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The topics presented and the material provided in this outline is in no way exhaustive. Participants will have access to the wiki and are invited to -and encouraged to-  add reading material. If you have any questions about this course, please contact me at poker@p2pu.org

 

In this course we will work from the idea that there is merit in a 'poker way of thinking' when analyzing real life situations and dynamics in society. We think the skills important to playing winning poker, and ideas behind these skills, can be useful in other fields.

 

When I started working on the course I was very pleased to hear about an initiative of Harvard professor Charles Nesson to use principles of poker to teach strategic thinking. We will discuss these initiatives in the first week of the course. During the remainder of the course, we will see if we can take the merits of a poker mindset for problems in other areas a step further. After the two introductory weeks, where we will talk about poker to see what the level of the group is and what has been done in the area of integrating poker in academia and education, we will take different academic disciplines in the 4 weeks, to see if we can use ideas from the poker community to approach complicated problems in other fields. Because little time is spent on teaching poker, and becasue this course is about mapping the merits of poker as a group effort rather than one teacher teaching those merits, you require a basic understanding of the game and strategies before you can complete signup.

 

Objectives of the Course

 

The goals of the course are to introduce the use of ideas from the poker world in skills of life, business, politics and international relations. We will specifically delve into the use of poker in:

 

1. Strategic thinking
2. Game Theory, Risk analysis and Business
3. Social Science Research

 

Target Group

 

This course is intended for academes with an interest in poker, or poker players with a background in academia, who share the idea that there are merits in the kind of strategic and long-term expectation thinking of winning poker players. The process of teaching and being educated will be a peer effort, which means that the participants will function as both creators and receivers of educative material. The tutor will participate in the chat sessions and in the assignments as a  'peer student' with as only difference that he will make sure everyone knows what to do and that he keeps track of where the group is going. What matters here is that we all learn more about the value of the way of thinking applied in strategic card games in other areas of life.

 

Class Meetings

 

This class meets online in synchronous chat-sessions. The course is taught in a PBL 7-step structure where the tutor serves as the discussion leader. This means that next to some suggestions, literature should mostly be found online by the students themselves.  Each class will last 2 hours. In the first hour, we discuss the material we read for this week and the assignments everyone wrote. In the second hour we have a preliminary discussion on the topic of the week afterwards, and make learning goals that need to be met for the next class. 

 

The times and dates of the meetings will depend on the geographical diversity of the participants.

 

Assignments

 

Weekly Reading and Blogging

During each tutorial we will make 'learning goals' that will be discussed in the tutorial after that. The learning goals should reflect the theme of the week, and should provide enough stuff to think about to go online and find literature or other material to shape or support your ideas. Any blogging or the writing of essays should demonstrate your understanding of the weekly topic and should include original thoughts and synthesis.

 

Feedback

Weekly assignments will be graded by 2 peers who read your blog and look at the following criteria: (1) the degree to which you go into the question asked (2) the degree to which original thinking is evident in the writing and (3) the degree to which it contributes to an understanding of the usefullness of poker skills in a specific area of the reader. 

 

Schedule

The first meeting is scheduled next Wednesday. During this meeting, we will chat about in what we will proceed: whether we keep meeting in synchronous chat sessions, or whether we comment on each other's work asynchronously. I am highly in favour of synchronous chat-sessions, so there will be at least one chat-session every week for those interested and able to be online at that time. 

 

 

Week 1:  Thinking about the value of poker in education and academia

 

During the first tutorial, we will get to know each other in the group and map the backgrounds of the participants. This will influence the paths we take during the rest of the course. With the creation of this course I am interested in shaping the field of `poker in academia´ with a group of peers. This means we can literally move into a near infinite amount of directions.   

 

The starting point for creating this course was Charles Nesson's idea to use the game of poker as an `environment for experiencing the dynamics of strategy in dispute resolution´. In the first week we will delve into these origins of the use of poker in an educational strategy. 

 

Tutorial: Discuss the "riddle of three hats" Nesson elaborates upon in the video. What level of thinking is fundamentally important to solve the riddle? Next, discuss where we want to go into during the remainder of the course.

