DAVID KOB
Staff Writer
Until the Senate passes The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, a bill which bans most online gambling, the Internet will continue to facilitate another vice onto our already over-stimulated nation. The arguments center on poker’s controversial “game of skill” avatar over a “game of chance.”
I’m not going to bore you with the logistics of why poker is a game of skill because it’s completely irrelevant to why online poker should be banned. The real reason it should not be available on the Internet is because of people like me.
I know a lot of Pepperdine students play poker in the dorms or online, and some probably think they are really good, maybe even good enough to make a living playing poker. I’m here to tell you that you are not.
I believe there are no upsides to poker besides the illusion of fast, effortless money, which is the only reason millions of college students are playing poker more than four hours a day.
Face it, poker gets boring fast unless you are playing for money. Until money was involved, I thought poker was lame, but all it took was one big night in the beginning of my sophomore year, and I was hooked. Within weeks I was making more than my professors’ salaries while sitting through their lectures (thank God for wireless Internet).
My best friend and I befriended some of poker’s online elite who played full time and we started hitting it hard.
That year became incredibly profitable. I was even offered a paid internship from a stranger from whom I had just won a grand.
Let me be blunt. Poker is fun and money can be made, but college is not meant for people to rush home from class and sit in front of their computer for six hours at a time. College is special because it facilitates interaction as well as education, but online poker completely neutralizes that.
If I had not reluctantly joined a fraternity sophomore year, I honestly doubt I would have ever left my room. That’s just how much time you need to put in to be good enough to make serious money. Almost every professional poker player either never went or dropped out of college.
My grades suffered, my relationships suffered and even my health suffered. I developed chronic headaches and even had a brain MRI, all while I was still making money, because in poker you have to lose to win, and after awhile the losing catches up with you. Think about it, no matter how much you practice, someone can always come along with absolutely no experience, get lucky and take your money. It is just not worth it.
Since online poker will likely not be banned, despite Senator Frist’s ongoing efforts, the vice remains available to college students, but I beg those considering taking poker beyond recreation to wait until after college and save these precious four years for education, friendship and maturing as a person.
Most who are good at poker can make tons more in the business world, so why waste your time being stressed out? College is the best four years of your life, and there is nothing good about losing $23,000 in three days. Trust me.
09-14-2006