/ Editor / 15 August 2007 / Leave a comment

Poker is not Snap with patience. Although a pair in the pocket has an appeal.

Poker requites mental prowess, stamina and intuition.

And academia wants in. Harvard Law School professor Charles Nesson will announce an international effort to organize "poker strategic thinking societies" at universities and secondary schools around the world that will use poker as an educational tool to teach everything from basic life skills to war games at military colleges.

Nesson will announce the formation of the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society (GPSTS) in Singapore on August 19 during an international conference called State of Play. Chapters of the GPSTS will be organized at prominent universities on several continents, starting at Harvard.

GPSTS will offer poker strategic thinking workshops to secondary schools and community centers, particularly in underprivileged

neighborhoods; sponsor team poker matches between law, business and other graduate-level programs; and conduct seminars and conferences that explore poker as a means to teach strategic thinking and related public policy issues.

"Poker is one of the best metaphors for teaching life skills across a variety of disciplines," said Nesson, a founder of Harvard's Berkman Center on Internet Law.

He's right. But you already knew that. Snap!

Tags: academia, GPSTS, Harvard, poker