Can a 15 year old play online poker?

[Blarg]

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The following things will happen if you begin to play poker at this stage in your life:

-You'll start skipping homework to play poker.
-You'll daydream in class, thinking about poker. You won't be able to pay attention in school, you'll only be concerned with getting home that night so you can start playing.
-You'll start losing sleep over both winning and losing sessions.

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Sounds like what you are describing not what will hapen to every 15-year-old, but what did happen to you.

Everyone's different and matures differently. I'm sure you had and have strengths it wouldn't be correct to ascribe to everyone, and it's similarly not too sensible to assume your own weaknesses exactly echo those of others.

[nolanfan34]

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Online poker is great for a 15 year old if and only if you meet all of the following conditions:

You are very intelligent.
You have a mathematical mind.
You have great self control.
You are capable of managing your time well and not sacrificing too much school time / socializing time to poker.
You are capable of sticking to strict, conservative bankroll requirements.

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These are good points, aside from the fact that maybe 1% of 15-year-olds fit this description. People like ZeeJustin, GoT, Jason Strasser, etc, who I know are young and have had great success are few and far between.

Frankly, probably most of this forum, no matter the age, doesn't meet ALL of those points. Myself included.

[nolanfan34]

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but most watch one hell of a lot of t.v. and a heck of a lot of them play Nintendo and Playstation and other computer games like mad.

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I agree with this. The difference I think is that when money is involved, it becomes something different than fun. Sweating out your online bankroll, worrying about blowing it on some NL hand, isn't something most 15-year-olds should be worrying about I think. They SHOULD be worried about how to pass the latest Doom 3 level, etc.

I agree that this alone doesn't make a healthy childhood, and I played plenty of video games myself growing up. I just think the financial attachment of poker online is a different beast - probably something for discussion in the psych forum.

Playing for money at that age I just think can evolve into something far more addictive than regular video games. [soapbox] Look at the Other Topics forum. There are a bunch of video game threads there, and people have some fond memories of ones they grew up with. Idealized or not, when I have a 15-year-old kid someday, I want them to have memories of games they've played, their first school dance, getting their first paycheck, etc. No one is going to look back and have fond memories of the first time they check-raised the turn with the nut straight in a 20 BB pot. [/soapbox]

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Not that if I were some kid's dad I wouldn't tell him to get his ass out of the house just so he got some life experience and socialization and learned some discipline.


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That's all I'm really saying. If the original poster's parents decide that he's capable of managing this, then more power to him. I just think in general terms it wouldn't be a good idea for most 15-year-olds.

I think we'll see our first news story in the next 6 months, about an underage online player getting nabbed for something like identity theft to fund their poker habit. If that story isn't out there already.

[Blarg]

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Playing for money at that age I just think can evolve into something far more addictive than regular video games

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Regarding age, again, I don't think age matters all that much as far as addictiveness goes. I think the normal pulls on teenagers to find other entertainment are probably greater than on adults. Again, there are all those lovely teenage girls coupled with your own insanely raging teenage hormones to make you notice them, there are sports, there is hanging with friends. All of those can be competitive arenas where teenagers want to shine. Poker isn't one. Adults are much less into sports, are often already either married or seem to come up short in the teenage girls department, and their friends are often married with their own lives or otherwise busy. Adult females tend to keep lots of friends throughout their lives, but adult males don't. Poker can substitute for many things in an adult's life in a way it can't in a teenager's. I think for a lot of reasons becoming addicted to something like poker is a greater danger for adults than kids.

Regarding videogames vs. poker for addictiveness, I played Everquest myself for years. I don't think you can underplay the ability of regular video games to become addictive. I saw it. I think they can become far more social than online poker, which to me isn't social at all. Especially when you multitable, there's a virtual complete lack of socialization. Hardly compelling. Video games can be both more viscerally exciting than poker and sometimes vastly more social, both of which increase their addictive qualities tremendously.

I don't worry about online poker becoming not fun for teenagers either. There are all kinds of reasons to play poker, and having fun is not a reason I would feel good about my own 15-year-old kid playing, if I had one. Nor do I think fun is a particularly valuable goal in poker playing for adults either. Maybe if you're playing for quarters with a bunch of friends, sure. But not strangers over the net or in a casino. I honestly play to win and don't have a huge amount of fun doing it except for the winning part, and even that isn't all that fun when you've played poker long enough. I don't particularly feel that "missing out" on the fun of poker is a negative; it's not what I'm there for. To me that's like saying you're missing out on how fun owning a drycleaning store is. It's just a business, really. If there were no possibility to make money doing it, I would be out like lightning.

