Kitten Plays for Keeps in the Big Game

The best poker player at Harvard may be a woman. Kitten, a senior at Radcliffe, plays in Harvard's biggest game, where people have been known to bet $10 just from boredom. Betting on the last round can go considerably higher.

"I'm from the upper East side, a debutante, the whole bit, went to prep school and when I was 17 my father dragged me away from singing in a place in the Village," said Kitten. Her father taught her how to play poker when she was 12, but it was not until last year that she was able to put the lessons to use. "I started off playing nickel-dime," she says, and now betting $20 or $30 does not bother her.

The hard-eyed regulars who make up Harvard's biggest and best poker game are hardly the type that would show mercy to a woman and they will sit for hours, patiently waiting for the one hand that can make the whole evening worth while. Kitten has held her own this year and last. "I'm well ahead for the year." she says, but admits that lately she has "gotten burnt."

On one occassion when a Palm Beach type named Hugh raised her $13 she studied his face for a second, looking a little sad and then, catching his eye, smiled and tried to get a read.

The Palm Beach type avoided Kitten's searching smile and dropped his eyes, trying to avoid tipping his hand. Kitten though a long while, lit up a cigarette, said, "Give me a minute, I need time to think" and them called. She lost.

"Well,' she said, "it was close, the sevens were cased, and there were very few cards out that could have beaten me. But that's the way it goes," But it was not all sadness and tears, earlier she had raised a hand $40 and won.

The game crept on into the early hours. The players laughed and kidded and joked and then, when a big hand came up, everyone got silent for a while when the tension of money was in the air.

After it was al over and the next hand was started, everyone relaxed and talked about what bad cards they had been getting. A few drunks came by and talked about the Bruins hockey game the next night, and then when the game was allover and the debts were paid up, Kitten leaned back in her chair and reflected for a minute. "I want to go to Gardenia (California's poker palaces). That's where I really want to go, and try to see if I can make it for a living. It would be a lot of fun."