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Poker Popular Among University Males
Various universities are conducting studies into the involvement of their
students in poker tournament, online and otherwise, and the results are
staggering. The studies have found that Texas Hold’Em, so long the province
of middle aged, cigar smoking Baby Boomer males, is fast becoming the number
one hobby of millions of young people.
A study conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of
Pennsylvania states that the number of men gambling monthly in online poker
games has grown by 20 percent. IT also says that about 2.9 million people
between the ages of 14 and 22 gamble on cards at least once a week, and that
students are especially interested in the action presented by the game. More
than half of males who attend college campuses are likely to be
participating in gambling at least once a month.
Applying that number to the University of Florida, that means that 6,700
male students under 23 are regularly gambling in poker games. The popularity
of poker ensures that poker based events have no trouble when trying to fill
their tables. At the University of Florida, the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity
held a Texas Hold’Em poker tournament in order to raise money for the
Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The fraternity’s president, Stephen Blank,
says that the popularity of the event has outstripped the ability of the
frat house to accommodate it. He states that for next year’s event, they are
planning to move to a bigger venue in order to get all interested players in
on the game. He believes that the game is huge on campus as it represents a
good opportunity for socializing as well as a chance to practice and watch
combinations of luck and skill, and also attributes poker’s success to the
gambling aspect of the game, which he says is slightly addictive.
The Annenberg report also demonstrates that online gaming has increased, and
reports that people who gamble with cards are more likely to win on the
internet. It estimates that about 580,000 younger people, between 14 and 22,
gamble on the internet weekly and that 70% of all gambling online is with
card games.
Live poker tournament popularity is certainly not being negatively effected
by the skyrocketing use of online gaming experiences, however. Iaon Cottrell
is the founder of the site pokerforpets.org, and hosts several weekly games
in order to raise money to benefit local pet shelters. In his first
tournament, which saw 90 people signed up, $3,700 was raised to help end the
practice of animal euthanasia. Cottrell believes that poker’s popularity is
due to the fact that it is, quite simply, every man’s game.
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