 |
Photo by Reed Hutchinson
UCLA Photographic Services
Ruben Pranata (from left), Brian Horner and Juan Linares |
New National M.B.A. Poker Champs
Anderson aces know when to hold 'em and fold 'em
BY ANNE BURKE
UCLA Today Staff
Here’s a business school ranking you can bet on: The Anderson
School of Management is home to the new national M.B.A. poker champs.
The Anderson aces — all aspiring M.B.A.s — bested their
counterparts from 26 of the nation’s top business schools
to win the second annual Susquehanna MBA Poker Championship Jan.
12-14 at Binion’s Horseshoe in Las Vegas.
Anderson won the three-day showdown — held at the same casino
that hosts the World Series of Poker — based on average winnings
per entry of $328.05. Second-place finisher Kellogg trailed with
$233.12, followed by Wharton, $162.05, Chicago, $149.75, and Berkeley
Haas, $146.43. The event raised about $15,000 for the Alzheimer’s
Association.
While some critics might consider poker an unsavory extracurricular
activity for business students at a top-tier school, Anderson student
Brian Horner said that players draw on the same skills they’ll
use in the business world — psychology, strategy and statistics.
Unlike blackjack or slots, Horner points out, poker players compete
against each other rather than the house, which always has a built-in
edge in games such as blackjack or slots. “We don’t
lose sight of the fact that it is gambling,” he added, “but
it’s gambling where you can control the odds in your favor.”
That’s what first-year M.B.A. student Dan Kaufman did, turning
in a stellar performance that helped Anderson capture the title.
He pocketed $5,900 before taxes for an individual first place. “It
was a little bit of luck and a little bit of skill,” Kaufman
said.
The dozen Bruins who competed at Binion’s are members of
the Anderson School Poker Club, a student organization started last
year by Horner, who honed his poker skills at the tables in Atlantic
City in his native New Jersey.
With poker enjoying a booming comeback on college campuses, the
Anderson club’s membership has surged from 60 last year to
100 this year. The men — and women — get together once
a week or so at the Santa Monica apartment of the club’s president,
first-year student Ruben Pranata.
Like most tournament players, the Anderson group favors Texas Hold
’Em, the same version of poker played in the World Series
of Poker and the Poker World Tour. But unlike these televised tourneys,
the stakes are low and the atmosphere congenial rather than cutthroat.
A player who has a bad night might lose $20 to $40, Horner said.
“If I win, it’s like, wow, now I’ve got more
than laundry money,” he said.
On March 5, the Anderson poker champs will take on the USC Marshall
School of Business at noon at The Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens.
A percentage of the proceeds will benefit each school’s Challenge
for Charity fund-raising efforts. For more information, visit www.andersonc4c.org/funevents/poker.cgi.
|
