Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society (GPSTS)
November 6th, 2007
As the legality of online poker has been questioned by government officials in the United States of America, several leading members in the nation’s most prestigious academic institutions are joining forces to spread the word about the positive attributes that poker can add to our society especially with regard to education and children.
Charles Nesson is the mastermind behind the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society (GPSTS). A Harvard Law professor, Nesson founded the Berkman Center for Internet and Society. According to the GPSTS website, Charles Nesson is the mastermind behind the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society (GPSTS). A Harvard Law professor, Nesson founded the Berkman Center for Internet and Society. According to the GPSTS website:
“GPSTS has three programmatic goals: offering poker strategic thinking workshops to schools and community centers, particularly in underprivileged neighborhoods; sponsoring team poker matches between law, business and other professional schools; and conducting seminars, panel discussions and conferences that explore poker as a means to teach strategic thinking and related public policy issues.”
The philosophy behind the GPSTS is that they strongly feel that poker is not only an exceptional game of skill, but it can also be used as an effective teaching tool at all levels of education.
The philosophy behind the GPSTS is that they strongly feel that poker is not only an exceptional game of skill, but it can also be used as an effective teaching tool at all levels of education. They use poker as an example to teach concepts such as strategic thinking, geopolitical analysis, probability, numeracy, risk assessment and money management. Their main goal is to utilize poker to promote education and internet democracy by creating an online curriculum in an attempt to create an alternative educational option when dealing with life skills, business, politics, and international relations.
“Many people agree that poker itself, besides being fun, has an academic component that can bring great benefits to learning at all levels. (Poker) is for anyone who is eager to learn how the rhetorical world works and connect it to the physical,” explained Charles Nesson.
Students at other top U.S. colleges including Stanford, Brown, and USC have formed poker clubs to prepare for an intercollegiate competition and to take part in Nesson’s brain child. Chapters are currently being organized at international universities in the United Kingdom, Finland, and Singapore. The night before the annual Harvard-Yale football game, the first ever school versus school poker tournament will take place between players from both universities. Nesson hopes to launch a National Collegiate Poker Tournament in March where a collegiate champion will be declared.
Nesson has set up several panels that will take place this autumn. The first panel was held on October 15th and focused on poker and life skills. The panel featured professional poker players Howard Lederer and Crandall Addington, who is a member of the Poker Hall of Fame.
“Poker is a microcosm of life,” said Lederer in a Harvard Crimson article. “Good players make their own luck.”
“There are so many parallels between poker and business,” explained Addington. “High-stakes, no-limit poker games and business ventures each offer their own, unique dynamics. Both are battlefields upon which players must make rapid strategic shifts and tactical implementations, even if these shifts happen much faster in a poker game than in business. Successful players in poker and business must identify their preferred outcome and use their skills to affect that outcome. That’s why poker is a game of skill, not chance as many people mistakenly believe.”
Poker is a microcosm of life
In November there will be another panel which discusses the educational attributes of poker. World Poker Tour announcer Mike Sexton along with author and university professor Jim McManus are both expected to be among the guest speakers.
The luck vs. skill debate in poker has been discussed and argued among players and poker pundits for decades. Now, for the first time, the academic community is joining the debate. Federal judges have stayed out of that discussion and left it up to the individual states to determine their stance on the luck vs. skill debate. In 1989, a California circuit court judge ruled that poker was a game of skill which allowed California’s poker rooms to stay in business. On the other hand, in 2005 a North Carolina state judge shut down a local card room citing that poker is a game of chance.
Although there is no scientific proof that poker is a game of skill, Nesson has gathered statisticians, game theorists, law students, and gaming lobbyists and encouraged them to come up with solid legal arguments.
“Poker teaches people to think for themselves,” Nesson said in a recent interview. “It is a key component to individuality and a prime aspect of managing resources.”
Knowledge of basic poker strategy can go a long way in the business world, especially when dealing with negotiations. Playing poker teaches you to quickly assess a situation based on the available information. Sitting in a board room is much like sitting at a poker table. Instead of chips, future business deals are at stake.
“Though just a game, poker teaches survival skills and encourages the development of good instincts,” mentioned Nesson. “A good poker player learns to size up the competition quickly and decide where potential risks lie.”
Though just a game, poker teaches survival skills and encourages the development of good instincts.
Poker is also a practical tool in teaching children probability and statistics in a manner that they can more easily understand. The game is interesting enough to hold their attention as they learn real life applications to learning odds and percentages.
According to Nesson and the GPSTS, poker can be used to help educate inner city kids. They have set up after-school workshops in Boston in which students learn basic poker strategy. Poker can teach children worthwhile skills such as patience, endurance, and determination, while at the same time, shows them how to make better decisions and look at situations from a different point of view. Their main objective is to have the children utilize what they have learned while playing poker and apply that to real life situations. That’s exactly the type of multi-level thinking and life education that children are not learning in classrooms.
“Poker also teaches an alternative structure of respect based on a combination of intelligence and intuition,” Nesson explained. “With young boys, winning respect from their peers can manifest into violence. Poker allows for controlled aggression and teaches maintenance of composure in any situation.”
Nesson’s vision can be summed up best when he said, “Poker isn’t the enemy; it is an ally. As far as I’m concerned, it would be a better world if we played poker.”
For more information, visit the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society (GPSTS) website at http://www.gpsts.org/.
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February 22nd, 2008 at 4:09 pm
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