What if a University Offered a Degree in Poker

[Wubbie075]

Televised Tournaments 405: How to get more Camera Time by acting like a douche
(Guest Lecturers: Shaun Sheikan, Humberto Brenes, and Phil Hellmuth, Jr.)

[avatar77]

I've actually thought of this to after going through my books in poker.

The degree will need to focus on the core games:
- Hold'em both fixed and NL
- Tournament Holdem
- Omaha - high only and high low
- Pot Limit Omaha
- 7 Card Stud - traditional and high low
other games such as Razz may be considered.

The core books will include: TOP, Mathematics of Poker for theory

Because poker is so situational and subjective, I beleive the exams should be essay based or short answer based. Exam questions will be similiar to the ones in HOH, where you are given a question and you will provide an answer + an explanation as to why you would do it.

[7n7]

I would burn my electrical engineering degree and enroll immediately.

Edit: My wife says, "no you wouldn't."

[Montrealcorp]

lol 7n7

[nineinchal]

If poker were offered as a degreed program, could I minor in bonging?

[Soundwave]

Marketing 302: Trading on Your Looks
A advanced course in applying the benefits offered by chance genetics and your coke habit. Course modules include: Cleavage, the Camera, and Your Career; Who to Sleep With, Who Not To, and Why; Your First DVD - P0rn or Poker?; and Elementary Card Playing for Beginners. Course lecturers: Annie Duke, Shannon Elizabeth, Vanessa Russo and Jennifer Tilly.

Also includes a special guest lecture on Avoiding the Pitfalls - Digging for Gold, Blowing Accounts and the Dangers of P.O.B, taken by Brandi Hawbaker.

[Poker Clif]

First There is no reason that a poker degree would have to be either/or, that is, a few games or all games. In a computer science cirriculum you might learn more than one lanuguage, but you don't have to learn all of them. There are both required and elective courses within a specific major.

Second, I don't see why this should be only a graduate degree. What's wrong with a undergrad degree with course requirements like Introduction to Statistics?
For teaching purposes there would have to be some common ground, so making no-limit-holdem a required course would seem reasonable.

It's not hard to envision a list of courses. Within the poker major there could be different emphases with different course requirements. Some courses could be from the poker major, and some from other majors. A course list could include:

Internet tournament play, high limits
Internet tournament play, low limits
Internet cash games
Money management for traveling professionals
Poker room management
Introduction to Statistics
Game Theory
Accounting
Indian Tribal Gaming Laws
Casino gambling
Small tournaments--local, state, and charity games.
Introduction to (name the type of poker)
Advanced (name the type of poker)
Poker Tells

Also, you could certainly have guest lecturers from other departments, or some sort of interdisciplinary approach. Professors or experts from the following areas might be useful:

Buisness Administattion
Marketing
Mathematics
Computer Science
Psychology
Sports Management
Law (gambling regulation, income tax law)

This can and will happen. After all, the very existence of twoplustwo shows that poker can be a field of serious study.

[alliniwin]

I read somewhere that Richmond University in Virginia has a poker class, although it's not for credit.
I wish there was a such degree...that would be great.

[jasonfish11]

I know a philosophy major that is writing his thesis on "poker in american culutre" He got a press pass to the WSOP because of it.

[Al Mirpuri]

I like this post.

I think poker has enough depth to be a university discipline.

Suggested modules:

Image
Bluffing
Tells
Poker Tournaments

I started the list...add to it.