Poker is New Cause for Harvard Law School Prof

Charles Nesson, the Harvard Law School professor who is best known for defending the man who leaked the Pentagon Papers and for helping parents sue chemical companies in the case popularized by film "A Civil Action", has his sites set on a new cause: poker.

"I'd like to legitimate poker as an educational instrument," Nesson said in an interview with the Boston Herald. "It's a great way to learn and practice the skills of seeing what things look like from another person's point of view."

Local to Massachusetts, Nesson wants to loosen the state limits on small-scale poker tournaments. He's still angry that an annual student-run charity tournament was canceled last spring because organizers did not know they needed a permit.

He's also lobbying Congress to overturn or amend the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) that blocks financial institutions from handling gambling transactions for US residents, in a highly criticized attempt to ban online gambling.

He has formed the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society with some of his students to promote poker as a fun learning tool and to redefine it as a game of skill, rather than a game of chance (click here for related article).

"Obviously the distinction is that in games of chance, you're not using your brain," he said. "You may be entertaining yourself but you're not really engaging in a developmental activity, whereas (in) games of skill you develop skill. You learn to be smart, you learn to win."

NESSON's FAMOUS CASES

The Boston Herald noted that Nesson rose to fame by defending Daniel Ellsberg, who in 1971 leaked to the media the "Pentagon Papers," secret documents that indicated the government deceived the public about whether the Vietnam War could be won. Ellsberg faced up to 115 years in prison, but the charges were dismissed because of government misconduct against him.

Later, attorney Jan Schlichtmann persuaded Nesson, an expert in evidence, to join his legal fight against chemical companies whose alleged polluting was suspected of causing leukemia among children in Woburn Massachusetts. Jonathan Harr's book, "A Civil Action," documented the case and was later turned into a film starring John Travolta.

POKER CLUB FORMED

About a month ago, Nesson and several dozen students formed the poker society. Besides the legal arguments, they want to promote what they say are academic aspects of poker. They are planning academic seminars on poker for youngsters.

Andrew Woods is a third-year Harvard Law student who is head of the founding chapter.

They created a Web site and are helping organize chapters at Yale, Brown, Penn State, Stanford and other universities. Woods said he is starting a fundraising effort to help his poker society expand to hundreds of campuses.

Nesson and Woods were on Capitol Hill last week, joining the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) n pressing Congress to consider several new bills that would exempt poker from UIGEA (click here for related article).

The PPA estimates there are between 15 million and 23 million U.S. Internet poker players.

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