Harvard Law Meets Texan Poker Icon: Crandell Addington, Gold Reef International, Inc., Chairman, Shares Lessons Learned at the Poker Table

Poker Hall of Fame member and legendary World Series of Poker player Crandell Addington had a simple message for Harvard University law students, faculty and others: Poker is a microcosm of life, and good players make their own luck in both arenas. Addington was invited to participate yesterday in a forum, "Poker: A Game of Truth in Life and Law,” by Harvard Law Professor Charles Nesson. Nesson, an advocate of poker as a means for teaching valuable entrepreneurship and life skills, recently founded the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society (www.gpsts.org), which now has chapters at a number of universities in the U.S. and overseas. The organization uses poker to teach skills such as strategic thinking, geopolitical analysis, risk assessment and money management. Addington, who has reached the final table of the World Series of Poker’s Main Event seven times -- more than any other player -- and is a member of the Poker Hall of Fame, credits his success in business to lessons he learned as a high-stakes poker player. He founded a successful oil and gas exploration company and ran it for more than 30 years and is currently chairman of Gold Reef International, Inc., a Canadian public company (CNQ:GRIN), which he co-founded, focused on precious metals exploration. He is also CEO and chairman of Phoenix Biotechnology, Inc., another company he co-founded, which is developing a novel and promising cancer drug. "There are so many parallels between poker and business,” Addington said. "High-stakes, no-limit poker games and business ventures each offer their own, unique dynamics. Both are battlefields upon which players must make rapid strategic shifts and tactical implementations, even if these shifts happen much faster in a poker game than in business. And successful players in poker and business must identify their preferred outcome and use their skills to affect that outcome. That’s why poker is a game of skill, not chance as many people mistakenly believe.” Based in San Antonio where he leads his business projects, Addington was born in Graham, Texas. He is an honors graduate of Southwestern University and did post-graduate studies at Trinity University.