National Collegiate Team Poker Tournament

Charles Nesson, a professor at Harvard University, and several students started the GPSTS-Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society. Nesson started the society to explore the popularity of poker and use it as a way of education. The society announced yesterday that poker clubs will be formed at many leading universities to get ready for next year's national collegiate team poker tournament and conference.

The conference is intended to show the educational side of poker and also to have some fun. The founder of the society says; "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 society was formed and officially a student organization October 1st and now has 62 members. Several other universities are beginning their own chapters of the society. Boston, Stanford, USC and Penn State are among the new groups. There has also been an international interest and will soon be chapters in other regions. "The level of student response to our announcement of GPSTS is overwhelming," Nesson said. "Many people agree that poker itself, besides being fun, has an academic component that can bring great benefits to learning at all levels."

The group is planning on having several discussion panels to talk about the educational side of poker. October 15th is the first scheduled panel and will discuss life skills. The panel will feature poker players Crandall Addington and Howard Lederer. Another discussion will take place October 16th on the WTO dispute on the legal side of online gaming and online poker. On November 10th, Mike Sexton and Jim McManus will explore the utility of poker.

The first time the society will play poker against another chapter will be on November 16th. Harvard and Yale chapters will duel it out in a school against school game. USC and UCLA will have a match on November 30th on the night of the football game against each other.

The GPSTS will also host a poker educational workshop in 2008. It will take place at the Smith Leadership Academy, which is a school in Massachusetts that focuses on education for at-risk children. There will also be the Intercollegiate Poker Face-off where universities involved will face each other in a poker tournament to reward the ultimate university team.