Kids gambling

[Young Gun]

Hi, Im new to this forum. I'm a teen playing cards and was just currious what some pros (I use the word liberally lol) thought about the number of youth playing poker.

MY group of friends plays on Friday and Saturday nights during the school year. SOME (Not Me) even play in SCHOOL?!? That seems dumb to me because you are risking so much for so little. Anyway Our stakes started playing simple cheap $0.50 buy-in tourneys. Chump Change really. But now we play $10 buy in tourneys and 25-50 cent cash games. Tonight I even played a $50 Dollar buy-in heads up against one of our best players.

All That said, I am one of the best players and have made like $400 over the last 4 months. We have started to play like every other day in the summer and I am seriously started to worry about our game getting shut down. (Parents aren't happy when you come in the door at 2:30 driven by a college kid you barely know with $60 dollars in quarters on you.)

You guys are all cardplayers, what do you think of youth gambling?

[mike l.]

"Do you think it is smart to play in school?"

why am i the only person who answered yes to this?

if i were in high school and kids were playing poker i wouldve been so into it.

[prairieboy]

Because the rest of us realize that they'll get expelled when they get caught. Pretty steep price for a micro-limit game.

[BugsBunny]

Because the question isn't "would you play in school?" but "is it smart to play in school?".

Just because someone does/did/would play in school doesn't mean it's smart, and the person may know that even while they're playing.

[Phat Mack]

What grade are you in? What would happen if you got caught gambling at school?

I learned to gamble in elementary school. If I were to be caught, they would have just told me to stop.

[La Brujita]

I got caught gambling on the Super Bowl in school when I was 12 and didn't get in that much trouble. We got an evils of gambling talk from the principal but it didn't really sink in. I guess it has been in my blood for a while. That being said, I suggest you play your poker outside of school. Different schools might react differently and you could get in a bit of trouble.

[RollaJ]

I was playing 5 card draw for money in school at the ripe old age of 11, I knew very little of correct play, but more than most. I was (and probably still am) much better at poker than piching quarters and flipping cards

[Young Gun]

I am going into 9th grade.
Our school has a very strict policy.
You get caught and it is a week of detention.
That is why I don t play in school.

[WDC]

I started playing Black Jack with friends for quarters in 7th garde. Throughout junior high and high school we played weekely poker games for nickles and dimes and quarters.(this is late sevenies early eighties).

I would have answered that you should play at whatever stakes you want but I think the correct answer is play at whatever stakes you can afford. Can't play well with scared money.

[deacsoft]

Here's my 2 cents...
You're very young. Take that time to do what young people do. Poker's not going anywhere. However, if poker is what you are intrested in and enjoy doing then use this time to learn. Spend time here on 2+2 posting and reading posts. Read the books and essays on poker that are recomended. Study. Study. Study. And if you play keep the stakes low. Even play for play money on-line to pratice what you've learned. (play money is not the greatest game to learn in but if nothing else it will get you a feel for on-line play) You have a unique position to learn so much before you can ever legally play on line or in a poker room or casino. You won't have to pay as much for mistakes that those of us who learned as we played did. Finely tune your skills and you can be way ahead of the game in a few years.

Most importantly, just don't forget to be a kid. High school is going to be either a great time or a missed oppertunity when you look back on it 10 years from now. Have a blast. Like I said, poker will wait if you want it to.

Oh yeah, keep poker out of school. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]