Going with the flow
of the poker explosion that has recently hit the nation and the ESPN
channel, WSU students decided to cash in and try their luck at the first
ever Texas HoldEm tournament sponsored by the Residential Community
Association. The event took place April 10 and catered to approximately
155 participants, not all of who were students. The tournament winner
Zach Kowalski walked away with over $1000 in prizes according to Mike
Albright, the Honors Residential Community director and one of the
event's managers.
The event, which was also sponsored by Student Government, the Union
Activities Board, Honors Community Government, took months to plan and
organize according to event manager Brad Turner. "We had a lot of
problems getting it all together, but we pulled it off," said Turner.
"Overall it was a success. We really owe a lot to the Honors Community
Government in particular for really getting things together for us, for
advertising and doing the footwork and gathering volunteers."
Originally, the money generated by the tournament was to be donated to
the American Cancer Society (ACS) and to the Residence Services
Scholarship fund. However, five weeks after the tournament planners
contacted ACS, a spokesperson informed them that they would not accept
the donation. "The American Cancer Society wouldn't take the money
because they said that didn't want to be associated with money coming
from a Texas HoldEm tournament," said Turner. "We really wanted to
donate the money to their cause, but they didn't want to have anything
to do with it," Turner added.
Instead, the approximately $2000 raised will be given to Wright State to
be used as scholarships for both residential students and commuters said
Albright.
Students and staff members could pre-register for the tournament for
$10. Registration at the door cost $15. This money, as well as donations
during the event, will be used for the scholarship funds. Prizes were
given from various local businesses including Hooters, Meijers and
King's Island. The top prize included a gold bracelet valued at $900.
Most of the event was staffed by
volunteers, some of who were not even associated with the various
organizations involved in the project. "So many people just came to us
and said, 'how can I help?'" said Turner. "Some of them have just been
here for hours organizing things and setting up tables. We really
couldn't do it without them."
"This is my first time ever working as a dealer for Texas HoldEm," said
volunteer student Scott Warren. "It's fun and a learning experience."
"I'm playing only because it's all for charity," said student Janaid
Scheikh.
Student Karen May shared that same sentiment but added, "It's all for
fun, but I'm going to try and win. Either way, my entry fee is going to
a good cause."
The Texas HoldEm tournament consisted of three heats beginning at 8am
and ending around 10:30pm with finalist competing in a main stage round
for the top prizes. Participants were allowed to register for all three
heats, even if they lost in their first match, for an additional $15.
"We had so many people lose in Heat 1 but play in Heat 2 because they
just didn't want to give up," said Turner. "People just kept donating
money. That was fine with us as long as they were having fun."
In between each heat, live local bands played and refreshments were
provided. Finalists of the event were treated to a pizza dinner prior to
the final round. Live video was recorded and projected onto a large
screen so bystanders could watch the game as it is portrayed on ESPN.
Turner said that they plan to use the recordings to dub other videos for
advertisement purposes and hopefully influence more people to
participate and donate for the event next year. "Next year we want to
have more advertisement and get as many people involved as possible,
both on and off the campus," said Turner. "We'd love to get more
donations with bigger and better prizes for the winners. We depend on
donations since Wright State really didn't want to handout money as
prizes for something like a poker tournament," Turner added.
Supplies for the tournament was provided by Reece's Las Vegas Supplies.
Organizers set up real poker tables and tried to get "celebrity" dealers
for each table, one of which was faculty member Ron Ralston, the
marketing manager for food services.
Other winners of the event included second place finalist David Pope,
third place Ryan Hern, fourth place Jesse Underwood and fifth place
Anuraag Joshi with prize packages worth $500, $250, $150 and $75
respectively.
"We're definitely going to be doing another tournament in 2006," said
Albright. "Players wanted us to try and get something together for next
month and do it every month, but something this big takes a lot of
planning and funding. Unless we can get Wright State to front it and a
lot more donations in order, it won't be happening until sometime in
March or April next year," Albright added.
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