In the second part of the tutorial, we will discuss the problems for Week 2. 

Assignment: Write a blog post of about 1000 words about your initial ideas on the value of poker in academia or other areas of life. Everyone who signed up for this course must have ideas on this. We will discuss the essays in our next synchronous chat-session. IF you are unable to be online during the session, comment on the blog posts in the blog.  

 

Videos:

Charles Nesson lecture on how poker is useful for learning to think strategically: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icGaDA0hLMk

First meeting GPSTS: http://www.gpsts.org/harvard-law-school-poker-strategic-thinking-society-first-meeting

Example ideas:

House MD, season 3 episode 17 time: 38:40

 

Week 2: Poker is a game of skill

In this course we assume that every participant has a fundamental understanding of poker. This means that everybody sees poker as a game of skill rather than gambling. Ever since the online poker boom there has been a lot of discussion on whether  one should see poker as a game of skill or as gambling. The discussion is different in every country, and courts rule differently in every country. For this week's class we are going to map the debate on whether poker is a skill game or should be considered gambling.

 

The tutorial: During the first half of the tutorial, we will discuss the essays written last week and talk about poker as a game of skill rather than gambling.

The second half of the tutorial we will start thinking about the problems in Week 3. 

Assignment: Write a minumum of 500 words explaining either a judge, or a philosopher why poker should or should not be considered gambling.

 

Suggested Reading:

Easy read: http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/poker-skill-vs-chance/

Howard Lederer on skill vs Chance: http://www.gpsts.org/poker-a-game-of-skill

Dreef, M., P. Borm, and B. V. D. Genugten. “On strategy and relative skill in poker.” International Game Theory Review 5, no. 2 (2003): 83–104. http://arno.uvt.nl/show.cgi?fid=29695

Heubeck, S. “Measuring Skill in Games: A Critical Review of Methodologies.” Gaming Law Review and Economics 12, no. 3 (2008): 231–238.  http://www.stevenheubeck.com/resources/Methods0301.pdf

Hendrickx, R., P. Borm, B. B. Van der Genugten, and P. Hilbers. “Measuring Skill in More-Person Games with Applications to Poker.” http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1319271

 

Suggested videos:

Annie Duke speaks in congress: http://www.gpsts.org/annie-duke-speaks-in-us-congress

Rounders fragment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZqDzGTXz_8&feature=PlayList&p=47BA97542F68EEB1&index=1

 

Week 3: Poker and strategic thinking

 

Admission to this course means you are familiar with the importance of at least the following concepts in poker:

 

1. Position

2. Aggression

3. Chips

4. Multi-level thinking

5. Tells and reads

6. Bankroll management

 

In his article "Poker is good for you" David Sklansky lays out why playing poker or learning to become a winning poker player is good for anyone. In essence, Sklansky lays out why poker is valuable for learning how to think strategically. 

 

The tutorial: Next to understanding the fundamentals of the game, a poker player needs to have more characteristics to make a living out of poker. Think about the right combination between risk taking and bankroll management for example. Discuss the concepts and relate them to real life situations. Is it possible to make a list of characteristics and skills a poker player needs to obtain to be a winning poker player?

In the second part of the tutorial, we will discuss the problems for Week 4.

Assignment: Write an essay of a minumum of 500 on one or more ideas pointed out by Sklansky ralating it to real life situations. Make sure you make use of at lest 3 of the 6 concepts we discussed during the tutorial.

 

Suggested Reading:

Sklansy, David (2009): Poker is Good for You: http://theppa.org/pdf/PokerPositiveAspects.pdf

Hilger, Matthew (2008) Winning Strategies from an Internet PRO: http://unjobs.org/authors/matthew-hilger

Bankroll managment, standard work but in dutch: http://nl.pokerunlimited.eu/forum/bankroll-management-t5356.html

 

Suggested videos:

Mike Caro's 10 ultimate tells: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqF8m12JSDE

 

 

Week 4: Poker and Game Theory

 

Game theory deals with decision-making processes in situations where two or more people have competing interests. This is exactly what is happening at a poker table, so any head-up match or ring game can be approached using a game theoretical perspective.   

