Unraveling the poker craze at the UF
The majority of Gators will never forget the February of their senior year of high school. While all your friends were buying garnet and gold bath towels, you were left to stew in nagging uncertainty and make safe-bet living arrangements in Orlando or Tallahassee. Seeing as you’re a Gator, however, there’s no such thing as a safe bet. You already knew you were in. I’d like to imagine that every Gator accepted their sweet admission with the poker face of a seasoned Vegas professional.
If poker is to be introduced as a competitive sport in the NCAA, the Florida Gators wouldn’t hesitate to set up its own collegiate team. The University of Florida has established a poker culture unlike no other in the US, with its students as well as administrators embracing the card game in many respects. The university has even produced graduates who are now playing in international poker competitions. Besides football and basketball, UF students revere poker more than any sport played on the campus.
Students can be found playing poker at most bars, dormitories and fraternity houses during their precious breaks from school. Internet access on campus also allows students to engage in online poker, but it’s not only the access per se that encourages UF students to master the craft of poker. The university’s liberal environment is laying fertile ground for poker to thrive in the Swamp. The UF administration even organized a “Tostitos and Texas Hold’em” poker event as part of the Dean of Students’ Welcome Week program.
While some would claim that it takes away valuable time that could be devoted to academics, poker has inspired UF students to lend a hand to charitable endeavors. The causes that they have supported are wide-ranging: from the construction of an Asian-American center to HIV-AIDS awareness, organizations regularly host poker tournaments that are warmly-received by UF students. An annual “Poker All Night Long” event by a university-wide fraternity has saved the lives of people afflicted with leukemia and lymphoma.
With the university’s enduring attachment to the crowd favorite card game, UF has produced a crop of alumni who are now making their presence felt in big time poker competitions. Johnathan Westra has proven to be the most successful poker player from UF to date. Since leaving UF, Westra has raked in thousands of dollars from poker at Betfair’s World Series of Poker Circuit and the World Poker Tour Five Diamond Classic. When asked about whom he thinks are the best online poker players, Westra replied: “I think the best online poker players in the country are all from Title town AKA Gainesville, FL. The Gainesville guys are the best because along with very strong records most of us are still going to school.”
The University of Florida can rightly label itself as a “poker university” for nurturing a strong poker culture unlike any other. From its student-led tournaments to successful alumni, the UF has proven to be a hotbed of college poker in the country. So if the NCAA decides to include the card game in to its athletic program, watch out for the Florida Gators fielding the best college poker team in the US.
