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At the beginning of the fall semester, Nick Nicklaus sat down with residence hall directors at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and started asking questions.
What was this poker craze all about? How many students were playing? How much money was changing hands? What about online poker? And most of all, was any of it a problem?
Nicklaus, the director of residence life at UW-L, couldn't find anything about poker in the residence hall handbook, and nothing he was told in that meeting alarmed him.
"We don't want people spending their life savings on this," he said. "If it's a dollar or two, no big deal. We want people to refrain from going overboard. Everything in moderation."
Is it legal? "Yes and no," he said. "Gambling's against the rules, but you still have office pools."
He told hall directors to let him know if poker games got out of hand. The semester is almost finished, and he hasn't heard much. He knows a few students have been advised they're playing too often, that it could be affecting their "appropriate academic progress," as he puts it.
The popularity of poker has university officials all across the country scratching their heads. PokerStars.com estimates 50 million people play poker at least once a month. Pokerpulse.com reported that $136.1 million was wagered in online poker sites in September alone.
The credit — or blame, as some would say — goes to television.
The Travel Channel's "World Poker Tour," ESPN's "World Series of Poker" and Bravo's "Celebrity Poker Showdown" have lured tens of thousands of teenagers and 20-somethings to the sport.
Last week, the University of Pennsylvania canceled a fraternity's poker fund-raiser because officials didn't consider gambling a proper fund-raiser. Yet the student union of the University of Arizona holds a weekly poker tournaments.
Officials at UW-L saw a different opportunity.
In April, UW-L student Jared Dion drowned in the Mississippi River after a night of drinking downtown. That led to pressure for the school to offer alternatives to the party scene. In August, Dion's parents filed a notice of claim with the state, the first step to a lawsuit, claiming UW-L was partially responsible for their son's death.
Here was binge drinking, a huge problem. And here was poker, so popular that students might actually choose it on a Friday night over a party. It was worth a try.
So UW-L's Student Activities and Centers purchased cards and chips in September and held "Cartwright Night" at the student union.
After 80 entries, they'd run out of poker chips, not to mention dealers.
"More people could have played if we'd have known there was that much interest," said Larry Ringgenberg, the director of Student Activities and Centers.
Today's most popular poker game, Texas hold 'em, works well for large events because it's an elimination game and can be played without money. On Nov. 18, the Campus Activities Board held a tournament. This one had a waiting list.
Money can't change hands in school-sponsored tournaments, but Pepsi donated prizes for both tournaments: a Nintendo GameCube, DVDs, dart boards, poker sets and free Pepsi for a year.
The school has three poker nights planned for next semester and wants to sweeten the pot with MP3 players for prizes. The formula will stay the same — choose a night when students usually party, start the tournament about 9 p.m. and finish at 1 or 2 a.m.
The school's poker set also will be available for UW-L groups to check out so they can hold their own events.
"We're trying to find other things for people to do that don't involve alcohol. Especially the underage kids," Ringgenberg said.
"I don't want to be doing poker tournaments that turn people into gamblers, but we know that people are playing cards a lot with their friends. There's a very social aspect to it."
These weren't the first campus tournaments. In May, Scott Roehl, a resident adviser, organized an all-campus poker tournament. All of the residence halls but one, as well as the office of residence life, chipped in for prizes. After a round of e-mails, a few fliers and some sidewalk chalking, 115 players had entered.
This semester's all-campus tourney on Nov. 5 drew 128 players, started at 7 p.m. and didn't finish until after bar time. Again, on a Friday night.
Roehl is from Galesville, Wis. His identical twin, Chad, has started similar tournaments at UW-Eau Claire.
UW-L's Roehl is the R.A. on the second floor of Drake Hall, in charge of 35 guys. He said more than half play poker regularly, either on the floor or online. He plays, too, a bonding activity that makes it easy for everyone to get to know each other. He plays online as well, though with play money.
"For the most part, people do it sparingly, and for the entertainment, not to win money," he said.
"There are a few guys who I feel play too much."
Zak Olsen, a UW-L sophomore from Appleton, Wis., said when he and his friends play, it's five or six people who throw in a dollar or two and winner takes all. He knows people who play online who are up or down $50.
