Online Poker Is Fun

Online Poker Is Fun Oct 05, 2004 Bradpitts sits on the edge of his wooden chair, shirtless, yelling at his computer screen. Two guys in blue togas, breaking between parties, stand behind him giving advice as each card is turned by an invisible hand. Bradpitts gets a full house and knocks swodog28 out of the game. He jumps a little in his chair, making his long blonde hair swing up. “Ha ha, sucker,” he said. “I’m on a hot streak.” It’s 11:30 p.m. Saturday. Before the night is through, Bradpitts will win the 10-person, $10 buy-in, no limit Texas Hold ’Em tournament, and the tournament’s $40 prize. Bradpitts is one of many KU students who partake in one of the fastest growing pastimes on the Internet: virtual poker. He asked that his online alias be used in place of his name because online poker is illegal by federal law. The Federal Wire Wager Act, amended in 1994, prohibited betting over any “wire wagering facility,” including the Internet, according to the Kansas Gaming Commission. However, it is against the law for someone in the United States to wager on any site, regardless of the site’s location, unless he is in a place where gambling is permitted, such as Las Vegas. Playing cards for money has a long tradition on college campuses, dating long before the Internet. David Hodges, who graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1949, said he used to play the game Pitch with friends at a local college hangout. Since ESPN’s broadcast of the World Series of Poker gained unprecedented popularity last year, attracting more than one million viewing households, the sport’s popularity has increased among the ESPN demographic, mostly young adult males. Other television stations sought to capitalize on ESPN’s success by broadcasting other poker tournaments, including the World Poker Tour on the Travel Channel and Celebrity Poker on Bravo. Cole Robinson, Overland Park junior, said his favorite game when playing with his buddies is Texas Hold ’Em, the game usually played on television. “It’s the most exciting form of poker,” he said. “In Hold ’Em, luck and skill have a nice balance. It makes for really entertaining poker.” Because getting a game together is not always easy, many poker players are turning to the Internet, where tables are available at any time.