College Poker Life: New York University System

With just a few weeks left in the school year for students attending New York University, those students have enjoyed a healthy year of poker options, ranging from many campus-sponsored events to local home and dorm tournaments, and occasional side games. With such a remarkable year of poker choices for students at NYU, it may be next to impossible to repeat the experience again next year.

Students enrolled in any of the 16 NYU system schools have competed in several great school-sponsored poker events this year. Take the Fourth Annual Sterns Charity Poker event, for example, which was put on by the NYU Stern School of Business on February 24th. This year's event generated over $3,500 to benefit child literacy. In years past, donations have been used to help build libraries in India and Ecuador, along with helping the project "Read it Up," a New York based initiative that encourages literacy among at-risk youth. This year's tournament had a buy-in of $25, and also included a $10 re-buy option for players eliminated in the first hour. The event staff went all out for the 120 students, faculty, and staff competing in the event, including giving away a lavish first-place prize of a Caesars Total Luxury Experience: a trip for four to Caesar's Atlantic City, round-trip limo rides, a $100 gift certificate for The Pier Shops, $100 in chips for the tables, and dinner for four at Buddakan. As if that wasn't enough, second place took home a pair of suite tickets to a NY Knicks game. On top of such generous prize support, players who were wanting to take part in the event but were unsure of their poker skills were able to take part in poker lessons put on by professor Harry Chernoff weeks before the tournament.

There were many other poker events put on by different campus organizations around NYU this year, including casino nights hosted by the student council, dorm-sponsored tournaments, and fraternity and sorority poker nights. Other events included an IAG poker tournament held on March 30th. The IAG tournament had a buy-in of $10, with all the proceeds going to help the American Cancer Society. Prizes were given away to top finishers, which also included qualifying for a larger, final tournament held on April 1st. This event was co-hosted by NYU's chapter of the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society.

The surrounding area was a great locale for students who weren't interested in spending their time competing in large-field freerolls. Cash games and tournaments could be found almost any night of the week during both semesters, offering a variety of stakes and games for student poker players. NYU students looking for a casual game among close friends, or high-stakes action, didn't have to look very hard to find the right game.

Although New York may be a hot spot for anyone interested in poker, students at NYU can't dismiss the idea of taking a weekend drive down Garden State Parkway to Atlantic City. Though the drive from most NYU campuses will take around two hours, the trip is certainly worth it for any student yearning for casino poker action. Caesars Atlantic City is a great place to start for any student poker player. The casino is home to 24 poker tables and holds regular $1/2, $2/5, and $5/10 NL hold'em games, along with $2/4,$3/6, and $4/8 limit hold'em. Caesars is currently working on their weekly Gladiator Games poker tournaments where, in addition to typical tournament payouts, players earn points to compete in the Colosseum Games held in Feb. 2009. The top 100 point earners in 2008 will be invited to the Colosseum Games, where players will compete for ten 2009 WSOP Circuit Event seats. Whether for daily tournaments or great cash games, Caesars Atlantic City is a must for any NYU poker-playing student.

With so many poker choices available for NYU students, it's been a great year of poker, and students who aren't able to hit the felt over summer break should be very anxious to return in the fall.

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