Year after year, UCLA alumni look for numerous ways to give back
to the UCLA community. They look to stay involved by attending UCLA
sporting events and alumni functions and donating to athletic and
academic scholarships. Greg Go, meanwhile, found a rather unique
way to give back to his alma mater. Go, an editor and the creator
of onlinepokercenter.com, finished fifth overall in the World
Series of Poker Celebrity/Media Tournament, winning a $350 donation
to the UCLA Alumni Fund. Go was able to apply his passion for the
growing game of Texas hold’em poker to give back to the
Westwood community he still cherishes. “I received a great
education at UCLA, and I wanted to give something back to the Bruin
community,” Go told onlinepokercenter.com. In the tournament,
Go beat out over 255 celebrities, poker pros and media members who
participated in the event, including actresses Shannon Elizabeth,
Nicole Ritchie and actor James Woods. Go was playing in his first
event. In total, the tournament raised over $13,500 for charity,
and the first-place finisher Randy Boman donated $10,000 to the
Noblesville Boys and Girls Club of Indiana. “Thirty-five
percent of UCLA students come from lower-income families, and many
of those are of color,” Go said. “Anything the UCLA
alumni scholarship program can do to help those kids is a
bonus.” Go was a biochemistry major at UCLA before leaving to
start his own poker Web site, which allows people to receive useful
information when looking for poker sites, especially security
concerns and how the Web sites work. Go started his Web site in
2004, at the beginning of the poker-playing phenomenon, and it has
grown with the popularity of online poker, and in particular the
World Series of Poker, which has now been expanded to include 42
events and has a record 5,619 players participating in the main
event.
GAMBLING BRUIN ALUM: UCLA alumnus Chris Ferguson, known as
“Jesus” on the poker circuit for his long hair and full
beard, was busted out on the first day of the main event. Ferguson
won the main event in 2002, and received his doctorate from UCLA in
1999. His father, Thomas, is professor emeritus in mathematics at
UCLA and still teaches seminars dealing in highly evolved game
theory.