IFP PRESIDENT CALLS FOR UK SCHOOLS TO INTRODUCE POKER – FOLLOW THE U.S. EXAMPLE SAYS HOLDEN

International Federation of Poker President Anthony Holden has called on UK schools to follow the example of New York’s Henry Street School for International Studies and introduce poker as an official extracurricular activity to teach essential life skills.

The Henry Street School, on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, launched its Poker club in 2007 under the direction of guidance counsellor Maurice Engler and it remains the only high school poker club in the city. Engler believes poker is an effective way to reach children and introduce them to maths and psychology.  In 2008 the school, in a run-down area of the city, took a poker team to challenge Harvard law School…and won. Anthony Holden is an acclaimed journalist, academic and author who has held the Presidency of the IFP since its formation. He is leading its campaign to promote poker as a genuine mind sport, divorcing it from gambling and shedding   the last vestiges of its sleazy past. He said:

“The Henry Street project has broken new ground and I am hopeful that educators in the UK and elsewhere will sit up and take notice. “There is a significant body of academic research that confirms that playing non- gambling poker teaches  youngsters a range of life lessons  from the skill of  ‘reading ’ an opponent – essential to all negotiations –  to the ability to rapidly calculate probability. “Like other mind sports poker is a valuable support tool in education. It promotes the development of concentration and the memory, helps develop a structured mind and the power of reasoning and positive behaviour patterns.”

Over 1 billion people around the world regularly take part in one or more mind sports. They are recognised by the Olympic family through their membership of the International Mind Sports Association, a member of SportAccord, the representative body for international sports federations which is affiliated to the International Olympic Committee. The International Federation of Poker currently enjoys observer status within IMSA. Mind sports also demand many of the characteristics and qualities of physical sports including self-discipline, competition, training, stamina and fair-play. In addition they share the universal values of camaraderie, friendship inclusivity, peace and goodwill with other sports and with the Olympic Movement.  Mind sports are open to all, irrespective of age, gender, creed of physical ability.