Poker for students: exclusive tournaments growing in number

Fifth article of the series

Both operators of online poker rooms and numerous poker clubs and associations have identified the growing popularity of poker among students. This has led to the creation of live and online poker tournaments dedicated exclusively to college and university students.

The first poker tournaments reserved exclusively for university students were launched 3-4 years ago, even before students in many countries represented 20%-30% of online poker room users.

Since then the trend has increased and in parallel so have the number of special events only for students. This phenomenon is common in almost all European countries and particularly in the United States, home of Texas Hold'em, the popular poker game that students are wild about.

Awards at exclusive student poker tournaments include scholarships, prize packages for the WSOP and in many cases money which is donated to charity.

Poker events for students, almost a tradition
Online poker events that are reserved for university students have, in some cases, already reached their third or even fourth anniversary. For example, in France the third edition of Everest Poker Campus Poker Master, a highly anticipated poker event for French students, took place in May. Also, last autumn (2008), the Austrian online poker room Unipoker  launched the second edition of the Championship of Poker Austrian Universities (Pokermeisterschaften der Österreichischen Universitäten).

Spain and Italy offer live poker for students as well. Spain has already hosted two editions of the Campeonato Universitario de Poker (University Poker Championship), whereas in Italy, the first Italian University Poker Tour (IUPT) took place in March and was the fruit of cooperation between Italian Rounders association and Unibet.

Even overseas tournaments are flourishing. The Omnium Universitaire Everest Poker was attended by over 650 university students at the end of March in Quebec (Canada). The tournament, which started online, ended with a live final in which the champion of the tournament and the winning university were crowned. In addition to participation in the WSOP, scholarships to the tune of $ 10,000 were distributed.

Identification number is required
Everest Poker, along with many other online poker rooms, organize poker tournaments reserved for university students. To ensure that participants are actually students regularly enrolled at the university, all sites require the student’s identification number and a scan of his/her university card in order to enter.

Exclusive online poker room for students
In addition to reserved tournaments, there are readily available online poker rooms that accept only students enrolled in an academic institutions. In order to register for these online poker rooms, students must prove that they are enrolled and registered as students at a specific university and are over 18.

What are the prizes at exclusive student tournaments?
The awards distributed in these exclusive student tournaments, either online or live, are more limited than in regular online poker room tournaments. Typically, these are freeroll tournaments or tournaments requiring somewhat limited fees so they are affordable for all students. Awards at exclusive student poker tournaments include scholarships, prize packages for the WSOP and in many cases money which is donated to charity.

The number of students passionate about poker is growing along with poker tournaments exclusive to students which are organized by live poker associations and online poker rooms.