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Teaching poker in Indian schools and its benefits

School curriculum in India has been changing drastically. 10 years before I joined school, the only additional subjects were French, Sanskrit and cooking classes. Today the school offers a plethora of choices such as Tie & Dye, Aerobics, stuffed toy classes etc. There has been a drastic change in the way schools have started approaching subjects to be taught.

Poker is a widely acknowledged game that has been associated to mathematics everywhere. It helps you in making better investments, decision making and even having a stable mind. Here’s a list of benefits that you can gain from Poker by including it in Indian schools as an extra curricular subject:

Poker and probabilities:

Probability is the branch of mathematics that deals with the likelihood that one outcome or another will occur. This is an essential factor since not all decisions that children take when in school succeed. Teaching the importance of probabilities will help them look at the pros and cons of every move in life, irrespective of it being important or not. You must’ve flipped a coin just for fun, but it is very important to learn what happens when the toss is not in your favour. 

Teaches to update beliefs:

Every game is about learning, whether poker or in general. The more you play, the better you are at it. When there are certain changes in the game, or a newer method is to be used, you have to be acceptable to the change in order to benefit. Only when you approach anything with an open-mind will you actually see the potential of it! Updating yourself is very important to even adapt to the lingo that people follow. 

 Emotional maturity:

A person who plays poker frequently learns to recognize and avoid emotional traps. A poker player knows life is all about winning some and losing some. Keeping your emotions in check and handling both the wins and losses is very important. Poker gives you plenty of opportunities to deal with good luck and bad luck too. Handling swings is crucial to attain success at the table and is an important life skill as well. 

 Learning to be Disciplined:

While it is incredibly difficult to alter intelligence, self-discipline is another important factor in the game of Poker. Poker by itself trains your brain to focus on the end goals and ignore obstacles that come your way. The same goes for your decisions in life. The most successful people in the game are those who know which games to select as per their abilities, control their emotions and when to stop playing after calculating the risk. Here’s a video from a school in Manhattan that talks about how successful they have been after including Poker: 

A few schools in Virginia and Manhattan have exclusive Poker clubs which are one of the most popular extracurricular activities among their students. Strict rules prevail, such as students not being allowed to use real money and the game’s educational purpose clarified from time to time.  probability and statistics involved in the game. Charles Nesson, professor at Harvard Law School formed the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society at the university. He says it not only helps students understand math but also reasoning and human behavior.

To know more about Poker and its benefits, keep reading GutshotMagazine.com

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