Echo Times

Issue date: 5/12/04 Section: Feature

Media Credit: Jeremy Duvall Santa Rosa Junior College student Teymor Ansari, left and high stakes gamber Adam Rinker, cowboy hat, go heads up in a game of Texas Holdem

Bob loves the excitement of the game. He loves the late nights and the high stakes action. The thrill when he hits 21 on the black jack table or when he is dealt pocket aces in Texas Holdem, a game known as the Cadillac of poker.

Unlike most of the other players at the gaming table, Bob, his last name withheld by request, has to study other things besides poker odds and probability.

Bob is a full-time student at College of Marin.

"Some people play video games or collect movies. I gamble," Bob said. "Its my hobby."

From flash cards to playing cards, college students and young adults around the country are trading in their textbooks for poker hands and all night study sessions for late nights hunkered over casino gaming tables.

College students are 20 percent more likely to suffer from gambling addictions than other young people, according to a recent Harvard Medical School study.

The study also found that almost 5 percent of college students were identified as having a pathological gambling problem. In contrast, the adult population is only at a 1.6 percent rate of pathological gambling.

"As gambling has become more socially accepted and accessible during the past two decades, the general adult population has started to gamble in increasing numbers," said Harvard Medical School psychology professor and survey director Howard Shaffer in an article for U-Wire in Medford, Mass.

With studies like these and hip new television shows like the "World Poker Tour" and the "World Series of Poker", gambling isn't just for the overweight balding man shrouded in cigar smoke. The youth of America are finding ways to take part in games of chance.

COM student Bob talked about the appeal of watching professional gamblers on television. "It makes you want to play," Bob Said. "You can see how it's done right and you can get better."

Bob's not worried about his pastime, though. He said he keeps it under control. "I follow guidelines," Bob said. "I bet what I can loose," which in Bob's case usually isn't more than the $200 dollar limit he sets for himself. He admits one time it did get out of hand. "I blew $500 dollars in four hours but it was ok because it was fun."

Continued...

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