Most college students go online to check their email or Facebook.com account.
Not former Miami student Nick DiVella.
When DiVella goes online, he does so to play poker and pay his tuition-at the same time.
DiVella, who transferred from Miami University to the University of Nevada Las Vegas last year, has taken a game many college students play for fun and turned it into his job.
Whether it's to pay tuition or pay the bar tab, many college students have taken up the world of online poker.
In 2003, an accountant named Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker Main Event. The World Series of Poker main event doles out $2.5 million for its first prize. Moneymaker won his $10,000 buy-in into the tournament with a $39 investment on Poker Stars, an online poker site. It was the perfect recipe for a poker revolution-an average Joe with a memorable last name turning a few bucks into millions. Pokerstars.com said their Web site saw increases in membership and playtime after Moneymaker's success.
Many students like DiVello are replacing their long hours at college dining halls with late night sessions bluffing players from all over the world.
Luck or logic?
Statistics professor Kevin Donges said he thinks probability is definitely involved with online poker.
"Professional players are aware of the numbers," Donges said, "but you can't just play the cards by numbers, they have to play by other factors too."
Donges said some other factors involve the ability to read an opponent's facial features- something you lose when you play online. He also said online games in particular, when players lack face-to-face contact, rely on reading and playing by an opponent's playing pattern characteristics. Pattern characteristics are behavioral triggers like when the opponent is bluffing. Donges said pattern characteristics are a statistical mathematical concept and force online players to play more mechanically.
Donges said he doesn't like the word luck-in statistics or poker.
"The statistical luck is called variance,"Donges said. "There's a lot in the short term that can change. You know, you lose $100 here and gain there. Over the long run, the numbers will take over. For instance, if you play 1000 hands, you may win 800 of them and lose 200."
Online poker player and senior economicsmajor JJ Bernthold said in the short term, there is a lot of luck involved in poker, but in the long run, the better player will show a profit.
Many dedicated poker players prefer online poker to sitting down at a table. DiVella said playing online offers you a game 24 hours a day and the chance of playing more than one game at once. He said he sometimes plays on as many as 12 tables at a time. Many Web sites have a version of frequent flyer miles-called frequent player points. According to pokerstars.com, if a player can get 3,000,000 points, the player gets a free Porsche Cayman.
While online poker generates a lot of buzz about big winners, it is unusual to hear about the player that emptied a bank account and starting selling things on eBay to get more money to play.
DiVella said he turned his initial $100 investment into almost $30,000 before things went terribly wrong.
"I was young, stupid and inexperienced and lost $10,000 in only a few hours and didn't know how to take it," DiVella said. "At the time I lacked everything. I lacked
patience, I lacked discipline and I lacked the knowledge of bankroll management. You can not let your emotions get the best of you, and I let it happen to me."
Being a professional poker player doesn't have the glitz and flair that you see on television shows like World Poker Tour and the World Series of Poker. DiVella said in one hand, he won $10,000. Later that week he said he lost another hand for $5,000. All the swings and stress can be too much for many players to take.
DiVella said a problem with online play is the money seems to have less value then in real life.
"When you play in real life you play with chips instead of cash," DiVella said. "The chips have less meaning than if you played with cash, instead of thinking that you throwing in ten bucks you are only throwing in a black chip."
Junior Jeff Griffin said he gave up playing online poker because playing too often can turn into a dangerous habit.
"When you play online it's even worse," Griffin said. "Instead of throwing in 10 bucks, you are throwing in an interactive chip.
Instead of feeling like real money it is like playing with Monopoly money. To make that even worse it takes less effort than throwing in a chip. Instead of throwing them in you are just a click away. Welcome to online poker, where you are just a click away from making or losing thousands."
The future's in the cards
In 2006, lawmakers passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which made it illegal to upload money on gambling websites with a U.S. credit card.
Reuters news agency reported Oct. 2, 2006 that online gambling firms faced their biggest-ever crisis when Congress passed the act. Reuters reported the act threatened jobs and wiped $6.5 billion off online gambling company values.
According to pokerstars.com, there currently are 200,000 players online. Online poker is a thriving industry. Even with the ban, people are finding other ways to put their money online.
Lawmakers, including Sen. Al D'Amato (D-N.Y.), are considering making it legal to use a U.S. credit card again, but the government would also tax winnings.
No senators from Ohio have commented on the act yet.
Bernthold said he has no intention of following his habit to a career path.
"Absolutely not," Bernthold said. "The game is way too stressful to make a consistent living. Great poker players can easily have months sometimes years where they lose money. Even for the best players nothing is guaranteed in poker."
DiVella said he still has aspirations to take on the nerve-racking career of being a professional poker after college.
"After I get my gaming management degree from UNLV, I want to take a part-time job and play poker full time," DiVella said. "If I go broke, which is not an option, I can always find a job with my degree."
