I can relate to this a lot.
The lessons of finding one's way in chaotic situations and learning not to fear them in particular did carry over into real life along with several other lessons.
It's the difference between "knowing" something is a good idea and actually comprehending why since you've seen it executed successfully and understand the consequences for and against that idea.
Now you understand the core concepts and don't just "know" it because it's "common sense".
Huge difference.
Was it just a texas hold em ? Or a variation of it ? I assume being a hackathon it wasn't a vanilla texas hold em.
Could you provide some more details and maybe the code ? After seeing this I'm interested to know what else you've done.