On Tuesday, April 1st, CardRunners.com owner and PocketFives.com member Taylor Caby appeared at the New York University chapter of the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society, or GPSTS. It wasn’t an April fool’s joke; Caby spoke on turning his successful poker playing career into a business. A standing room only crowd filed in to listen to Caby speak for a little over an hour about growing CardRunners into one of the most successful poker training sites on the planet. It marked the latest in a string of educational events for the GPSTS.

At the time of writing, the GPSTS had ballooned to include 18 official chapters, including North Carolina, USC, Tufts, Michigan, and Minnesota. In fact, half of the Ivy League boasts a GPSTS chapter, including UPenn, Cornell, Dartmouth, and the GPSTS’s home base, Harvard. Chapters in the works include SEC powerhouse Vanderbilt, Big Ten universities Illinois and Michigan State, and Texas institutions UT-Austin and Rice. The organization seeks to promote the educational aspects of poker, an important distinction for an industry that has come under fire recently.

For Caby, the appearance at NYU wasn’t just a 60 minute infomercial about CardRunners. He commented to PocketFives.com, “For me, it’s about the industry. It’s great to get CardRunners out in the industry, but I strongly agree that playing online poker is useful for improving your mind. I’d like people to realize that poker isn’t about gambling.” GPSTS Executive Director Andrew Woods echoes Caby’s sentiments: “Our goal going into it was to have a platform to examine a prototypical young internet poker player. Taylor has a lot of hopes and dreams outside of the poker world, but he has been incredibly successful at poker. We wanted to see what makes him tick and what makes his business so successful. We wanted to show NYU students how people succeed in a tangible way away from books. Taylor has taken skills and applied them to a great business model.”

Topics discussed included ones you may not have talked about in relationship to poker: how to deal with emotional attachment, results-oriented thinking, and risk management. Other topics batted around included the use of standard deviations in decision-making, a concept many undergrads have heard of but have never seen applied to the real world. The hour provided many students with the chance to learn about a side of poker they’ve probably never even thought of.

The turnout was unimaginable as well: A standing room only crowd at an event at one of GPSTS’ newest chapters. Woods comments, “Taylor has a significant following and there were a number of CardRunners members in the audience. There were also a number of people who came out of sheer interest in the subject matter.”

The Washington Square News was on hand to cover Caby’s appearance. He’s quoted in a recent article by saying, “In the long run to win at poker, you need to be making logical decisions. In business, logic is used the same way.” He added, “In poker, you are taking risks in order to win money, which is the same as in business where you are taking risks to make a profit.”

After the talk, a small poker tournament (a freeroll, of course) was held with the winner receiving a complimentary CardRunners subscription. Caby was busted with bottom two pair when his opponent held top two pair. He was the first one eliminated. Despite the beat, it was a successful night all around. Woods comments, “We talked about potentially having him appear again at another chapter. We would be interested in involving Taylor, CardRunners pros, and other organizations. We’re interested in what they’re doing and we’re excited.”

If you’re reading about the GPSTS for the first time, visit their website at www.gpsts.org and learn more about this unique educational organization. A special thanks to Taylor Caby and Andrew Woods for their insights.