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fter the Michigan foot-
ball team lost its sea-
son-ending game against
Ohio State, most students
stayed in, deciding not to
go out after another disappointing loss
to their rivals. Jim Egerer was no dif-
ferent. But unlike most students who
opted to stay in for the night, he made
nearly $50,000 in the process.
That Saturday night, Egerer, a soph-
omore in the Ross School of Business,
logged onto his computer to partake in
his job - playing online poker.
Though he came up short in reach-
ing the $77,464 first prize, his second-
place finish in Full Tilt Poker's FTOPS
Event #14 netted him a cool $48,836.
Not a bad day's work for a 19-year-
old.
Egerer rarely plays in tournaments,
instead opting for high-limit cash
games. But that Saturday, his decision
to play the pot-limit Omaha tourna-
ment turned out to be a great invest-
ment.-
"I've had some days that rival that,
but you're risking that money at the
same time in a cash game. With the
tournament, I lay down 500 bucks and
come out with $50,000," Egerer said.
Whether for good or ill, Egerer isn't
alone. After a scare less than two years
ago, Internet poker, and poker in gen-
eral, is experiencing its second boom
in less than a decade, on campus and
off.

A BOOM AND A BARRIER
The first boom began four years ago
with a man whose last name almost
destined him to be a poker ambassador.
In 2003, Chris Moneymaker, an ama-
teur playing in his first live big buy-in
tournament, won the World Series of
Poker's Main Event.
The storybook ending for the
accountant from Tennessee inspired
millions. It didn't hurt that his run
through 838 people for $2.5 million
was captured by ESPN cameras and
was replayed ad nauseum either.
Field sizes, the number of people in
each World Series tournament, nearly
doubled for three straight years. For
some, poker went from a recreational
game to a lifestyle. After Moneymak-
er's highly publicized victory, no lon-
ger was the game reserved for back
rooms in the Old West.
Just like so many other would-be
poker winners, Moneymaker started
online. He won entry to the tourna-
ment on PokerStars.com, the site that
subsequently sponsored his playing.
PokerStars.com,like other similar sites,
including PartyPoker.com, held satel-
lite games for its users into the $10,000
buy-in Main Event. With more people
flocking to online sites following Mon-
eymaker's win, the tournament that
had fewer than 400 entrants in 1999
had more than 8,000 people puttingup
$10,000 to play in it in 2005.
By 2006, online poker had become
a $3 billion a year industry within the
United States. With poker growing
exponentially, many thought it would
be unstoppable. But as 2006 neared its
end, the seemingly invincible phenom-
enon found its kryptonite: the United
States government.
That October, President Bushsigned
into law the Security and Accountabil-

Business School sophomore Jim Egerer, founder of the Michigar
part to enliven campus's poker scene.

ity for Every Port Act. The bill, origi-
nally designed to enhance security
at U.S. ports, ended up being a poker
player's worst nightmare.
A special provision, the Unlawful
Internet Gambling Enforcement Act
(UIGEA), was attached to the bill. It
New bills could
render poker's
legal troubles a
thing of the past.
restricted online gambling sites from
performing transactions with Ameri-
can financial institutions. Without
means of getting money onto websites,
many people turned away from online
poker.
Along with sports betting sites,
many poker sites, like the extremely
popular PartyPoker.com and Para-
disePoker.com, closed operations to
United States customers when UIEGA
was passed.
With those sites closing, many
thought UIGEA made Internet poker
illegal. The casual player seemingly
disappeared from the online poker

scene and even fewer people made
a successful living strictly playing
poker.
Egerer, who began playing profes-
sionally when he turned 18, found it
much more difficult.
- "Last year when UIGEA passed,
the games definitely got tougher at the
higher levels," said Egerer, who says he
has played about 215,000 hands this
year. "There were a lot less recreation-
al players that would build up money
and take their shots."
With less opportunity to make
money, online poker enthusiasts knew
they had tough times ahead. But maybe
more damningwas the negative stigma
that came along with UIGEA's passing.
Hoards of scared people turned away
from the game.
"A lot of people thought (UIGEA)
made online poker illegal," said Bran-
don Jacobs, who has played profession-
ally since 2004. "In reality, it didn't, it
was just a little more difficult to get
money on sites. ... Once word got out
and people stopped panicking, things
have started to go back to normal."
Oddly enough, the same force that
slowed the poker boom is changing the
momentum back in a positive direc-
tion.
BACK ON THE UPSWING
Less than a year after taking aim at
See POKER, Page 11B