The tension in the room was unbearable, so when College sophomore Harry Crane finally pushed all his chips to the center and said, "call," it was like a weight had been lifted. Soon it was all over.
Engineering junior Dave Thornton won this year's Penn Poker Championship, the largest free-entry poker tournament ever at Penn with over 175 students and faculty participating.
Sponsored by the Penn Poker Club and PokerRoom.com, the Texas Hold'em-style poker tournament took place in Houston Hall on Saturday and Irvine Auditorium on Sunday. Participants varied from novices to mavericks and freshmen to faculty.
"I figured there would be mostly rookies here, but people know what they're doing," said College and Wharton senior Brian Lempel, who was wearing a tie with $100 bills on it, a giant necklace with a dollar sign, gold watches and other assorted "bling."
"I thought maybe I could intimidate some kids," he said.
Most of the players at the final table were serious poker players.
The Penn Poker Club "brought good players here," said Thornton, who walked away with the grand prize: $1,000 and an engraved metal bracelet. "The final table was solid."
Smaller cash prizes were awarded to the top 20 finishers.
"It's pretty good to get 75 bucks for nothing," said sixth-place finisher and College freshman Dave Verbofsky, who is known in poker circles as "The Yellow Dart."
Last year, only 20 students participated in the Penn Poker Championship, while over 350 people requested to play in this year's 200-seat tournament.
Penn Poker Club President and College senior Alex Graeffe attributed the success of this year's tournament to significant cash prizes made available by PokerRoom.com's sponsorship.
Graeffe cited poker's recent increase in popularity and visibility, mostly due to online poker gaming and televised pro tournaments.
Whatever the reason, this year's Penn Poker Championship was able to draw students.
"What other organization can bring that many people together at 10 a.m. on a Saturday?" said Penn Poker Club Co-Vice President and Wharton sophomore Dan Kline.
Despite the large turnout, only eight females participated.
"Girls should get more into poker," said 10th-place finisher and College sophomore Teresa Fallon. "I think they are underestimated at a poker table."
The tournament lasted a grueling 12 hours split between Saturday and Sunday. Participants were given chips worth an imaginary $500 and continued to play until they had none left.
The end of the tournament was a nailbiter as Thornton and Crane, with equal chip totals, both went all in before the flop. Thornton's pair of threes and Crane's ace-king had exactly equal odds to win, but Thornton came out on top. "The last hand was basically a coin flip, and it just came out my way," Thornton said.
PokerRoom.com, an online forum to learn and play poker, provided the Penn Poker Club with $2,000 in cash prizes and 150 decks of cards detailed with the PokerRoom.com logo.
Despite the lack of an entrance fee, a $3 donation to the Chess in Philadelphia Schools Initiative was suggested by Graeffe, president of the Penn Chess Club.
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