Students try their luck at Chinese gambling

There aren't many places on campus where one can play traditional Chinese gambling games and win prizes. But Houston Hall was one of them this weekend. The Chinese Students Association hosted its second annual Chinese Casino Night in the Hall of Flags on Saturday night. CSA President Steve Lin was worried that the timing of the event would coincide with the time that students were studying for mid-term exams. "We are happy about the turnout, though," the Engineering and College senior said. Students crowded around several tables offering games such as Fish, Prawn and Crab, Fan-tan, Mah-Jongg, and Big-Small -- which is featured at some Atlantic City casinos. Other students played poker. College sophomore Chin-Chia Lin did not experience his first win until five minutes before the close of Chinese Casino Night. "Today is not my day," Lin said. "I am glad this is not real money." Wharton junior Winston Chow, vice president of CSA, spent most of his time dealing. "A lot of people make huge bets so they either win big or lose big," Chow said. "I think it pretty much balances out." But this was not the case for Engineering junior Herman Lau. "I lost everything," Lau said. "I guess I just had really bad luck all of a sudden." While some students played for fun, others strategized their games to go for the grand prize -- a set of traditional Chinese writing instruments. "We give all of our chips to one person," said last year's grand prize winner Wharton sophomore Stan Yang, pointing to his group of friends. "Then we all share in the prize." Yang and his friends took five of the six prizes last year with more than 100 raffle tickets. This year, Engineering junior Alice Chong, who learned how to do calligraphy at a Chinese school in Hong Kong, was the happy winner of the writing instruments. "It's really cool, but it's too beautiful for me to use," she said. Chong also left the event with two of the five door prizes -- Pocahontas hula hoops. Wharton freshman Grant Herbst said he enjoyed the event. "Things like this are a great opportunity to bring students together in a social setting," Herbst said.