I would rather a kid play poker to practice thinking skills and see how directly they relate to good outcomes, and how much study combined with concentration can pay off in life.

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That's all I'm really saying. If the original poster's parents decide that he's capable of managing this, then more power to him. I just think in general terms it wouldn't be a good idea for most 15-year-olds.

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That's what I think too. I don't think parents should abandon kids to their own devices. Kids are equal parts brilliant and stupid, or just inexperienced and with poor judgment yet. Parents who wouldn't monitor their kid's poker playing shouldn't let their kids play poker. Parents who wouldn't monitor at least occasionally pretty much everything their kid does probably shouldn't be parents at all, and definitely aren't good ones in my book.

I also don't think there should be such an emphasis on what's good for "most" kids all the time. Public education for instance, is dumbed down for "most" kids so that the dumber ones don't feel bad, leaving the smarter ones with nothing to do but nap. I think you have to look at things kid by kid and give each kid his due, or you don't acknowledge who he really is and you waste his potential.

[nolanfan34]

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Public education for instance, is dumbed down for "most" kids so that the dumber ones don't feel bad, leaving the smarter ones with nothing to do but nap.

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Excellent point. In Washington they are trying to chance the wording of the state standardized test from "passing" and "failing", to "meeting standards" or "not meeting standards". Wouldn't want to have to tell little Johnny he's "failing", do we?

Blarg, I think we've effectively hijacked this thread onto a larger topic! [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Officer Farva]

Hey kid,

You'll never make any money playing micro limit hold'em. This is what you need to do:

1) Generate a large bankroll. To do this, you'll need to "liquidate your assets". To do this, find everything you own of value-skateboards, baseball cards, video game systems, you're mom's jewelry (take the stuff she doesn't wear, that way she won't find out), paintings, furniture, etc.- and sell it, be it on ebay, a garage sale, or at a pawn shop.

2. Take you're "assets" and put them into you're account. Now you're ready to start making the "real money"!

3. Pick your game wisely. I suggest the 15-30 at party. Look for bad players such as OffFarva99. He is exactly the type of player a smart young man such as yourself can capitalize on. He is especially succeptable to preflop reraises with unsuited connectors. Remember, no matter what you hold, the way to win in higher limits is to raise, raise, raise. (Thats why we call it No Fold Em Hold Em).

4. Don't cash out until you have at least quadrupled your bankroll. You need to be able to withstand the inevitable small losing sessions (normally about -1.5 BB). And don't get too happy win you win $1000 bucks the first time! That won't happen much more than three or four times a week. Be realistic!

5. Whatever you do, DON'T TELL YOUR PARENTS. They don't understand how easy it is to win at poker. You don't want them to spoil all of the fun, do you?

I hope this post is helpful. We all want you to succeed. Let us know how it goes! I'm confident that if you follow our advice, you'll save up enough to get that brand new BMW you've always wanted in no time (it took me 3 months, but I'm not very good; you sound like you're a lot better).

Your Friend,
Officer Farva

[Officer Farva]

One more thing:

I forgot to ask, what is your name on Party Poker. We'd like to know so that if we see you, we'll know to find a different table (its against the code to play against fellow 2+2ers.)

Thanks!

[PokeHer]

yeah, just never tell anyone that you are 15, cuz they might tell party on you.

[TheSheath]

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Don't play, and this is why....

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/do...;Limit=25&

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your a faggot. thats all i am going to [censored] say. ur a faggot. i don't find it funny i find it rude and immature. i don't care if u are a college kid or a dad that was immature and rude. thats why i am not posting anymore b/c all i get is [censored] from people like you. you and others are the reason these forums are getting worse and worse. sure u give great advice for what to do but if a new kid ask an adult question u and others (i am not trying to single u out) just take away any ideas he had and just put him down. once again your a [censored] faggot and if i get banned i don't think i will be missing much.

[diablo]

Oh boy... I didn't think my thread would cause so much drama...


Well anyways, I managed to make $23.38 today play .5/1 at party today for an hour and a half, I know these results probably aren't typical, but hey I'll take it.