A $500 travel voucher is on the line and there is only one thing University students, faculty and staff need to do to win it.

Play a little Hold’em.

Texas Hold’em, a variation of poker played in lounges and dorm rooms across campus and across the nation, is the featured game in a tournament sponsored by the Bowen-Thompson Student Union.

The Union Programs staff expects a large turnout after a one-day tournament last spring semester was a success. A line of students waiting to sign up filled the 42 available player slots quickly and more than 20 other hopeful participants were turned away.

This semester’s competition will accommodate 210 players over the course of five nights before advancing 35 top players to semi-final and final rounds.

Programs intern Angela Boren spearheaded the formation of a Texas Hold’em tournament and said the goal is to set it up on a grander scale than last spring. “When I think of an event, I think as big as I can,” she said.

Union Programs staff hope for high participation after passing out 300 fliers at Campus Fest and offering incentives such as free t-shirts to tournament entrants. “We’re hoping that each week we have to turn people away,” Boren said.

The competition is already getting the attention of campus players.

Kolby Harruff, Brett Laub and Wes Bergman are three freshmen who play Texas Hold’em regularly. They plan on attending the Union’s Hold’em event but are attending more for fun than for money. “The kicker was the free t-shirt,” Harruff said.

The freshmen saw Texas Hold’em on television over the last two years but began playing it last summer.

Fun and money are not the only reasons to play, according to Bergman. “It’s gambling, it’s a way for us to be rebellious,” he said.

Laub and his friends have high expectations for this month’s tournament. He hopes that Union staff are fluent with game rules and use quality chips because, “when you use chinzy chips it’s not as fun,” he said.

Boren got the idea to hold a Texas Hold’em tournament when she attended a conference of the Ohio Parks and Recreation Association. Professionals at the event discussed the popularity of similar competitions at other universities.

The structure for this semester’s tournament is borrowed from a model used by the University of Wisconsin’s student union.

Valerie Faley, Studen Union Programs marketing coordinator said the tide of popular culture influenced their decision to sponsor a Hold’em tournament. “You see it all over the TV,” she said.

Texas Hold’em rose sharply in popularity around the United States last year, when cable television stations such as ESPN devoted air time to poker tournaments.

Its popularity shows in the attendance numbers of poker’s most prestigious tournament, the World Series of Poker.

839 players competed in the 2003 WSOP, compared to 2576 entrants in this year’s competition.

Before this year, 2003’s attendance was the WSOP’s highest ever in its 34-year history.

Boren is already looking to the future and hopes to run a poker tournament every semester.

In addition to Hold’em, Euchre and Blackjack are also candidates for future competition.

Registration for the first tournament event will be September 20 at 9 a.m. at the Information Center in the Union. The first competition will be held September 30 at 7 p.m. in the Falcon’s Nest.