Hold’em in Records

Parker Johnstone (‘26), Staff Writer

Thanks to the strict no-phone policy at Casady, students traded endless scrolling for face-to-face thrills, and nothing has captured the senior boys quite like Texas Hold’em poker, a game played by sixty million people in the US. What started as a summer hangout has become an essential part of everyday life at school. PA+ and the x-20 period have turned into high stakes (well, low stakes) showdowns. During these peak times, students buy in and then set up the table, a task that involves pushing one or two tables across the room and positioning them next to the card booth in order to squeeze everyone in. Chips are carefully tracked via a massive spreadsheet. 

Poker has given students who hadn't been in class or on sports teams together a new reason to hang out. It turns out that bluffing your classmates is a great way to bond. It has solidified old friendships and created new ones. There is, however, one slight issue I discovered while researching this article: poker, even if the buy-in is less than the cost of a Bag of Burgers from Braum’s, is technically illegal in Oklahoma. Luckily, enforcement is nonexistent unless a host is taking a cut. Also, for Casady players, it’s irrelevant, as everyone conveniently forgets to settle up anyway. 

Illegal activity aside, poker has, by and large, fostered positive interactions at Casady. While interviewing five key players for this article, I realized the game is about much more than just cards. It’s about learning to read your opponents, sharpening your mind, and most importantly, strengthening friendships. And now, straight from the card booths in Records, here’s everything you need to know about the poker action at Casady. 

Q: Poker started because of the phone ban, but why specifically poker?

James Elder: Over the summer, we all started playing poker, which led right into the school year. We wanted to have fun, and that was the best way we could think of without our phones.

Billy Mathis: It’s perfect because everyone can play, and it’s easy to learn.

Andrew Lawrence: Poker made its way in because unlike most card games, you can play with a lot of people. And it’s not as competitive as some other games. People just love the dopamine feeling of the hand. When you go all in, there’s nothing else like it.

Q: What makes it different from other games you can play on breaks?

Kuba Malecki: The risk. High risk, high reward. We play it for the thrill.*

Q: How would you explain poker to someone who’s only ever played, say, Uno?

James: You can’t. You have to have played to know the feeling. It’s the gambling aspect.** The only similarity to Uno is that there are cards and numbers.

Kuba: Uno’s for kids; poker’s for grown-ass men.

Andrew Fitzpatrick: It’s kind of like Uno because they’re both strategic, and there is luck involved too. You can draw a better hand than somebody else, but you have to know how to use your cards correctly. It’s hard to win if you don’t use your hand in the right way. You can make a good hand a bad one, but also you can make a bad hand a good one based on how you bet and how you play your opponents.

Q: What are you more addicted to: gambling or your phone?

James: Phone? What’s a phone? Seriously, the phone ban has been very successful, but it might have turned me into a gambling addict.

Fitz: Gambling, of course. 

Q: That sounds like it could be destructive. How do you keep a good thing like poker from turning into a bad thing? 

Fitz: We make it more about strategy than winning chips. It helps to have some stakes to stay motivated, but it’s less about going all-in every hand and more about learning the strategy and math of the game. 

James: Try to win. I only play good hands. I fold if I have a bad hand. Maybe every twentieth hand I’ll take a bit more risk, but most of the time I play conservatively. 

Billy: We don’t invite the mob to our games. We just play amongst each other so it doesn’t ever get out of hand.

Andrew L: I would argue that poker in the school setting is not harmful. I feel like it teaches you to be conservative with your money. The max you can buy in for is $5; it’s not a lot, but you try your best to not lose it. I see it more as an opportunity for us to learn rather than creating bad addictions. Besides, I spend more at the snack bar than I do on poker.

Q: Do you think poker has taught you anything about your competitors?

Fitz: Yes. Like, Kuba, it’s so obvious when he has a good hand. Whenever you make eye contact, he can’t stop smiling. 

James: I’ve played Fitz so many times that I know all his habits. He bets even if he has a bad hand so I can play confidently against him even when I only have a mid hand. I check [bet nothing and stay in] to him no matter what even if I have the nuts [best hand possible on the table]. I know he’ll bet, so I don’t have to.

Billy: Luke Woodruff loves to toss five dollars in the pot first round with a hand like 2-7 off suit [statistically the worst possible hand in poker]. Fitz always raises pre-flop [before the first three face-up cards are shown]. It's a good strategy because he raises before we know anything. But it’s so annoying.

Q: When is the best time to go all in? Any examples?

Andrew L: Oh, anytime you have first or second nuts.

Fitz: For me, it was when Andrew and I were the only two still in the hand, and I had quad kings. He was bluffing–said he had a full house with kings, but I had two kings in my hand and there were two on the board, so I knew he didn’t have a king. He went all in before I even made a bet, and I immediately called [matched the bet].

Billy: On the second day of school I saw the poker set out and some guys playing, and I thought Oh, bro, this is great. On my first hand, I had a straight flush, and Henry, Jo, and Marcus went all in. Everybody had a good hand, but I had the best possible. That was a great memory, and that’s when I started to feel closer to people in my grade.

Q: What does poker mean to you in a broader sense?

Billy: It’s a lot of fun especially just before lunch or during PA+ when everyone has off and there are like ten people crammed into a tiny booth. Not only is it just a fun game, but, like I said, there were people I didn’t really hang out with that I felt like I had a lot in common with. I was able to connect with them through poker, and it means a lot to me in that sense because I grew a whole new friend group because of it. 

Fitz: Poker is a lot about strategy and odds, but for me it's really about learning about your individual opponents. There is really nothing like reading someone perfectly with a lot on the line. That’s where the thrill comes from.

Q: Any advice for new players?

Andrew L: Watch YouTube–WSOP, Scott Seiver, and Phil Ivey. Start playing conservatively; don’t start off playing aggressively.

Fitz: I’d also say pay attention to who you’re playing with. Understand other people’s betting tactics because everybody plays differently. You also want to learn the hand rankings first, and then learn your odds. Learning pot odds is what separates good players from people who just pick it up with their friends.

Q: Any final comments?

Fitz: Poker is so enjoyable when you really read someone. When someone makes an obvious bluff and you have the nuts, that’s the best feeling ever, or when you rinse someone [take all their chips] who thinks they have you figured out, and you call them and they’re bluffing.

What started out as a simple way to pass the time without scrolling has turned into something much more meaningful. Students proved that the best connections are made in crowded booths over a deck of cards and risky bluffs. Seniors have learned that the biggest wins come from reading the room, not having the longest streak. Hopefully, next year’s seniors will keep pushing the tables together and stay all-in in Records.

*Warning: quotes may be exaggerated. Don’t try this at Riverwind.

**Casady School does not encourage or condone gambling.