kids and poker

[Meotch08 0]

I don't think kids playing is too bad as long as they don't let it get out of hand. I for one am 17 and play about 3-4 days a week (ussually 10-20 dollar buy in tourney's, or in the area of .25-.50 cash games.) and I turn a pretty good profit (60-100 dollars a week). As long as you can find games that are within your limit's so you don't get in over your head you should be fine. I'm sure that teens games are basically the same as other games, the good players profit and the fish lose. I do know a lot of kids at school who talk about playing, and when I ask them questions like "what are the blinds at your cash games" they have no idea what im talking about. I do think that if you can't answer a simple question like that you probably shouldn't be playing poker, but I'm not going to complain, because these are the type of people who seem to be willing to give their money away. Even thoughsome kids at my school basically throw their money away on poker, some people are quite good. I for one dont only play with kids my age, I've found that I do very well at games where people don't know me, (I ussually go with my older brother just so im not in a card room with a bunch of guys i don't know) so i like to go play at new games a lot, and ive played at a lot of different one. One game there was no one younger than 29 and the oldest there was 76, and I ended up making $95 in a 4 hour session, and I've also played at the UC with people about five years older than me and I took $150 out of there cash games pot (about $500). I'm not trying to brag I'm just saying that some people my age are actually fairly good card players, not to say the $150 dollar pots I've won are massive or anything. Of course some kids shouldn't play, but if I am able to play without having to pull money out of the bank, and i make enough to go eat and hang with friends, put gas in the tank of my car and pay the insurance (or at least help my folks out with the insurance) I dont see why I shouldn't play. Also, if i can either go to the movie for 15 bucks (It actaully costs this much out here in CA. =(....) OR spend between 10 or 20 bucks to play poker, i would much rather play poker and have a good chance of making money instead of giving it away. To, sum all this crap up, I think that if you can't hold your own at the table, you should either not play poker, or at least have a job to support yourself with.

[Guest XXEddie]

"I have played cash games in school, i won 540 in study hall once"Really? that's a lot. my study hall sucks, the kids are afraid to bet like 2 dollars

hell I wouldn't bet you a nickle. Gambling on school grounds is subject to expension and law innvolvment.

Yeah, it was really strick in my HS. If they see you with a deck of cards you get suspended automatically.

[bdluss 0]

Meotch, hey I am glad you are profitiing from the game at such a young age. But there is a reason your winning, you are on here posting, reading, doing your homework and what not. The concern is this, you say you make $100 a week, that means some kid is losing $100 a week. Yes some kids are rich enough to afford that, but I guarantee alot are not. Beyond this, it often can lead to addiction to gambling which we all know is not good. But, hey there are always winners and losers and life is no different, some kids will just learn quicker they are a loser at the table and in life while being a teen instead of when they are 25 working at the local gas station.

[Munky 0]

Who cares if kids blow their allowance on poker instead of hanging out at a mall or whatever.When they're stealing money to play, then there's a problem.

I agree.It's better than spending it on a dime bag or a some rock so that they can fry their brains.

[sctc 0]

I am 16 and started out playing $1 tourneys with my buds a year and a half ago. We play once a week. Now we have graduated to nl .10/.20. and $10 tourneys. Also, there is a monthly $20 tourney with about 30 kids. There are a few of us that have ventured to a $1/$3 nl game where the big winners walk out with $600 +. So our live games our pretty fun, but $100's of dollars can exchange hands, even in .10/.20. A few of us have gone on to the online game. Most have lost their original $50 deposit and then quit. And then you have my buddy who has lost upwards of $2,000. I am probably the only success story. I bought my car through online poker winnings. - $7k from a $20 party tourney with 1700 players. Also i have bought a laptop, ipod, xbox, ps2, car tuneups, gas money, and pretty much anything i want. I have probably won 7 or 8 online tourneys totalling upwards of 20k within the past 14-15 months, but have also blown some of it playing 15/30 on party and the 30/60 game on stars. Overall, i think my profit is around 12-15k. I also finished 1 away from the money in a Party Poker Million Semifinal (which my dad would have to play, of course). It is great to watch all of my friends work and make $7 bucks an hour then i can go home and win $300 in one hand. I'll admit that i have a gambling problem and i have gone broke more than once, but have always come in the clutch and pulled a win when i desperately needed it. There isn't much better than the rush of the final table with thousands of dollars riding on the line.For all of you that are bashing the play of a teenager, you guys probably wish that you had started younger so that you be a better player at your adult age.I'm looking forward to the Pokerstars WPT tourney in two years, because i'll be there at the ripe age of 18!

