Teach, your children well..

[beernutz]

I've been teaching my 9 year old to play poker recently (it started because she's been sick and was stuck at home watching TV all day) and it is amazing how much doing this has helped me crystalize my understanding of some key poker concepts. We started with the basics, ranks of the hands, then how to play holdem, then some poker terminology (Big Slick, pocket pair, suckout ;-) but now were moving into some more advanced concepts like position, aggression, bluffing, deception, free cards, reading hands, pot odds, etc. I've found that Albert Einstein was very correct when he said, "If you cannot explain the most complex concepts in science to a child, then you don"t really understand them yourself." I think this applies to higher-level poker concepts as well. Try explaining these things to a 9-year to be really sure you understand them yourself. The one I'm really having trouble with is pot odds since the 3rd graders don't start division until this Spring. That will be a good incentive for her to learn to divide and also understand ratios I hope.

I'm curious as to whether any of you other parents or anyone else has attempted to teach poker to a child and if so what lessons you learned that might be useful for me. Thanks in advance to anyone responding.

P.S. My proudest moment was when, heads-up, she jammed big slick preflop, check-raised my bottom pair bet on the flop, and bet the turn and river, despite not catching an ace or king, getting me to lay down on the river. I'm telling you, it makes a dad proud. /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

[riffraff]

P.S. My proudest moment was when, heads-up, she jammed big slick preflop, check-raised my bottom pair bet on the flop, and bet the turn and river, despite not catching an ace or king, getting me to lay down on the river. I'm telling you, it makes a dad proud.

Just make sure to explain to her that this often fails to get the small pair to fold at low-limit, else she's likely to throw a tantrum like a 9-yr old (as we've all seen before) /forums/images/icons/wink.gif

[brad]

well you made a bad river fold . heh

[Homer]

I don't have a child to teach, but I have been teaching a friend who has the intelligence of a 9 year old, so I guess that is pretty much the same thing...

-- Homer

[D.J.]

You've got a gambling fanatic in the making, might not want to give her your ATM card when she gets older.

-D.J.

[davidross]

I have 4 kids and 3 of them like to play cards. Coincidentally it's my 9 year old who really loves it. He likes chess as well and is crazy about math. I think he has a future.

Like you, it was trying to explain the game to them that made me think much more in depth about why we do certain things. i think it has really helped me understand the game better.

I also got bluffed out by the little bastard. I had a pair of J's in th ewhole and when an A flopped he got all excited and asked me how much he could bet. I just folded and he showed me a hand full of nothing!! He reminds me of it all the time.

Maybe we can watch them play each other at the 2025 WSOP. See ya there.

[beernutz]

"Maybe we can watch them play each other at the 2025 WSOP. "

Absolutely. I'll be the maniac railbird screaming my head off.

[brad]

a nine year old giving off a reverse tell or whatever?

or just strong means weak?

[soda]

How'd you know she had AK?

Please tell me she tabled it to send you on tilt!

soda

[beernutz]

We're in learning mode so she showed. It did put me on tilt a bit, seeing how I made the bad fold and I went on to lose a whole bag of pretzels.

[Hotchile]

I have been teaching my wife's son how to play. He is a little older but it has still helped reinforce some concepts in my own game/head.

Proudest moment was when he came into the office where I was playing paradise and reported, "Ace Jack sucks, it's way over-rated". When I got the tear wiped from my eye I told him that he was absolutely correct.

Only a true gambling fanatic would gamble with the groceries, I hope she enjoyed your pretzels.

Larry

[baggins]

great post!

gotta love being outsmarted by the wee ones.