Cornell Business

Issue date: 2/16/05 Section: Johnson News

Media Credit: Mike Tsai The Venue - MBA Poker Championship in Las Vegas [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Mike Tsai The Competition [Click to enlarge]

While many first-years had already returned for immersion conditioning, three Johnson first-years made the pilgrimage to the hallowed halls of Binion's Horseshoe in Las Vegas for the second annual Susquehanna MBA Poker Championship during the weekend of January 14. Although the upcoming World Series of Poker may have grown too large to fit at Binion's, the MBA tournament was a perfect fit.

George Kopp MBA'06, James Kalcheim MBA'06, and Michael Tsai MBA'06 competed against 300 MBAs, alumni, faculty and affiliates from twenty-seven programs around the country. Unfortunately for Johnson, the low turnout meant that the school was unable to meet the minimum entry requirements for team scoring. On the flip side, none of Johnson's envoys made it far enough to get in-the-money.

The event consisted of three tournaments spread across three days. The first event was a $100 buy-in pot-limit Texas Hold-Em game where Stuart Waldman from Wharton took home top prize of about $3,000 in a field of 97 players. The second event was a $100 buy-in no-limit Texas Hold-Em game where Dan Kaufman from UCLA took down around $6,000 in a field of 205 entries. The final event, a $200 buy-in no-limit Texas Hold-Em game, boasted a similar payout for Leonard Cooperman of Chicago from a field of 115. Single-table satellites were held throughout the weekend to provide parlayed entries into the later events.

The weekend raised over $15,000 for the Alzheimer's Association. This was a huge bump up from the $2,000 raised last year for the same charity. Susquehanna was the primary corporate sponsor for this year's event and hosted a private party for the entire MBA contingent at the trendy nightclub, Ice. The mixer on Harmon, just off the Strip, lasted for a good chunk of Saturday night before most people headed off to the Hard Rock Casino.

There are future plans by the organizers to integrate networking and recruiting into the event. It is rumored that the corporate sponsor solicited top players for career opportunities. Next year's event promises to be more successful as the Johnson School Poker Club begins planning charity based tournaments, member education, and social events.

On a more immediate note, the Cornell Poker Club has been organizing the campus-wide Cornell Poker Championship for the past few years. This year's event will be a free-entry tournament with a number of corporate and local sponsors contributing to the prize pool of merchandise. This will take place on campus during February, so be on the lookout.

Until then, may all your flops be monsters and your aces never get cracked.

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