Texas Hold’em, the popular poker game that has been sweeping the nation, has landed at Missouri Southern Nov. 16.

This is the second year for the no-limit Texas Hold ‘Em tournament, which is put on by campus recreation as an intramural activity.

“We tried to get something for everyone,” said Eric Norris, Student Senate President and student director of campus recreation.

Before Southern brought on Texas Hold ‘Em, intramurals only had basic sports, such as flag football, basketball, whiffle baseball and volleyball, along with ping-pong, billiards and other activities.

15 people signed up.

No-limit Texas Hold’em is the type of hold’em that can be seen on ESPN, with the World Poker Tour, and other networks.

28 players competed in the tournament on three tables holding eight players each.

There was no cost to play in the tournament, and the top three players left all received a T-shirt.

“It was very well organized and went smoothly,” said Ryan Shields, senior political science major. “I enjoy having a school-sponsored event to play Texas Hold’em.”

To make sure the tournament would not last into the night, the blinds were doubled every 15 to 20 minutes.

The organizers even thought about changing the value of the chips as the night progressed. The night started out with the white chips being $1, the red chips $5 and the blue chips being $10.

The final table would consist of seven or eight players, depending on how many people decided to show up.

Jakke Robb, freshman theatre major, won the tournament. He received a $25 gift card for the bookstore.

Tyler Ryerson, sophomore secondary education major, came in second place, and Matt Habermehl, junior secondary education major, came in third.

Texas Hold’em is a game where players can hang out with some friends, have fun and maybe win money if they are lucky.

With the growing popularity of the game, more and more people have found online poker to be entertaining too.

Some of the most popular Web sites being partypoker.com, pokerroom.com and bodog.com. People can play online for either play money or real money.

Sometimes tournaments are held online with large prizes awarded to the winners.

In the spring, campus recreation plans to have another Hold’em tournament.

Norris said he hopes more people will come to play in the spring.