Students spend their Sunday at the poker tables

Colorado -- Dan Luckel had the name and the sunglasses, shades that looked like golden fly eyes and what Luckel calls his good luck charm. And he had the urge to play poker.

Of course, that's an urge Luckel has a lot. The day before Sunday's free Texas Hold 'Em tournament for students at the University of Northern Colorado, he played with 26 students at a tournament he helped put together for his UNC dorm mates. The tournament lasted 10 hours.

Why not spend Sunday evening doing the same thing, even if he would be only playing for chip sets, poker video games or poker books and not the $5 buy-ins that his friends paid Saturday?

"I think a lot want to play, but not everyone knows where to go," Luckel said. "That's why we were trying to get whoever wanted to come play. It's mad fun."

The poker craze isn't what it once was -- some say it's SO 2004 -- but it's still popular, especially if you ask most of the about 40 students who showed up to play in the free tournament. Scott Schuttenberg, associate director of campus recreation, wasn't sure what kind of a crowd he would get with the bitter cold (complete with snow!), holiday weekend and Packers on TV, but in his four years of hosting the tournament, he's had as many as 100 students show up and as few as 30.

"There's very few who show up at these who don't know how to play these days," Schuttenberg said. "I know students are playing the Playstations and Guitar Hero, but poker is also very popular."

Even if they didn't know how to play, the rules were printed out on helpful fliers, complete with hand rankings. If they got hungry, there were bowls full of treats that looked like leftover Halloween candy (but it tasted fresh).

Some students wore sunglasses and headphones, just like they see on TV.

Dan Elias, a junior at UNC, would rather play bridge and learned how to play poker during family gatherings.

"I love poker and love to play," Elias said. "But I don't have many friends who have an interest."

Alex Franz, a sophomore at UNC, enjoys playing with his dad, Jim, who got into it around the same time everyone else did. He doesn't believe poker is still red hot among students.

"You'd probably find more of them playing Guitar Hero," he said. "But you do find some who still want to play."

Luckel knows where to find them. He even enjoys introducing the game to others.

"We had a few girls at our tournament who had never played before in their life," he said, "and they had a great time."

News Added: 21 January, 2008

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