Poker gets hold on campus

LAUREN REILLY NEWS EDITOR

LMR722@CABRINI EDU

Recently, students on campus have become absorbed in the game of poker, more so than ever before. Nightly sessions of multiple tables filled with stern game faces can be found in the apartments and throughout the houses.

“We play for fun,” Casey Marshall, a junior history and political science major, said. Marshall, like many other students, has grown to be a regular participant at the latest craze on campus.

“After the 2003 World Series of Poker we played once or twice a week, but now it’s just ridiculous. We play at least four games a week,” Marshall said.

The popularity of this seemingly ubiquitous campus activity could be attributed to the ESPN World Series of Poker, a program that has tripled its coverage since this past July. Since it’s debut in 1970, the World Series of Poker has grown immensely in participants as well as competitions. In 1987, the event attracted 2,141 participants that grew to 7,595 by

2002 in addition to proportionally increasing the prize money to $19,599,230, nearly 12 million dollars more than that of the $7,769,000 pot in 1992. Also, this year, the tournament offers 33 competitions that feature a variety of games including the traditional Texas hold’em and seven-card stud.

“We started playing when the World Series of Poker became very popular,”

Jeff Foley, a junior business and administration major, said about he and his roommate, Chris Sabatino, a junior history and political science major, whom, on average, play three to four nights a week. To Foley and Sabatino, the game is a way to unwind and socialize. “It’s a good time to hang out with your friends and talk about stuff,” Sabatino said.

Dave Spina, a junior English and communications major, also finds that poker “It’s kind of the secondary thing to do. If you’re not drinking, you’re playing,” Dave Spina, a junior English and communications major, said.

One of the earliest written references to poker dates back to 1834 in which Jonathan H. Green, author of “An Exposure of the Arts and Miseries of Gambling,” indicates that poker originated in New Orleans approximately four years earlier. The actual derivation of the game is uncertain and often debated by historians. Acommon theory states that poker descends from the 17th Century Persian game of Śs Nas, a five-player game that requires a special deck of 25 cards consisting of five suits. This may have been taught to French settlers by Persian sailors, ultimately influencing the French game of Poque, a game of betting and bluffing. Poque, along with the German game of Pochen and the English game of Bragg are considered the major influences in modern day poker

Tom Schneiders, a senior marketing major, is deemed founder and organizer of the more populated games. Afamiliar face to the tables as well, Schneider admits hasn’t always played poker; however, he finds himself habitually partaking in some friendly competitions. “A lot of people play. I started playing about a year ago and I kind of just got into it,” Schneider said.

Not all students, such as Ian McDonald, a junior criminal justice major, are thrilled with the sport. “I’m not interested in it. I don’t like watching it and I don’t really like the guys who play,” McDonald said.

Nonetheless poker will continue to spread over campus and around the world.

The show may just be another reality show to some people but the number of teens getting plastic surgery keeps increasing. The constant emphasis on body image, not just on females but males as well are causing these high numbers.

In 2004, the number of teens who had breast augmentation went up 24 percent. Another study done by a magazine took a survey of 15 year olds and their point of view on plastic surgery. Out of those 15 year olds, a third crave better bodies and think plastic surgery is the way to go. Nearly half of the teens thought a tummy tuck or breast enhancements was adequate and three percent of them were already saving for some type of operation.

Based on the same survey the girls were asked what operation they would wish for and a tummy tuck topped the list. Thinner thighs came in second and breast reduction or enhancement came in third.

The girls said that expectations from friends and boyfriends, bullying and television images are what makes them want to get plastic surgery to change their bodies.

The girls are not the only ones looking to enhance their looks. Men are also getting more plastic surgery. In 2003 alone, more then 1 million men underwent plastic surgery. Doctors are expecting those numbers to only increase over the next few years.

The most common procedures men have done are nose re-shaping, liposuction, eyelid surgery and hair transplants. Being as that men are different from women, so are their reasons for getting plastic surgery

The reason men are getting plastic surgery is not from insecurities placed on them by others but because of the need for competition. It seems that older men are getting plastic surgery in order to compete with the younger men in the workplace.

In conclusion, it seems to be that younger women are getting plastic surgery in order to enhance their body and make it look better as a result of pressure from outside means. While on the other hand men are getting plastic surgery to look younger and compete in a superficial job market. It is funny to see the different reasons men and women are getting plastic surgery to look like their favorite stars.