Poker tourney reflects game's dorm popularity
By PAT MUIR
Emboldened by the high straight she was holding, Julie Follette went "all in" Saturday night as the last card was turned in a Central Washington University students' Texas hold 'em tournament in the Samuelson Union Building.
"You have to have guts, and you have to be able to read people," Follette would say later.
Well, she had guts, but her reading of Matt Winkels was a little off. Winkels, the only other remaining player, had a flush. He took home a $150 poker set and bragging rights as a prize. Follette went home knowing at least she lost on a good hand.
"I'm glad I went out on that hand," she said. "I can't believe he won that."
About 30 Central students started the tournament Friday, each paying $10 to enter. That money went to holding the tournament and to the prize, said Buddy Keller, the student organizer of the Student Activities-sponsored event.
"A lot of kids are playing on campus - in the casinos, in the dorms, wherever they live," he said. "They're playing all the time."
That fits in with the national Texas hold 'em craze, evidenced by the five TV programs devoted to the game.
Poker is a multibillion dollar industry and it only looks to be growing in popularity, said Ryan Clancy a spokesman for All In magazine, a national poker publication that publishes its second issue next week. The TV exposure has really broadened the game's appeal, he said.
Players like Follette consider poker, particularly Texas hold 'em, as something to do on boring nights in Ellensburg.
"I get an adrenaline rush from it - reading other people," she said. "It's a fun game, and it's really simple."
She plays with people from work sometimes and said it seems like everybody's playing.
"It's on TV and celebrities play it now," Follette said with a laugh.
Keller, who plays with his own buddies sometimes, said he hopes to organize more student tournaments in the future.
"It's fun," he said. "It's exciting."
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