"There's not too many people who play big money," said Matt Przybylo, a UW-L junior from Round Lake Beach, Ill. "You can. If you do real money and you're not careful, you can really go through some money."
It's the ease with which young people can find a game or deposit money online that has some nervous.
"There's just more (poker)," said Jeff Court, family services director at Catholic Charities. "More opportunities to watch it. It's everywhere."
Court spoke about gambling addiction at Logan High School last spring.
"It's an activity that people can enjoy and enjoy within limits," he said. "But at the same time, it has potential for addiction. It's something parents should be educating their kids about, just like alcohol or a new credit card."
This summer, Bryan Eggen, a senior at Holmen High School, played Texas hold 'em with his buddies two or three times a week. Now that school has started — he's in football, basketball and track — they don't have time to play more than once a week, sometimes after basketball games. Usually it's five or six people with $5 each, but one time they had a 30-person tournament with a $10 buy-in.
Sometimes Bryan's mom tells him he shouldn't play — not because she's against poker, but because he owes her money for his car.
At Holmen High, students are allowed to play cards during their 35-minute lunch break but not online. Gambling is illegal in high schools, but the La Crosse school system takes it a step further, banning all playing cards.
"We probably don't allow it because they could all say they were playing for nothing," said Central principal Tom Barth. "Kids are smart. They keep track of points and pay off at the end."
Karl Schmidt, a 1996 graduate of Central, said they used to get around the rule by sneaking into locker rooms and janitor closets to play euchre. Now he goes to Western Wisconsin Technical School and plays Texas hold 'em with friends.
Students at Central were one of four groups from area high schools who play Texas hold 'em outside of school, but declined to be interviewed for this story. Some were worried their sports eligibility could be affected.
During the 2003-04 school year, 30 students at Logan High School put together a petition asking the school to reconsider the no-cards rule, and Principal Scott Mihalovic did bring it up at a meeting. It didn't go anywhere.
"It just becomes a matter of who is gambling and not gambling," said Mihalovic, who has been an administrator in the district for 15 years. (The card rule has been there longer.) "The focus (in school) really should be the academics."
Mihalovic's own daughter gets frustrated because her male friends at Logan spend so much of their free time playing poker. And you have to wonder how easy it would be for those students to play for money online in one of Logan's seven computer labs.
"As a matter of fact, I'm sure it's happened," Mihalovic said. "They're supervised, but nonetheless, kids are pretty tricky."
There hardly seems to be alarm about the tremendous popularity of poker, especially Texas hold 'em, partly because it's a game you can play for so long for so little money.
"If I lose," Eggen said, "it's like $10 in a night."
Holmen parents even have made it part of the graduation night party, called "World Tour," held every year at Holmen Middle School. It has become the most popular part of the night.
Still, the risk always is there. Two of Eggen's poker buddies started driving to Red Wing, Minn., to play blackjack at a casino as soon as they turned 18. One won $400 one night. Another lost $100.
"I get nervous when these kids play cards," said Holmen guidance counselor Patty Shepard.
"They used to play euchre. I liked that better."
SO WHAT EXACTLY IS TEXAS HOLD 'EM?
The most popular poker game is called "no limit Texas hold 'em."
The money: If the tournament is a $5 buy-in, then each player pays $5 and is given an equal number of chips. When the chips are gone, the player is out of the tournament; the last person takes all the money. Some tournaments pay first, second and third place, or more, depending on the number of players.
How to play: Each person is dealt two cards, which only they can see, then there is a round of betting. After all bets have been called, the players see three community cards called "the flop." After another round of betting, they see a fourth community card called "the turn." After yet another round of betting, the players see one final community card, "the river." Then, there is a final round of betting, based on the best poker hand players can make using any five-card combination of their two cards and the five community cards.
All in: In "no limit," any number of chips can be bet in any round — thus the phrase "all in," when a player risks all remaining chips.
Often, no limit hands finish before all of the community cards are seen. If a player bets and no one calls or raises, then the hand ends immediately.
Matt James can be reached at mjames@lacrossetribune.com.