[Meotch08 0]

Meotch, hey I am glad you are profitiing from the game at such a young age. But there is a reason your winning, you are on here posting, reading, doing your homework and what not. The concern is this, you say you make $100 a week, that means some kid is losing $100 a week. Yes some kids are rich enough to afford that, but I guarantee alot are not. Beyond this, it often can lead to addiction to gambling which we all know is not good. But, hey there are always winners and losers and life is no different, some kids will just learn quicker they are a loser at the table and in life while being a teen instead of when they are 25 working at the local gas station.

Nice to know someone notices that some of us youngins take this game seriously. And I am aware that someone out there is losing 100$ if im winning it, and I understand what is wrong with that. I find that most the kids coming back after losing their money for the first or second time are either people with jobs, or people who's parents pay for their poker games, and I think there is a reason for this. For me poker is a way of paying for whatever I need and also having some extra spending cash, so I tend to take the games seriously (just like you would try not to screw around too much at work if you want to keep your job). Kids who either have other jobs or who's parents are paying for them to play ussually seem to not care as much, and don't play as seriously.For me although I have terrific parent's they never spoiled my brother and I (partialy because they know we need to learn to make it through life on our own, and partially because they dont have the money to throw around.) So asking them for money is not something that happens often, So its either get a job, or find some other way to get money. I'm certainatly not going to sell drugs or anything like that ,so that basically leaves, working a crappy job at Taco Bell, McD's, etc. or playing poker. Anyways I think this is part of the reason that I tend to profit more on poker then most other kids my age that I know.And believe me I have seriously considered getting a "real" job but iIactually make pretty much the same money playing poker as i would be able to make working a near-minimum-wage job, since where I live people 18 and under can only work a total of 18 hours a week, and I've aleady told myself that if i ever start losing a large amount of money, or go bust (boy that would suck), to just take a break from poker and get a job.

[Sullyarmy 0]

i find it really funny that during a thread on how kids shouldn't gamble or w/e this is most of the adult on here are talking about how much fun they had playing when they were kids...let them have there fun like someone posted earlier the only reason this is even a issue is because of how popular and mainstream poker has become... i say let them have there fun...let them tell there stories to there kids and then wonder what happened to that money they got outta the atm :wink:

[ldudeus 0]

hey..this is for meotch of any other youngsters like me that play pokerHow do you guys manage to find a game 3-4 times a week?if i am lucky, then i can find a game once a weeki am always looking to find more games/tourneys/etc. but there is very little out here in san joseif anyone has some kinds of hints at helping me find more games/tourneys then please tell mealso if u have a game in the area please email me at leo9er@hotmail.comi am definately looking to find more games but i have no idea how to find games in my area any hints?thx

[bigkg 0]

Idudeus, in response to your question, since i am sixteen and play 3-4 times a week, i think you are just out of luck. I played poker before the poker craze hit, since my dad has been a regular for about 15 years and i picked it up when i was about 13. I didnt really play for much then just like $2 buy-ins and such. I really didnt play with anybody besides like my dad, my brother, and some of my older cousins. Once the poker craze hit i could find a game any day of the week, i think i was just lucky that my school got so addicted to poker. The craze has calmed down a lot and it was hard for me to find a game for a while. I eventually found a group of seniors who played every saturday afternoon and occassional sundays, i met some kids my age that were into poker at these games and that is basically who i play with. My only advice to you is to try to get your closest friends into poker, and just ask around to see if anybody knows of any games.

[jayistheman 0]

a friend of mine's mom works in a kindergarten.... one day a student asked her if they could play poker. i laughed when i heard this.... i laughed even harder when i found out that it was my poker-addicted friend's little brother. hes like 20....... and he taught his 5 year old brother to play because he was jonesing for a game.... lol. i love it.by the way.not all college players are bad. most are. (it pays my bills here on campus)

[Meotch08 0]

to find games just talk to everyone you know and they are bound to know someone who plays. If you live in SJ, and you are looking for a game, my buddy taquito just moved down there and he should eihter be finding games soon or starting his own regular home games up, so if you on the forums often enough I could let you know. I'll send you a PM (i havnt noticed if this forum has them) with my AIM address so i can get you two in touch.

[heisthejuan 0]

Yeah, and teenagers also should not have sex, drink and drive, or do drugs. Whatever, I think by the time you are 16 or 17 though you are still a bit green in the ways of the world you are no longer a child. You make your own decisions and you live with them. Some kids will get girls pregnant, some will become alcoholics, some will become degenerate gamblers. I believe if you have these things in your nature (an addictive personality) you will have these problems when you get involved in the activity whether it be at age 16 or 36. Better to get blown out of the water at 16 and loose a few hundred then to get blown out at 35 and need a 2nd mortage.

