College students risk addiction and financial woes as betting grows Sunday, April 02, 2006 THOMAS SPENCER News staff writer TUSCALOOSA - On a break from international poker tournaments, Shannon Shorr plays four games of poker at once from the couch in his off- campus apartment, using a wireless keyboard to navigate the Internet games projected on his big-screen TV.

After winning $100,000 from online games last year, the 20-year-old University of Alabama civil engineering major put his education on hold to play in live tournaments. He made almost $300,000 in his first couple of outings but has sputtered lately. In March, he lost $25,000 of his winnings, but he's still confident he'll make it as a professional player.

"In the long term, I know I am very good at poker," he said.

Shorr is living the most recent version of the American gambling dream at a time when the popularity of poker has exploded on college campuses nationwide. With the proliferation of state lotteries, the expansion of casino and Internet gambling, and the popularity of televised poker tournaments, gambling has grown in social acceptance and popularity across the United States.

The poker phenomenon has provoked particular concerns about the effects of gambling on college students. They are effects Shorr has witnessed personally as friends in Tuscaloosa and opponents online have descended into debt. Students also can face problems with gambling addiction and criminality as a result of their gambling habits.

"Most people will chase their losses when they are down. They play bigger stakes and get in bigger holes while trying to make it back quickly," Shorr said.

With time on their hands and a sense of daring and invincibility, many college students are natural gamblers. They live off money provided by parents and haven't developed much skill at managing it.

In general, they don't think much about the potential consequences, said Chris King, a UA associate athletics director for compliance and chair of the UA Gambling Action Team.

Recognizing the vulnerability of students as gambling grows ever more popular, King's team has launched a campus education, awareness and assistance initiative to address problem gambling and related issues.

"The students see this as instant money or instant thrills," King said. "On any given night, in 50 percent of the student apartment complexes, there are poker games going on. It is very scary. You are talking about 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds; they don't know they are getting involved in something that can be an addiction."

George McClellan, a vice president for student development at Dickinson State University, in Dickinson, N.D., is the co-chair of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators' Gambling Task Force. Across the country, he said, college administrators are grappling with how to deal with the gambling phenomenon.

Prevalent and persistent

About 75 percent to 80 percent of college students have gambled, McClellan said, and about half say they've gambled at least once during the past year.

Americans in general, and college students in particular, have always gambled. Historians note three historic waves of gambling, each of which was followed by a push back against gambling.

"This isn't new," McClellan said. "Gambling has been a part of the American culture. You look at the people that came over, that was a risk."

The card-dealing cowboy, the riverboat gambler and, more recently, the lottery winner undergoing a major life transformation are American icons. McClellan said it's obvious the nation is experiencing a fourth wave of gambling.

"It's amazing the kind of cultural changes that are going on," he said. Gambling "is so commonplace and so socially acceptable. It's not an accident that Las Vegas is the fastest-growing city in America.

"It's also big business," McClellan said. "Two years ago, Internet gambling surpassed pornography as the biggest single sector of the Internet economy."

With "Ocean's 11," about a heist in Las Vegas, and its sequel on the big screen and series such as "Las Vegas" and poker tournaments on the television screen, popular culture is saturated with gambling glamour.

"College students are at once the market for and the creation of popular culture," McClellan said. "Casino and poker marketers see two big growth areas: college students and women."

The problem is that college students -particularly males - are at an age where they are particularly vulnerable to falling into problem gambling. McClellan said some experts estimate that up to 9 percent of college students in the United States are problem or pathological gamblers. And in that population, the rate of pathological gambling three times higher than in the general population. Problem gamblers gamble frequently but maintain a regular lifestlye. Pathological gamblers are unable to control their gambling addiction. So college administrators must consider whether it is a good idea to sponsor student poker tournaments; whether they should train administrators and staff to recognize students with gambling problems; and if they should enforce gambling bans and block access to gambling sites from university computers.

McClellan praised the University of Alabama for its efforts to address the gambling problem. "They aren't waiting to have a problem," he said.

Shannon Shorr said he learned early on that poker skills are only half the equation. Equally important is being able to manage your "bankroll," the amount of money you devote to poker playing and how you play it.

"There are a lot of guys that are really good at poker. But you have to select the right games, you want to play the games that you can beat," Shorr said. "And you have to know when you are done."

