Harvard Law Profs Backing Poker as Educational Tool

Tuesday Aug 14, 2007

SINGAPORE, Aug 14, 2007 -- 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.

Part of the goal of the poker societies is to organize an NCAA-style
championship in the novel game of team poker for American universities.
Press and media representatives are invited to attend both the lecture
and workshop in Singapore at the State of Play conference. Professor Nesson
and colleagues will be available for interviews.

About GPSTS
Founded by Harvard Law Professor Charles Nesson, the Global Poker
Strategic Thinking Society views pokers as a game of skill that can be used
as a teaching tool at all levels of academia and in secondary education.
The concept is to use poker to teach basic life skills, strategic thinking,
geopolitical analysis, risk assessment, and money management. The goal is
to create an open online curriculum centered on poker that will draw the
brightest minds together, both within and outside of the conventional
university setting, to promote open education and Internet democracy.
For more information, please write to globalpoker@gmail.com or visit
http://www.gpsts.com, up and live August 19, 2007.
About State of Play V: Building the Global Metaverse
This conference on virtual worlds will be held August 19-22, 2007 in
Singapore. It is organized by Harvard Law School, Yale Law School, New York
Law School, Trinity University, and Nanyang Technological University in
Singapore. The conference invites experts across disciplines to discuss the
future of cyberspace and the impact of these new immersive, social online
environments on education, law, politics and society.