When Ray came to UCLA, his first goal was to start a high-stakes
underground poker ring in the dorms.
He started playing last year, and with the help of a Facebook
group, what started as a handful of players expanded to numerous
regulars over a few months.
Over the past two years, playing poker for money, specifically
no-limit Texas Hold ’em, has become very popular on the Hill
as a way of making new friends and earning some extra cash.
Though gambling for money is against Housing policy, student
poker players say the potential to make money and meet people
outweighs the chance of getting written up.
(Because of the possible repercussions for their actions, only
the first names have been used to reference those individuals who
play poker in the dorms.)
Often, a significant amount of money changes hands between
players.
Last year, Ray organized a multi-day dorm tournament, which he
won.
His prize? More than $3,000.
More often, games run around a $5 to $10 buy-in and can be found
on almost every residence hall floor every night of the week, said
Tony, an avid poker fan and a regular dorm player.
Sometimes, Tony said, games have more expensive buy-ins, ranging
from $20 to $40, in which hundreds of dollars can change hands in a
given night.
“If you want to play, it’s pretty easy to find a
game,” he said.
Tony said he started to play his second day on campus as a
first-year, and he quickly made friends through some of the people
he played with on his floor. For Tony, poker is primarily a social
activity, and he and his friends started out playing five nights a
week.
Christine Coons, the judicial affairs coordinator for the Office
of Residential Life, said resident assistants only started to
notice a large increase in the popularity of games like Texas Hold
’em in the dorms during fall 2004.
In response, ORL administration banned the use of poker chips
for a short period as an attempt to curb gambling in conjunction
with the game, but adjusted its policy to reflect the game’s
increasing popularity, Coons said.
Now, if an RA finds residents playing for money, they can be
written up for a violation and potentially referred to Student
Psychological Services for counseling regarding a gambling
addiction, Coons said.
“Most RAs enforce the policy, but it’s important to
note the difference between gambling and gaming,” said Joey
Villanueva, a fourth-year chemistry student and an RA in Hedrick
Summit.
It’s hard to tell who’s gambling, because people
usually use poker chips even when playing for fun, he said. RAs are
required to ask students if they are playing for money, but if
players say no, there is little RAs can do to punish them.
Though Villanueva said he does not come across very many poker
games in Hedrick Summit, he is aware of its popularity at other
spots on the Hill.
In addition to live poker, the increase in the popularity of
online poker has also become a concern, since ORL has no way of
knowing how much debt students can accrue, Villanueva said.
Andrew Royer, a first-year mechanical engineering student, said
he is about $5,000 ahead in his poker winnings, much of it from
online play.
About a quarter of the serious poker players Royer knows play
frequently online, and many people play for large sums of money on
a regular basis. Royer has had days where he has been up as much as
$10,000 and days when he has been down as much as $9,000.
As a means of encouraging people to play, many online poker
sites have affiliate programs that allow people to recruit friends
to the site to receive bonuses. Royer said he can make as much as
$75 to $100 for a referral, and the money is transferred to his
account.
Chris, another residence hall poker player, said he started
playing poker freshman year of high school. Within the first
several nights of his arrival to the dorms he heard chips clanking
in the lounge and went to check it out.
He has been playing ever since.
There are also more serious groups that play other casino games,
including black jack and five card draw.
Though Ray has organized a large-scale group of players, Tony
and Chris both said most poker circles consist of friends who
always play together.
Having established his own poker ring with over 70 to 80 regular
players, Ray credits himself as the largest poker tournament
organizer on the Hill.
He said he has organized more structured tournaments, where
games run most nights of the week for a minimum $20 buy-in with
about 15 players. Ray said he has made over $10,000 the past
several years playing poker, and that his winnings come from a
combination of casino play, dorm games and online poker.
People who play in small groups just circulate the same money
between all of the regular players, using money made from summer
jobs, Chris said.
Tony said that he has only profited about $100 over the past few
years playing with friends, and though he plays often and for large
sums of money, he said he never wins or loses in the long run.
Though Royer attributes the popularity of poker to the potential
money to be made, Chris said playing for large amounts can be risky
and probably is not a good way to make a steady income.