.” The game was played without tournament style stakes, and without money.
While there was no money at stake, students played to win raffle tickets to enter drawings for prizes. Rachel said that more than 120 UB students were in the Student Union at one time wanting to play poker. The event went from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Rachel said that some students were so into the event that they played the whole time, possibly skipping classes.
Prepping for the Big Game
Back in Grand Island, the event starts with the random drawing of seats. Just sitting anywhere is unacceptable to this crowd, because it might give someone an unfair advantage.Chair selection is also important. Some of the chairs are nice, comfortable dining room chairs, and some are uncomfortable foldout beach chairs. John says, “That beach chair sucks. I hope I don’t get it.”
The maximum number of people that can play Hold’ Em at one time is 11, so this game is divided into two tables. The tables are set up with seven players at the dining room table, and six players at a foldout kiddie table. The plan is for each table to play until there are four people left, and then make a final table of eight people.
Each seat is set up with $150 in chips, and a player draws their seat when he or she pays the buy-in. Tonight the buy-in is cheap, only $40. The payout is simple: winner take all, except second place gets his or her buy-in back. That means $480 goes to the winner. There is only one thing left to do—shuffle up and deal.
An Aggressive Start
The play at the small table is fast and furious right off the bat. There are some real shots fired on the very first hand. The action between John and Brad is a rare way to start a poker tournament.
John is an aggressive poker player who is feared by everyone at the table. He consistently finishes in the money in many of the poker tournaments he plays. John is also known for blowing up everyone once and while after a bad beat.
John has drawn pocket Aces – the best starting hand possible in Texas Hold ‘Em – for hold cards.
Brad is conservative poker player who is also feared by the other players. Brad doesn’t play as many hands as the average Hold ‘Em player, but when he does play, he usually takes big pots. He has a decent starting hand—pocket eights.
The Flop (the first three community cards) comes Jack, eight, deuce. Brad has made three of a kind; a very good hand. John bets $30 after the Flop, Brad just calls the bet, he does not raise.
Fourth Street is a four, no help to anyone. John bets $30 again, Brad just calls. The River is an eight. Brad has made an almost unbelievable four of kind. Brad has what poker players call “The Nut.” The Nut is the best hand possible given the board. Brad at this point is trying not to shit his pants.
John, still confident about his pocket Aces, bets $30 again. Brad agonizes over the decision, like he is not sure if he is going to call. Brad later said, “I was trying to pretend like I might not call. But, I was really thinking, how much can I raise before this guy folds?”
Brad raises the bet to $50. John has a look of surprise on his face and he says, “Did I just get re-raised?”
John calls, and they both flip their cards. John’s pair of Aces looks like a fat kid playing dodge-ball compared to Brad’s four of a kind. John looks devastated at his early loss. He has just lost 3/4 of his stack on the first hand.
Conservative Beginnings
The action starts off slowly at the big table. People generally tend to be tighter at the beginning of tournaments. It takes about five hands before anyone starts throwing some real punches. Steve, who is known by his friends as a very erratic and scary poker player, has made a straight on Fourth Street (the fourth community card). Steve slow plays his hand by not betting.
Sean is a poker player that is secretly known by most of his friends as dead money (see the glossary sidebar). He has made two-pair on the River (the fifth community card), and bets $50. Steve calls the bet, and flips his cards.
Sean says, “Damn.” Steve’s straight has taken a chunk of Sean’s stack very early in the game.
Getting Brave
From there everything starts to loosen up. There are real battles all over the living room. The players at this point are less worried about getting knocked out of the game, and more worried about having enough chips to make a difference at the final table. In No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em the size of your stack is extremely important. Many pro-players would say that the size of your stack is more important than the quality of your cards.
Lisa, our only lady competitor tonight, knocks Sean out of the game. They both had a pair of Kings (top pair,) but Lisa won with a Queen kicker. A kicker is an un-paired card used as a variable to decide hands of the same rank. Lisa’s pair of Kings with a Queen kicker beat Sean’s pair of Kings with a ten kicker.
A little bit later people start dropping like flies. John gets knocked out of the tournament next; going all in before the flop, only to get beaten by Brad. John’s Ace-Queen suited (His pocket cards are an Ace and a Queen of the same suit,) loses to Brad’s pocket Kings. Still needing to gamble more, John and Sean retire to the basement to play ping-pong for money.
The big table quickly loses two more, and about ten minutes later the small table loses a weak poker player named Vinny. There are now eight people left in tournament; it is time to put everybody together at the final table. All eight people pick up their chips, because seats have to be drawn again. The kiddie table is put away. Everybody draws their seats, and the action begins again.
Building Up
There are eight people left at the final table, but everybody is concentrated on the two chip leaders, Brad and Mike. Brad and Mike have brought large stacks from the large and small tables respectively. Brad and Mike have at least a two to one chip lead on everyone else at the table. The other players aren’t out of the game, but their battle will be uphill.
Many people like to root for the underdog when watching sports, and in poker that is no different. But, anyone rooting for the underdog in this drama will be sadly disappointed. Mike and Brad follow the stock poker story, and take very little time to dispatch their six opponents. They use their chip advantage to lean on the other players, and nobody gets lucky enough to swing back. It is like the lions and Christians out there.
The Final Shootout
Brad and Mike are battling heads up. The winner takes home a big prize, and the loser breaks even for four hours of playing poker. Brad has a slight chip lead on Mike, and he has put all in after the River. Mike has top pair (a pair of nines), with a King kicker.
Mike tries to get a read from Brad’s face before he acts, but all he gets is a stone-cold stare. Everyone in the room is silent, trying to breathe as quietly as possible. Somewhere downstairs there is the sound of ping-pong balls bouncing back and forth, but nobody notices. Mike is staring Brad dead in the eye.
Mike looks down at his hand again, then looks back up and says, “I call.”
He flips his cards. Brad flips his cards; he has Ace-nine that means he has top pair with an Ace kicker. Mike only has a King kicker.
Brad is the winner! A four hour poker tournament with an almost $500 purse has come down to kickers.
In 2004, the first place prize for the Main Event at the World Series of Poker was five million dollars. It was the largest prize awarded for a single sporting event ever. It was larger than any purse ever won by Tiger Woods. It was larger than any prize awarded for a NASCAR race or a Kentucky Derby winner. Entry into the tournament is 100 percent open to anyone who wants to pay the $10,000 entry fee.
More than 99.99 percent of Americans, no matter how hard they work, will never catch a pass from Brett Favre. But, for ten grand you could be sitting next to a poker great, on ESPN, competing for a five million dollar purse.