Don Ross, a gambling researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said his work indicates that certain forms of gambling are more likely to lead to problems, something that needs to be considered as governments and universities craft responses to gambling's rising popularity.

Ross said there should be distinctions between Internet gambling and social poker games. "My view is that face-to-face poker is not as dangerous," he said.

Face-to-face games are an organizational challenge, and social conventions can act as a check on behavior in such a setting. Unlike slot machines and other forms of gambling that are based purely on chance, poker does involve skill, he said, and there are some people who can win. At least for a while. "Hardly anyone is good enough to keep winning over time," Ross said.

The other key difference between face-to-face and online gambling is that the physical act of online gambling is more likely to trigger an addictive response, he said.

By playing multiple games, the gambler can get the gratification faster. The ability to control the pace of the game allows the player to "tickle that addiction," Ross said, revving up the desire and reward system, and shutting down attention to everything else.

But Ross concedes it's a lot easier to restrict opportunities for face- to-face poker than for Internet gambling. And restricting face-to-face games "can drive all the poker-obsessed kids to the Web, where things are worse," Ross said.

Johnny Kampis, a UA graduate who is taking a year off for poker before starting on a master's degree in marketing, said there's a lot more poker around the university than during his days as an undergraduate.

"There has been an influx of younger players," said Kampis, 29. "There are some of them that play almost every night. They all play No-Limit Texas Hold'em. They play what they see on TV. They are using their parents' money, so they don't mind if they lose it all."

If the professional gambling lifestyle is alluring for college kids, Kampis warns, that dream fades fast.

Kampis hasn't had the big break that propelled Shorr, but he's getting by playing tournaments across the country. He's looking forward to returning to school in the fall.

"Playing poker for a living is not what it's cracked up to be," he said. "It's a good hobby and fun game. Don't make it your life. It becomes a grind and is less enjoyable than it used to be."

January 19, 2006

Published on http://uk.pokernews.com/news/2006/1/aussie-millions-champion.htm

After four long days of competitive poker at the Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia, the final seven players gathered at the Final Table of the Aussie Millions A$10,000 No Limit Hold'em Main Event. The survivors outlasted a host of more illustrious poker names to get here. Included amongst their number were Shannon Shorr, a 20 years old college student and Robert Neary, a 21 years old college golfer, both from the USA and both harbouring the dream of every poker player of hitting the target in their first major event. They don't come much more major outside of the USA than the Aussie Millions!

The full line up and chip count was:

Seat 1: Jeff Sealey (USA) - 1,982,000
Seat 2: Nenad Medic (Canada) - 1,841,000
Seat 3: Shannon Shorr (USA) - 1,532,000
Seat 4: Russell Davies (AUS) - 777,000
Seat 5: Wes Bugiera (AUS) - 594,000
Seat 6: Robert Neary (USA) - 617,000
Seat 7: Lee Nelson (NZ) - 1,024,000

Intriguingly, all four of the "chip millionaires" were drawn next to each other, with the least experienced, Shannon Shorr, having best position. Lee Nelson of New Zealand was at the wrong end of this arrangement but local opinion seemed to be that he was well-qualified to handle it, with a wealth of experience behind him and already three cashes in this Aussie Millions series alone.

So to the game itself and the first action was not long in coming. Hand 4 saw two of the shorter stacks lock antlers in an effort to catch the big guns. After a cheap flop that showed Q 10 3, fellow Aussies Russell Davies and Wes Bugiera went for it and Davies was all-in. They both showed down Q 10 and the pot was split.

There followed plenty of pre-flop raising and folding with blinds changing hands. At 10,000/20,000 with 3,000 antes, they were not a threat to any stack yet. Finally, some sizeable but tentative bets and calls saw a big pot go to Nenad Medic of Canada who took a large chunk out of Jeff Sealey's tall stack, both players unhappy with the way they played the hand.

USA student Shorr continued to spar well and picked up chips with strong betting on the flop on two or three occasions. But, as they say in boxing circles, one careless move and your lights might go out. Shorr raised 95,000 pre-flop and was called by Lee Nelson. On a flop of 3 3 8 with two hearts showing, Nelson bet out 100,000 which Shorr called. The turn card was Ks.which Nelson checked, Shorr bet 200,000 and Nelson called. The river was the 8d making 2-pair on the board. Nelson moved all-in leaving Shorr a big decision. Lose this and he would be a short stack! Youthful courage prevailed and he called. Amazingly neither player had an 8 or a 3, and Nelson's pocket pair of 6's stood up.

