Issue date: 3/22/04 Section: Aggielife

Graphic by Ivan Flores/The Battalion

Bryan Jolly, a freshman general studies major, entrusts a small fortune to the click of a mouse and the glare of a computer monitor.

"Between the swings I've lost as much as $400 and won as much as $2,000," Jolly said.

Fueled by endless late-night television coverage, the growing interest in gambling has reached a whole new stake level. Everyone from movie celebrities to college students has been bitten by the betting bug.

For many gambling enthusiasts, the only true game is poker with an emphasis on the game Texas Hold 'Em. Hold 'Em is the icon of the poker syndicate hailed by ESPN's Poker World Series and the Travel Channel's Poker World Tour.

Hold 'Em and other poker games can be readily found online, in most casinos or in the study lounge of most residence halls between the hours of 10 p.m. and 2 a.m.

"Games are pretty easy to find. People are always talking about poker. I'll hear them all the time in class or around campus," said Greg Davidson, a junior English major. "All you usually have to do to play is ask. Everyone is always looking for one more player."

With most traditional poker games, the more players involved and the more money invested, the more interesting the game is. And money is, of course, an excellent motivation to play.

"It's all about numbers," Jolly said. "The more people you have, the bigger the pot gets. I mean, it's fun to sit around and talk to a lot of people, but it's more fun to take their money."

However, the money swings and changes are far surpassed by the emotional ups and downs, which are the real reason most players claim to play. The emotional elation experienced while dragging a gigantic stack of chips in the winner's direction is paralleled only by the pitfalls of distress expressed by the loser.

"I hate losing, but it happens," said John Wahrenberger, a senior civil engineering major. "I guess it's just money."

In "no-limit" games, where there is no limit to the amount of money a player is able to wager on a single hand, the emotional ante is raised tenfold, Davidson said. Stacks of chips and 'chip leader' titles move around the table faster than the dealer's button. But a disciplined player learns to focus on the actions of fellow players rather than these entertaining shifts of dollars and depression.

Continued...

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