Can a 15 year old play online poker?

[0evg0]

Okay, I'll be the one to go ahead and admit it: I'm a kid; 16 going on 17 in about 2 months. Started off like you playing silly home games with my friends for quarter antes, and slowly got pulled more and more into it. Started off just playing freerolls to become acquainted with the game, and read up. Buy yourself some books. Finally put some money into my account on Stars about 4-5 months ago.

First, don't even bother with the micro on Stars. I'm not familiar with the low limit play on Party, but if it's anything like Stars, then you are wasting your time. It might not be a bad idea to visit and take money once you're better, but playing the ridiculously loose games that PS calls its micro limit games just plays havoc with anything you might know or learn about fundamental play.

Second, have some realistic expectations. You are not going to make enough money to buy yourself a car. You are not going to make enough money to quit your job. You are not going to make enough money to do anything drastic.

I started off playing low buy in MTTs ($5 or less), and $5/.50 SnGos on Stars. I outgrew this within a few weeks of regular play, and now have gotten to the point where the limit I'm playing usually depends more on the money I have at my disposal as opposed to the limits I can handle skill-wise. That being said, I'm not raking in enough to cut my hours at work in half (maybe because I'm not ready to put up enough money to make a run at a serious return, or maybe because my game isn't there yet), and until you are at an age where you can not only provide the necessary time, but also the necessary funds to consistently make money, you should be more than satisfied with the monthly spending money you might make.

Basically, I have expenses to pay like most HS kids, and I will usually put up $50-$75/month regardless of how I've been doing. You're not going to strike it rich playing poker. You're not the first to come up with this genius idea, so save it for a later time. I play because a) I enjoy it and can write off losing a couple bucks to entertaining me; and b) I realize it is a not bad way to make a few bucks.

Also, once you reach a point where you are playing for higher amounts, it might get difficult for you. At first I had a hard time adjusting to the fact that I could easily make (or lose) a whole day's work worth of money in one hand online. But like playing in general, experience will help.

Lastly, think of your first few weeks/months as nothing more than an education. I have no idea the level of play you are accustomed to after playing with your friends, but if it was anything like what I know, it is not even poker. If you lose some money in the first few weeks, think of it as a necessary expense (one pays for college as a way to set themselves up in the future, no?). Don't get discouraged if you start losing money, but also, if you aren't seeing improvement, then maybe poker isn't your thing.

Keep track of how you do in tournament, how much money you've put in, how much money you've got in return, etc. After 1-2 months, go from there. It may be that you're losing too much to justify continuing play, or you may find it wouldn't hurt to move up to a higher limit.

I know this isn't the most organized post, but hopefully you can find a few nuggets here to help you out.

[Sponger15SB]

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

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

[Airpoaneman]

BWAHAHAHAHAHAA

[NLSoldier]

My little brother is 15 and has been dominating the low buy in SNGs on party playing on my account

[Blarg]

Not to completely go against what you're saying, but what kids do is often pretty idealized. Sure some do wonderful great things and plenty of it, 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.

Poker seems a lot healthier than that to me. If they just switched those things for Poker, they'd be far better off, not worse off. Especially as regards t.v., which just pumps absolute crap into your brain after disconnecting it.

Also, the jobs a lot of kids can get -- ugh. Cleaning up bathrooms in McDonalds and washing dishes in restaurants for minimum wage may be good for all kinds of character building, but the sort of McJobs unskilled kids tend to get are usually pretty miserable. I wouldn't blame a kid for not wanting one of those. I'd even chalk up his wanting one to inexperience, if there were a nicer alternative like playing poker available instead.

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.

I just think we adults tend to idealize childhood quite a bit.

[RED_RAIN]

Anyone heard of people getting addicted?

My arguement would be, if someone has this nature, they will regardless of age.

But why not do things that you don't get to do or don't have time to do while your still a kid and get addicted later [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] More so when you can afford it.

[Blarg]

And if someone doesn't have this nature, they won't regardless of age.

I'm not overly worried about poker addiction for kids. Frankly, computer games and nintendo and even t.v. are far more fun, as is having crazily out of control hormones and knowing a bunch of teenage girls.

But if I had to choose between my kid watching t.v. or playing Counterstrike or Everquest and him playing poker, I don't think he'd come out on the short end playing poker at all. And if he did any of those things to excess it would be a problem, not which one he did.

[diablo]

Wow, there's some pretty insightful info here. It seems that the majority of the people here are fine with poker at a young age. I play about an hour and a half of online poker each day, and have just started playing micro-limits at party. I don't have the bankroll to play at a higher limit level like a poster earlier said, so as of now I can only afford sticking to micro-limits. Right now I don't think poker is going to consume my life, I still play videogames, go out with friends, play basketball, and manage to keep a nice GPA.

I plan to get a real job next summer when I am 16, but I will just be too busy during school and am not of legal age for becoming a waiter or whatever. As for the guy who posted about "TheSheath", it seems that he could be imposter but I have only read a few thread about him since I am too lazy.

[augie00]

It is very important that if you begin to play online now that you play with money you can afford to lose but more importantly FEEL COMFORTABLE losing. I started playing when I was 16, and with a full time job I could afford to lose a good amount of money playing online. Needless to say, when I started playing I DID lose, and losing turned me into a wreck. Losses like this are important to growing into a successful poker player and they are inevitable, however that doesn't make them any easier to deal with when you're 15 years old.

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.

Here are a few suggestions that will help you a great deal when you begin to play online:

-Designate a certain amount of money for poker a month, and under no circumstances deviate from that amount. If that means you can afford to lose $50 a month, you might be stuck at the .05/.10 or .25/.50 tables until you have the bankroll to move up. It will not only cut your losses but teach you necessary money management skills.

-Open your own bank account and register your own account online. Obviously, you'll have to lie about your age, but you should be responsible for your own money management. It's easier to learn the value of the money you're playing with if you have to deal with the funds yourself.

-Designate specific times for you to play. Designate yourself two hours on saturday or sunday morning, or maybe one weeknight a week, but if you just play on a whim you'll be playing far too often and it will take away from school.

Good luck, and don't let it get out of control.

[ZeeJustin]

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.