There followed another big pot involving Lee Nelson and he took a big chunk off Jeff Sealey with an all-in bet after the turn with 8c 3h 2h 4d showing on the board. Sealey folded. Nelson was now comfortably the chip leader.

Despite the unthreatening blind sizes, all-in bets were beginning to appear. Nelson was also using his monster pile of chips to good effect, stealing blinds and antes wholesale. At this point, the consensus was that he had over half of the chips on the table. He had added to them by eliminating the very low Wes Bugeira, who finished 7th.

Then some side action! Jeff Sealey, now very low, pushed in with K8 and was called by Russell Davies with AQ. The flop produced an 8 for Sealey, the turn an A for Davies but, just as it looked all over for Sealey, another 8 popped out on the river, leaving Davies on the felt. The Poker Gods can be cruel and often kick a man when he is down. Davies soon pushed the remainder of his chips in with AJ and chip leader Nelson called with 66. The flop showed an A for Davies but one of the remaining two 6's appeared on the turn. Russell Davies - over and out in 6th place.

Jeff Sealey followed soon after, once more steamrollered by the Lee Nelson juggernaut who flopped top pair and pushed all-in to be called by Sealey with middle pair. Jeff Sealey took 5th spot.

Low-chipped USA student Robert Neary, who had avoided a lot of the carnage until now, went all-in with AJ and found a caller in Shannon Shorr with 55. An ace on the turn doubled Neary up. Shorr recovered soon after that with a big all-in bet on the turn after trading bets with Nenab Medic. Medic folded and was beginning to bleed chips. But then Medic picked up a big pot after trading bets with Nelson and winning the showdown. Soon he did it again, this time calling a bigger river bet by Nelson. There was clearly life in the Canadian yet. Could Nelson be losing his grip?

Neary was now very short but doubled up through Shorr with a dominated ace. Then he doubled up again through Nelson after the New Zealander spent an age in the tank wondering whether to call Neary's 600,000 all-in re-raise. Neary's 55 improved to a set against A 10. Suddenly Neary had over a million while Nelson's battleplans were coming apart at the seams.

But like a vessel on the open sea, this table was rocking from side to side and the chips were moving back and forth in motion. Suddenly, a big wave hit and Shannon Shorrs chips went flying - straight into Lee Nelson's grasp. On a cheap flop of 8 6 4 with two diamonds, Nelson made a small bet to Shorr's check. Medic called and Shorr check-raised only to be followed by Lee declaring he was all-in. After Medic folded, Shorr eventually braved a call showing 8 7 for top pair. Nelson held Qd 5d for the flush draw. The Qs on the turn clinched it for Lee Nelson. Shannon Shorr's adventure was over and he took 4th place and a handsome cheque for A$271,700.

Nelson was now level with Medic each with a little less than 40% of the chips. Neary was bringing up the rear but one double up would change all that. However, the big change occurred in a hand in which Medic called down some large bets from Nelson including 700,000 on the river. Nelson took the huge pot down with, it is believed, pocket aces.

Medic suffered a further reverse against Neary followed by several hands folding to any bet on the flop. Medic's balloon was losing air. It finally crashed to ground when his all-in bet was called by the other two and checked down. Nelson took the small pot. Nenad Medic collected 3rd place and A$376,200 for his pains.

Now heads-up, Lee Nelson had a 3:1 advantage in chips. The play was cagey but then Neary got busy and took some useful pots with all-in re-raises. But for all that, it was still a 3:1 ratio as we approached the end.

On a flop of A 6 Q with two clubs, Nelson bet out and was called. The Kc on the turn made a flush possible and Neary bet out 500,000. After a long think, Nelson called and another K hit the river. Neary went all-in and was called. The TV restrictions prevented the cards being shown live but Nelson knew he'd hit the jackpot. Robert Neary finished in 2nd place and takes A$689,700 back home to the States.

New Zealand's Lee Nelson, who many locals had tipped before the Final Table began, is the Aussie Millions Champion 2006, and A$1,295,800 to the good. Congratulations to him.

Tony Bromham

Poker News Archives 2006

Shannon Shorr didn't have his poker face on coming through the Birmingham International Airport terminal Sunday morning.