[mountdemerss 0]

This post is in reply to all those saying that kids should not be playing poker. Poker is gambling, but it is not like playing craps. Poker is a thinking game like chess or scrabble. Some of the smartest mathematicians from harvard and MIT make a great living playing this game. It is a sport, only you play it with your mind. Learning how to read people and understand how they think not only helps you in poker, but in most areas of business and life. If kids want to lose there money playing a thinking game, how bad is that really? Playing poker every night is better than the alternatives that they could be doing. There are losers, but there are also winners. I am 20 and have been playing poker for over two years now. I turned my savings ($100) into over $20,000 in less than 6 months playing at poker clubs around my area. I ended up using this bankroll as a down payment to purchase a poker club downtown. We have 3 full tables running every night with a rake. Poker was a recreational hobby when i started out ($10 buy ins, etc.) , but it turned into a very lucrative way to make a good living.On a side note: we have four or five members of our club that are between 17 and 21. They are among the best players in town and make great money playing. It seems to me that the winning players are those who take the game seriously, and NEED to win so they don't have to get a real job. This is the situation I have always been in. See you in vegas in a year.ADAM

[faketree 0]

i think poker should be an elective in school. a class you can take.when i was in high school, when we were juniors and seniors we were allowed to pick from a list of activities we wanted to do in gym class. some picked softball, basketball, volleyball, golf, etc. if they had poker, i would have taken that one.i'm obivously being sarcastic here.

[bigkg 0]

dude, you guys had golf in gym, i would be in heaven. :-)

[banker2005 0]

I got know problem with kids gambeling, hell I started playing poker for like .5/.10 when I was 14 and I turned out ok

[JustinHEMI04 0]

This will go on and on so I might as well throw something in too.Kids playing poker is just fine. For all the good reasons people have pointed out. The rules that apply to adults apply to them too. Don't get in over your head. Set limits. Read. Practice. Improve. I started when I was 17 and took a beating for a couple years. I considered it growing pains. 12 years later, i am in the black and doing great. I say more power to them if they have regular games going. However, I do agree that over 50% of them will quit the game within the next 2-3 years when it is no longer the "thing to do" and they realize that not everyone is going to be, or can be, a pro. But the same can be said for the equally large number of adults that have recently jumped on the bandwagon. But they may realize it sooner if they are married with children. The government really needs to stop trying to protect us from ourselves, and we need to stop trying to protect our kids from everything. Let them fall and scrape their knees. They will be fine and will be better people for it in the long run.Justin

[jcm05 0]

Hey I'm 15 years old and have been playing for 2 years. I usually play $10 tourneys but recently started .50/1.00 cash games. Im just asking other kids my age on this forum how they started playing for real money online??

[faketree 0]

dude, you guys had golf in gym, i would be in heaven. :-)

yeah it was great. there was a golf course right near the school and were able to take it in gym. believe it or not, frisbee was also an option.we also had a pretty decent golf team at the school.HACKENSACK HIGH SCHOOL, NJ BABY

[allinbluff35 0]

when you say you had frisbee in gym class do you mean:Casually throwing a frisbee aroundUltimate frisbee type stuffor Frisbee golf A.K.A. FROLFbecause if you had frolf that would be freaking sweet, we had it my 9th grade year for a total of 3 hours of class due to the fact some kids(not me I swear) would go off and due illegal stuff.

[faketree 0]

when you say you had frisbee in gym class do you mean:Casually throwing a frisbee aroundUltimate frisbee type stuffor Frisbee golf A.K.A. FROLFbecause if you had frolf that would be freaking sweet, we had it my 9th grade year for a total of 3 hours of class due to the fact some kids(not me I swear) would go off and due illegal stuff.

It was Ultimate Frisbee. I didn't know about FROLF until I got to college and they had a FROLF course on one of the campues. Fun as hell.that was:RUTGERS UNIVERSITY BABY!!!

[sctc 0]

Hey I'm 15 years old and have been playing for 2 years. I usually play $10 tourneys but recently started .50/1.00 cash games. Im just asking other kids my age on this forum how they started playing for real money online??

I started off with paypal, got the debit card and made party deposits through epassporte. You do have to be 18 for paypal, but no one ever did a verification check on me. Another way that was very easy is just getting a atm/debit card from the bank, then making direct deposits.

[KingAustin 0]

.  In iowa i saw 30 or 40 dollar pots being lost at dowling and many more tournements.  Someone has to put a stop to this not the overall gambling but the magnitude of what is going on.

Booooooooooo, Dowling sucks.Valley all the way!! (Dowling is Valley's rival for those of you who dont know...which would be everyone)I play $1 hands with my friends, but when they realize that I'm going to beat them, they come up with some BS and call the game off. >.<

[ldudeus 0]

ok thanks meotch my screen name is staahhlin2if u wanna get in touch find me on aim or email me at leo9er@hotmail.comthanks a lot and i hope i'll be playin in a game soon