Majoring in poker

SALEM, N.H. - The last two surviving players in the inaugural New England College World Series of Poker championships, held Sunday at Rockingham Park, were a pair of 22-year-olds: Boston College student Patrick O'Donnell and University of Southern New Hampshire senior Henry Holst.

Holst went all-in on the final deal, and O'Donnell called the bet, capping nearly six hours of Texas Hold 'Em at the racetrack's poker room.

more stories like thisFlipping over his hole cards, O'Donnell produced an ace and a queen. Holst turned over an ace and a king, making him the favorite to win. When the three-card "flop" - queen, jack, four - was dealt however, O'Donnell was staring at an almost unbeatable pair of queens. The fourth card was an eight, and the fifth card - another queen - sealed the deal for O'Donnell and put an end to one very long afternoon of bluffing, banter, betting strategy, and chip management, all fueled by liberal quantities of snack foods and Red Bull.

O'Donnell, a finance major from North Andover who plays 60 to 80 hours of poker a week, mostly on the Internet, walked away with the top prize of $1,450. Holst pocketed $790. Asked how he planned to celebrate, O'Donnell admitted he was exhausted and would probably go home to sleep. As for the prize money: "It's all going to furniture," O'Donnell said. "I just bought a condo, and it needs new stuff."

Somehow it seemed fitting that the winner's share could wind up as sofa beds and end tables. Not only were players' eyes glazed by the time the tournament ended, around 8 p.m., but the field was considerably smaller than what organizers had hoped for, robbing the "championship" of at least some cachet. Only 28 players anted up the $150 entry fee, less than one-tenth of the anticipated turnout and payoff. (To enter, players had to be at least 18 years old and show a valid college ID card.)

Bad weather and lack of advertising did not help, tournament officials conceded. Yet there's also evidence suggesting that the recent poker boom driven by televised tournaments and movies like 1998's "Rounders" may be losing steam.

According to a survey conducted by the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center, the percentage of college-age males (18 to 22) who wager on card games on a weekly basis dropped to 4.4 percent last year, down from 16.3 percent in 2006. These numbers indicate "the fad has peaked," according to study director Dan Romer. Internet gambling among college-age youth has similarly declined, Romer noted, from 5.8 percent to 1.5 percent.

"It may be on the wane, but it's still a concern," said psychologist Marvin Steinberg, who works with Connecticut colleges and universities on problem-gambling issues. "This is the first generation [to come along] when gambling is so widespread and legal. College students are often away from home for the first time, and they do a lot of things to excess. Gambling of any kind is not risk-free."

Still, if the poker boom is fading, O'Donnell and other contestants at last weekend's tournament say its demise is news to them. Rockingham runs daily tournaments with a portion of the entry fees going to charity. O'Donnell said he plays poker there (where the minimum age is 18) and at Foxwoods casino (where players must be 21) on a regular basis and in weekly "live" games with other college students, in which players typically win or lose a couple of hundred dollars.

more stories like this"At BC, poker is huge," he said during a break in the action. "You've got loads of kids with lots of money. People play all the time. I've heard of guys losing $10,000 of their dad's money."

If anything, "poker is constantly growing," said Bernard Lee, a 1992 Harvard grad and poker professional who helped kick off Sunday's proceedings. "College is a place where you stay up late playing games. It's where I started getting serious about poker. A lot of these guys are serious about it, too."

How serious? During play at the final table Sunday, two contestants were overheard discussing how - or if - their poker winnings should be reported to the Internal Revenue Service. (Consensus: carefully or not at all.) At another juncture, players amused themselves with horror stories about playing online poker and losing their Internet connection, their cyber-winnings vanishing in the process.

Last weekend's field was certainly broad-based. A total of 15 colleges and universities were represented, including Northeastern, Boston University, UMass-Lowell, Bentley, and Endicott. Many of the players interviewed identified themselves as business or finance majors - perhaps no surprise considering the math and strategy skills it takes to be a consistently strong player.

Merrimack College senior Alex Marcin, 22, recently auditioned for an upcoming poker-based reality show. "I play in a lot of dorm games," said Marcin, a marketing and finance major. How has he been faring? "I'm doing OK," he said modestly.

Todd Siff, 18, a BU theater major, said he'd never been to Rockingham Park but, having spotted a billboard in Boston advertising the tournament, decided to give it a shot.

"I caught the [poker] bug about three years ago, and I do mean the bug," Siff said after getting knocked out of the competition late in the afternoon. "Usually I can control it, although sometimes I'm not so sure."

News Added: 13 February, 2008

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