With his family and friends cheering and swinging noisemakers, Shorr broke into a boyish grin that stretched from ear to ear.

Shorr, 20, of Irondale was returning from Australia where he'd come in fourth in the Aussie Millions Tournament at Melbourne's Crown Casino, winning more than $200,000, after facing off in Texas Hold `Em with some of the world's best poker players.

It was the first time the University of Alabama civil engineering major ever played in a live tournament. It'll be another six months until he can legally participate in one in the United States.

Shorr had been playing penny ante poker with his grandmother all his life, but two years ago he discovered Internet poker.

In his Tuscaloosa apartment Shorr has hooked his computer to a big screen TV and with a wireless keyboard, he can play from his couch up to eight games at a time.

Of course in that setting you can pace the room, rejoice or curse your cards. Playing live was different.

"You've got to sit there like a stone," Shorr said.

In Melbourne in a starting field of 480 players, he started slow. "I was playing pretty tight at first, then I loosened up," Shorr said. "I was playing to win. I wanted the title and the million dollars."

And he came within a few cards of doing it.

At the final table, Shorr faced off with the eventual champion Lee Nelson, a New Zealander and author one of the current best-selling books on poker.

After the flop, or the dealing of cards all players can use in their hands, Nelson bet $100,000. The next player checked, or took no action, and Shorr raised to $400,000. Nelson immediately went all in, betting everything he had. The other players had folded.

Shorr had a pair of eights and if the final cards were favorable he could have made a straight. It was quiet. There was no audience, just TV cameras filming, the bright lights shining.

"I took about five minutes and decided to call," Shorr said.

But the remaining cards fell Nelson's way.

Despite the outcome, Shorr will be one of the featured players when the tournament airs on television in the United States. He picked up quite a following during the tournament.

"He is going to be a star when that comes out," said friend and fellow card player Brett King.

King, a third-year law student, said he has been paying his way through school by playing poker, winning about $30,000 a year. When he met Shorr in 2003, they were at the same level.

"We were doing about the same and he really took off," King said. "He is just a better gambler. He is aggressive."

Shorr said he ended 2005 ahead $100,000. Shorr doesn't come across like a card shark. The athletic Shorr was a baseball standout at Shades Valley High School.

But he has a gift for math, and what his mother suspects is a photographic memory.

He was doing well in civil engineering and a minor in math. It was a tough decision to decide to stay out of school, but the international poker tournament world had certain allures that engineering school didn't offer.

"The lifestyle is a lot better," he said.

When he told his mother he was going to Australia to play in a tournament and would have to sit out a semester, she was shocked.

"Are you serious? You want to do what?" Clearly his mother was not enthusiastic about the idea.

"It's your life and your decision," she told him. Now, she said she couldn't be happier. "I'm so thankful you didn't listen to your mother," she told him.

In terms of 2006 tournament winnings, Shorr is ranked No. 10 in the world now by cardplayer.com.

With this victory under his belt, Shorr plans to leave in about a week for the Bahamas to play in the Canadian Poker Championship Main Event. And he plans to play in the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas in June.

In the meantime, he might buy a truck.

"Two hundred and five thousand dollars is more than I expected to make in all of 2006 gambling," Shorr wrote on his blog, "And I've done it in one week."

By THOMAS SPENCER

01-29-2006

Anniston Star Newspaper- In Our Opinion

Huntsville native and Hollywood legend Tallulah Bankhead supposedly once said: “I read Shakespeare and the Bible and I can shoot dice. That’s what I call a liberal education.”

Well, we can’t help but wonder what Ms. Bankhead would think if she were around today to see how some Alabama college students are broadening their educational horizons — and fattening their bank accounts to boot.

Earlier this month, Auburn University students Chad Granger and Lacy Moulton gobbled spiders, were buried alive and dynamited their way out of the top floor of a mansion to win $250,000 on the NBC program “Fear Factor.”

Last Sunday, University of Alabama student Shannon Shorr returned to a hero’s welcome at Birmingham International Airport after raking in $205,000 at a Texas Hold ’Em poker tournament in Australia.

We’re not sure if these exploits are indicative of what a “liberal education” prepares you for these days, but we do have one request of students: Could you please graduate with enough knowledge of Shakespeare and the Good Book to at least make yourselves suitable game-show contestants?