2008 Woodie Awards
Rotaract deals poker, polio prevention
Alex Ransom
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At Hold 'Em and Help 'Em, a charity poker tournament, first-time player, Jiaxing Wu, international political economy freshman, took the $100 grand prize after a 5 minute crash course.
The event, co-sponsored by Rotaract, Student Organization Forum, Card Players Association (CPA) and Student Union Activities and Advisory Board, raised money for eradicating polio in the world.
Rotaract is the UTD chapter of Rotary International, a worldwide organization. Rotary International has taken on battling this disease through its PolioPlus program for the past two decades. Currently, polio is isolated to India, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to Rotary International.
"Polio still exists. We want to motivate people to give money," said Gianfranco Herrera, president of Rotaract and telecommunications engineering junior.
It costs only 60 cents to inoculate people against potentially deadly polio, Herrera said.
"It's now growing again. Half a million to 1 million children are dying each year from polio. We just adopted (this problem) as a group last semester," said Aly Neal, Rotaract secretary and child learning and development sophomore.
The tournament began with six tables of nine players, a mixture of stern poker faces, bursts of laughter and appreciative crowing over the hands being played.
"Tonight is going to be a lot of fun, playing poker and fighting polio," said Cody Eilrich, electrical engineering and computer engineering junior.
Slowly, players bled their 1,500 in chips, and people began to amass large pots. After 3 hours of poker, finally the remaining eight players combined at one table to duke it out for two gift cards, an iPod shuffle and a poker set.
"It's my first time playing poker like this," Wu said, "It's all thanks to Aly (Neal, secretary of Rotaract). She taught me how to play in 5 minutes."
The crowd favorites were Wu and Kristen Schroeder, biology sophomore. Both held out in the male-dominated event, which began with nine girls out of 54 players.
"Xing (Jiaxing Wu) killed me. She killed everyone. She had pocket queens!" said Jason Chen, business and finance senior. He had been taken out late in the game.
Blinds had been significantly raised from their start at 5/10 to 500/1,000, incrementing at least every half hour.
The final table's game play started out hot. Wu had a good start taking the pot at the outset with the first hand. Schroeder's full house ousted a player in the third hand, who identified himself by an alias.
In a table of only high chips of hundreds and thousands, Wu kept her blue chip of 25. "Maybe it's been my lucky charm," Wu said.
The table dwindled down to four. Akhil Kamalakar, computer science sophomore, went all-in against Wu. She beat his jack and queen with her four and five to complete a full house.
The audience crowded around the table of two remaining competitors, Wu and Davis Howe, arts and technology sophomore. The mood became intense and quiet.
"She's got a real good poker face, that's for damn sure," Howe said.
Wu kept folding as Howe pressured her to go all-in several times. She lost her lucky blue chip as the two's stashes evened out. The tournament stretched on after midnight, and Wu began to wear Howe down.
The final hand came down to Wu's pair of eights and Howe's pair of sevens. The community cards didn't offer any advantage. Kevin Weant, president of CPA and electrical engineering junior, declared Wu the winner.
"It was an interesting outcome. I was expecting one of the really good guys to win, but beginner takes it," Weant said.
Wu was slightly disappointed that she did not win the iPod shuffle (third prize).
"I'm very happy. It's a big surprise, and it's my first time playing," Wu said.
Rotaract will host another poker charity tournament in spring 2009.
"I'm glad people came, got excited about the game and learned that polio is still around," Herrera said.
Rotaract hosts meetings at 5:30 p.m. every other Monday in the SU Pegasus Room.
The Card Players Association will meet at 7 p.m. on Thursdays next semester in the Pegasus Room.
Wu's crash course
Rotaract Secretary Aly Neal's poker lesson helped Wu win. Here's a quick recap of what she said:
- Know the hands that win and chip values so you know what to shoot for.
- You take two and share five. You've got your two cards all to yourself, and then make the best of it with the table cards in the middle.
- First, your pocket is dealt. Then you bet, and the first three table cards are turned. You bet again, the fourth is turned, then another bet, then the last card is turned. After betting one more time you show what you've got.
- You have to pay blinds just to play the game. Blinds go up throughout the game, so be ready to pay more the further you go. This means you always have more to win and more to lose simply by sticking around for a high-blind round.
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