I am sure I will be the youngest one there by far, and if I were another player I certainly wouldn't think a young person would drive out to a casino for poker unless they were fairly serious about the game.


Quite the opposite. I play with lots and lots of older people who have played their entire lives who I wouldn't say are "serious" about the game. Why would I presume that about some kid? Poker is an 18-and-up activity where I live, and some of these kids look younger. I don't think I have yet come across a teenager who has studied the game to any meaningful degree. Twenty-one-year-olds, yes, but not 18-year-olds. Most people who play poker don't take the game that seriously. Most of them have never read a poker book. Most of the ones that have read a book haven't studied it. They read HP4AP once and they still lose, so they decide that that's not the answer. I've read HP4AP over twenty times, and I still find things in it. I identified a leak in my stud/8 game a week or two ago on what must have been at least my 25th reading of Ray Zee's book (I'm a slow learner). If I see a kid sit in my game, I'm going to assume that he doesn't play especially well until he proves otherwise. Of course, I make this assumption against all unfamiliar opponents, except during tournament time, in which case I tend to reserve judgment. If a kid acts like he knows what he's doing, it's more likely because he's seen "Rounders" than because he knows anything about poker.


Young people don't tend to get a lot of respect at the poker table. Use this to your advantage.


For what it's worth, I'm 34, and I'm the youngest player in my game more often than not, often by a wide margin.