Profile: Poker lessons to big business
November 13, 2008
By Nontyatyambo Petros
It sounds like the typical entrepreneur's story and maybe even too incredible to believe - bored one minute and the next dreaming up a sensational business idea.
But Mark Bernberg, the founder of The Poker Room, swears this is how he founded his business, which provides strategy training to employees to enable them to read business opponents, negotiate deals and make decisions.
"I was bored one night and that was the spark that lit the flame," says Bernberg, an avid poker player and a business science graduate from the University of Cape Town (UCT).
He went to his computer, Googled "poker AND business" and got about 10.5 million hits.
He then got the idea to develop a business course based on poker and the principles of game theory.
Game theory is the mathematical and psychological field that shows that the outcome of a problem or negotiation depends not so much on the factors that make up that problem, but on the strategies formed by the players or people participating in it.
Bernberg says these principles are particularly relevant because poker is "a strategic war, not a game of luck. It's a game of skill. We show how these skills can be used in business to maximise returns whenever you are dealing with people."
Course participants are first taken through the principles of poker and game theory. These are then applied to their business and they get an opportunity to play.
"We first train people to play Texas Hold 'Em poker, the most popular poker game. Following that we deliver a business presentation, which is aligned to the principles that the best poker players in the world use, and we find ways of ensuring these principles are applied to their business," he says.
"We teach the concept of economic game theory and show how this applies in everyday business interaction. Business is all about relationships, and in the course we examine these relationships. Whenever people interact, there's always imperfect communication.
"I can't tell what another person is thinking. Game theory uses the art of negotiation and branding to arrive at a decision," adds Bernberg.
To ensure that participants derive maximum value from a training session, Bernberg and his team interview a company's employees and its directors to understand the business before drawing up a company-specific training exercise.
Business, says Bernberg, has been going well since opening in January.
"The growth has been absolutely amazing. Even in these tough times we have been getting a lot of business. We show them how the best poker players consistently win and how businesses can increase their chances of winning even in these tough times."
Among his clients he lists Investec, Old Mutual, Nedbank, Rand Merchant Bank, Cell C and Pam Golding.
"When we dealt with Investec Asset Management, we focused the programme more on risk versus reward, and in poker that's the odds and probabilities. When we dealt with Seeff's national sales agents, we focused on the art of negotiation. In poker this is called how to get people to call your hand."
The company employs 60 temporary and four permanent staff. It has offices in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town.
The next plan is to register the course with a sector education and training authority.
He adds: "We are working with professors at North West University, Wits and UCT, who have doctorates in game theory, to develop the course and start offering certificates in the areas of negotiation and sales."
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