 

The tutorial: For the tutorial everyone reads as much primary articles on game theory as possible, many of these are publically available. In the tutorial, we will talk about the academic discipline of gametheory. How does this apply to poker, and which of these lessons can we take into other disciplines? 

In the second part of the tutorial, we will discuss the problems for Week 5. 

Assignment: Pair up and play 500 hands with your partner. Think about an exploitive strategy to beat your opponent. Describe this strategy, and how you came to this strategy in a minumum of 500 words essay.

 

Suggested readings:

 

Intro to game theory in poker: http://www.cardplayer.com/cardplayer-magazines/65572-18-18/articles/14980-game-theory-and-poker-an-introduction

Finding an optimal strategy: http://www.cs.ualberta.ca/~jonathan/Grad/Papers/ai98.poker.html

 

Week 5: Poker in Business

 

Some say there are a number of fundamental similarities between winning poker players and succeeding entrepreneurs.  Is there a connection between success in business and success in poker? Think about hand selection, preflop strategy, odds, folding when invested, bankroll management et cetera. 

 

The tutorial: Can we think of poker, or fundamental dynamics in winning poker, functioning in an economic development strategy? Next to this, we will discuss the merits of ideas from poker in setting up and running businesses.

In the second part of the tutorial, we will discuss the problems for Week 6. 

Assignment: Write a minumum of 500 words blog post on how ideas from poker might serve business studies. 

 

Suggested reading:

 

Origin of poker: http://www.eraider.com/images/articles/TheOriginofPoker_pg1.pdf and http://www.eraider.com/images/articles/TheOriginofPoker_pg2.pdf

Discussion on poker including poker in your resume: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/30/business-finance-investing/poker-resume-551812/

Poker and business: http://fliiby.com/file/754375/16446ikd11.html

Adjusting to a tight playing table: http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/08/closely-watched-buffett-recalculating-his-bets/?scp=1&sq=warren%20buffet%202008&st=cse

Find articles like: http://www.articlesbase.com/online-gambling-articles/everything-i-know-about-business-i-learned-playing-poker-911787.html

 

Week 6: Poker and the Social Sciences

 

1) 'The incentives to acquire pure knowledge, the essential underpinning of modern economic growth, are affected by monetary rewards and punishments' (North, 1994).

 

2) An important aspect of playing winning poker is volume. A person can play 5000 hands of poker and have a 500% ROI while playing sub optimally, while another player can play 200.000 hands and break even while playing optimally. Because online pros can play such large volumes of hands, online poker more than ever shows the importance of the ‘big picture’ in winning strategies. The internet has fundamentally altered the dynamics of the poker game. Similarly, the internet alters dynamics and opportunities in the socio-economic sphere.

 

The turorial: Discuss if ideas from poker could say something about the socio-economic history of countries, or the socio-economic history of indviduals.  Next, discuss the international arena as a poker game. Who are the players, what are their stacks, what is their position relative to eachother?

Assignment: Write a blog post of a minumum of 500 words where you either explain aspects of the socio-ecomic history of a country or in the international arena. Make concepts from the poker world  a central theme in your blog post.

 

Suggested reading:

 

These articles might help you to think about socio-economic issues and poker:

 

Douglass C. North (1994) ‘Economic Performance Through Time’, American Economic Review, Vol.84, Issue 3, June 1994, pp. 359-368. 

http://www.google.nl/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fclasswebs.spea.indiana.edu%2Fkenricha%2FClasses%2FV640%2FV640%2520Readings%2FNorth%25201994.pdf&ei=WUeNStTDDIbc-Qbf1ez7DQ&usg=AFQjCNHzt5t4phcRSwJhUqljPnlHVwrgJA&sig2=oOgFXj0bhDBmrT6tTPm5FQ

http://books.google.nl/books?hl=en&lr=&id=IDKys_d6rv8C&oi=fnd&pg=PA120&dq=historically+contingent+economics+long+run&ots=1K6e0ceCYq&sig=gsocP4wXXaBVCL0A1s1ydMd798A#v=onepage&q=&f=false