Harvard Law Charters First Poker Society (GPSTS)

Poker Society GPSTSGlobal Poker Strategic Thinking Societies (GPSTS) is the student poker clubs first thought up by Harvard students and led by Harvard Law professor Charles Nesson. It is the goal of these GPSTS clubs to promote the strategies of poker as a learning tool. Nesson first announced the GPSTS idea back in August.

Several top universities now have poker clubs and are getting ready for the national collegiate team tournament and conference that will be held next year. Along with the tournament the conference will also feature activities that will show the educational benefits of poker strategies.

Charles Nesson is a tenured Harvard faculty member for the past forty years, he said, “Poker teaches many lessons that are transferable to the challenges of life, including strategic understanding of risk, resource management and self control. When to hold ’em, when to fold ’em, as the song says.

“The level of student response to our announcement of GPSTS is overwhelming,” added Nesson, “Many people agree that poker itself, besides being fun, has an academic component that can bring great benefits to learning at all levels.”

According to Nesson and Andrew Woods a Harvard Law student who helped organize the Harvard chapter announced the following time frame for the universities GPSTS:

  • Harvard Law School formally approved the GPSTS as an official student organization on October 1. Sixty-two Harvard Law students have signed up.
  • GPSTS chapters are now being formed at Penn State, UCLA, USC, Stanford, Brown, Tufts, and Boston University. Chapters also are being organized internationally at universities in Singapore, Finland, and the United Kingdom. The goal is to have at least two dozen chapters by the end of the academic year.
  • Harvard’s GPSTS is planning several academic panels to explore poker as a tool for learning. The first, scheduled for October 15, and focused on life skills, will feature poker champions Howard Lederer and Crandall Addington.
  • On October 16, Harvard’s GPSTS will explore a major dispute in the World Trade Organization over the legality of online poker and other forms of gaming. The WTO matter pits the tiny island of Antigua against the Bush Administration, with billions of dollars of trade
  • On November 10, Harvard’s GPSTS will host a panel exploring the educational utility of poker that will feature Jim McManus, a poker historian, and Mike Sexton, considered one of the most skilled poker stars ever.
  • On November 16, Harvard will host the first poker team competition with Yale the night before the Harvard-Yale football game. A separate team match will take place in Los Angeles on November 30, between poker players from USC and UCLA the night before the football game between the rivals.

The GPSTS has two events planned for this Spring, a poker educational workshop at the Smith Leadership Academy in Dorchester and a Intercollegiate Poker Face-off with several universities competing in a team poker tournament.

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