Within the walls of Claridge Court, a senior living community in Prairie Village, Kan., Jean Hall has always considered herself a gambler.
“I loved to go to Las Vegas and gamble, and had some luck, but not a whole lot,” Hall said.
Hall is now far removed from her Vegas heyday, but with the help of 12 Rockhurst students, a communal room at Claridge Court was transformed into a high stakes casino earlier this month.
Senior Bill Hayes spearheaded the effort. Hayes spent his three-week senior service project with peers Josh Story and Theo Bras at Claridge Court. During his tenure, Hayes began a weekly Texas Hold ’em class, where new players could cut their teeth and veteran players, like Hall, could flex their muscles.
For Hayes, teaching poker comes with family ties. He learned how to play from his grandfather, who lives in a senior community in Atlanta.
“I had a blast playing with him,” Hayes said. “I thought it would be a great way to have fun and honor him by teaching fellow seniors how to play.”
As far as residents like Hall were concerned, Hayes succeeded.
“This was fun, and Bill was a good teacher,” Hall said.
After Hayes returned to classes at the conclusion of his service project, he felt that one more session was in order.
“I thought it would be a great kind of finale for me teaching them poker, for them to actually put their skills into practice with a tournament,” Hayes said.
His proposed showcase, however, was a little light on players. The next step for Hayes, who serves as the vice president of Rockhurst’s National Honor Society chapter, was to deal junior NHS candidates into the game.
“I thought this would be a perfect way to have a fun, yet meaningful, service project,” he said.
The tournament on Feb. 4 consisted of 24 players, evenly split between students and residents. The prize would be a $50 gift card, awarded to a winning resident or donated to charity in the event of a student victory.
After a little more than two hours of play, Luke Strueby, the starting goalkeeper for the Hawklets’ soccer team, won the final round in unceremonious fashion: a king high, one of the least valuable hands in poker.
“I won my first hand, which started off the day good,” Strueby said, “and then kept going. Got down a few chips, where I wasn’t leading anymore, and then won a big hand. And then came down to the very end where I had high card.”
For his efforts, Strueby was awarded with a set of gold-plated playing cards, in addition to the $50 charity donation. Hayes was given an identical set of cards by the residents as thanks for organizing the tournament.
A pair of Strueby’s junior classmates, George Besch and Luke Simek, rounded out the podium, placing second and third respectively.
Hall came in fourth, the highest placing Claridge Court resident in the competition.
“I was surprised, I really was,” Hall said of her performance. “I didn’t know how some of the other people played.”
As the tournament wound down, students remained to enjoy a pizza dinner and connect with the residents.
“It was pretty special,” Strueby said of the social. “I got to meet a lot of new people, and got to learn a little bit about them…how they’re watching the [University of Missouri] basketball team do pretty good right now.”
Hayes hopes to return to Claridge Court in the summer, before departing for South Bend, Ind., where he has been accepted at the University of Notre Dame.
“I will work part-time, especially when some of the regular workers here need vacation,” Hayes said.
Although he will soon depart from Rockhurst, Hayes hopes a strong partnership between the school and Claridge Court will continue. Hayes endorsed Claridge as a potential senior service location to junior NHS candidates who participated in the tournament.
“I hope sometime in the future, Rockhurst will do something similar again,” Hayes said.
Hall, having returned to her Vegas days in spirit, also expressed hopes that Rockhurst students will return to deal a few more hands.
“I think that [the] whole program with the idea of boys from Rockhurst coming to help is really a great idea, and very fun.”
