By Carroll Student Activities hosted its biannual Texas Hold’em Tournament on Feb. 16, with Charles Markham, a junior chemistry student from Spokane, Washington, claiming the title of this semester’s “Texas Hold’em Champion.”
“The Texas Hold’em Tournament was a great time,” said Asher Casey, a sophomore philosophy and Catholic studies student from Helena. “It was fast-paced and went by a lot faster than I thought.”
Casey was one of 24 students who participated in this two-hour tournament taking place in the campus center at Carroll College.
The tournament began with four tables of players, and poker blinds – forced bets by players to the left of the dealer – of 10 and 20 in chips. With blinds doubling every 15 minutes players slowly began losing all their chips, thus disqualifying them from the tournament.
“I met some new people and had some good laughs while also playing some serious poker. I can’t wait for the next one,” said Casey.
With blinds set at 200 and 400, the poker tournament ended with a heads-up standoff between Markham, and Griffin Teuber, a junior studying business management and marketing from Boise.
Teuber, who held a steady lead all evening, ultimately fell short. On the final hand of the night, he lost his chip stack, having in his hand a seven and a four of different suits against Markham’s Jack and 10 of the same suit in an all-in pot.
“It feels awesome to be the winner of this semester’s poker tournament,” said Markham.
As a prize for winning the tournament, Markham will receive his name on the trophy, a $100 Visa gift card, and a poker bracelet he can wear. The second and third-place prizes both won a new poker set.
