Poker, a game made popular by the gunslingers in the Wild West, has gone from the saloons to the dorm rooms and Internet.

Justin Moser, OU poker club president and music graduate student, started OU's first official poker club to give students experience and a fighting chance.

"Our goals center around preventing gambling problems," Moser said.

The club aims to teach students to play better so when they go to the casinos they will have a better chance of winning, he said. But the club is also supposed to give students an outlet where they can play for free and have fun.

The OU poker club does not play for money because it is against OU rules and federal law.

The club has 41 official members and they all play Texas Hold'em every Tuesday.

Texas Hold'em, considered the "Cadillac" of poker by famous players like Doyle Brunson, is also the most popular form of poker, Moser said.

Students can set up home games, play online and even go to local casinos to play poker.

Moser said he has gone to local casinos like Thunderbird Wild Wild West Casino, 15700 E. State Highway 9, and Goldsby Gaming Center, 1038 W. Sycamore Road, to test his luck, and he isn't alone.

Chad Cooper, economics junior, said he spends his weekends at casino poker tables.

"I will take between $200 to $300 with me," Cooper said.

Cooper said he doesn't let his poker playing get in the way of his schoolwork, but he can't speak for all the other students he sees playing.

"I see more and more students every time I go. Poker has become more visible and popular and you can see that by the growth of players at the tables," he said.

With so many students playing poker, students at the Michael F. Price College of Business found a way to capitalize on the growing popularity.

Kate Kyle, finance and international business junior, is president of the Integrated Business Corps group Sooner Shuffle. Her company is selling water-resistant playing cards this week at Dale Hall.

"OU has a lot of poker players so when we brainstormed they were definitely a target audience," Kyle said.

Playing cards has become almost a cultural trend. It is a social activity, Kyle said.

Poker's recent explosion into the mainstream of American culture is partly due to movies and television. "Rounders", starring Matt Damon and Edward Norton, is one movie that revolves around the world of poker.

Last year, ESPN aired a show called "Tilt," which also focuses on the world of poker.

These shows, however, are fiction. Poker's place in the world of sports has risen the game's visibility and popularity.

ESPN airs the World Series of Poker. At the annual event held in Las Vegas, participants range from first-time players to legends of poker like Brunson.

Moser said the world series is the main reason poker has become so popular.

"ESPN postponed a women's softball game due to rain and aired the World Series of Poker about three years ago, and from then on, poker has blown up in popularity," he said.

The players who dominate the world series are the college students, said Ryan Robinson, OU poker club vice president and political science senior.

"The players who win are college graduates. They have their masters and doctorates and for the most part they are still young," he said.
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