Poker teaches qualities for corporate honchos: Experts

Playing poker can not only add steel to one's character, but also equip CEOs and decision-makers to handle day-to-day chores, according to Amin Rozani, co-founder and chief executive officer of India's first and biggest poker championship, which recently concluded in Goa.

Poker, he says, teaches the 'big five' qualities essential for decision-makers and corporate honchos which include patience, discipline, reading body language, casting emotion aside and evolving a mathematical approach to tackling problems.

"Above all, poker teaches patience. At a game one needs to wait for the right opportunity and make a move at that precise moment. The same is often the case when building a business," Rozani told Deccan Herald in an interview.

Poker, Rozani said, also teaches one to understand body language which is often helpful in business when negotiating and cracking a deal, where one can gauge what the other is thinking.

Like in business, where one needs to evaluate investment vis-a-vis returns, in poker one also needs to gauge if the investments will yield good returns in the long run. "This kind of an approach is what one learns at the poker table too," he said

Rozani's Spartan Poker earlier this week hosted India's biggest tournament, the Indian Poker Championship on board an offshore casino near Panaji, in which 2000 participants vied for a total purse of Rs 6 crore in prize money.

The tournament which used to feature fifty to sixty participant as much as a decade back, now has hundreds of competitors mostly in the age group of 24-35 years.