Mob Psychology and the Urban Legend

[RydenStoompala]

One of the hottest new urban legends is the "19-year-old kid from down the street who is up a million playing online poker."

A year ago I would hear about them now and then. This week, I heard three different stories about enormous runs in online poker. Obviously there are hundreds or thousands of teenagers out there with six and seven figure bankrolls. It's seldom anyone over 20, never a girl and always "a friend of someone I know" or "my neighbor's kid's roommate at university" or something like that.

One of this week's was typical. Guy tells me that his neighbor's son needed a stockbroker because he had some money to invest from online poker. The broker (a myserious person from an unknown firm) met the kid "as a favor to his dad" and was amazed when he discovered this 19-year-old (the mandatory urban legend age) had $780 thousand to invest! This time I knew the person he was talking about, who did indeed have a kid who plays online and has indeed done well, boosting his account to nearly $7 thousand in about a year. I think he started with about $500, maybe less.

I estimate that by the time the legend comes back around, the kid will be up $70 million. He's not 19. He's 23. He's not a "math genious," he's a fine arts grad (unemployed).Oh ya...he has $30 thousand or so in student loans to pay down. And he's living in his dad's basement.

...but facts would ruin the story.