to early to teach my daughter how to play poker?

My oldest daughter is 13 years old. She asked me to teach her how to play. She already plays on facebook sometimes but she wants to learn how to play well. She is a smart girl and has a good head for math. I have found poker to be a great source for extra money and I think that skill could be beneficial for her when she becomes an adult. Now I am not suggesting letting her play for real money or anything and she is a 13 year old girl so emotions will affect her I am sure (of course this is a vital lesson in poker also) but I have faith she could become a good player. I know I wish I had someone to teach me when I was 13.

Up to you as the parent.

I remember a story recently in CardPlayer talking about a 6 year old girl who could already play pretty much every form of poker.

Her father used cards to help her learn to count, then to do math. Then just started teaching her the games.

I started teaching myself how to play poker around 14. Read my first poker book that year as well. Wish I had someone to teach me then as well.

from my experience, i learned how to play poker and generally gamble when i was very young, and at the age of 13 i was already spending all my pocket money on poker and bingo. i pretty much did the same thing in highschool, and even to this day i find it rather hard to control my gambling addiction and i blame it on the fact that i started playing poker and bingo at an age i should have been playing other game like hide and seek or football.

We have had many conversations on the difference between poker and gambling.

My father taught my brother and me to play around 9 and 10 years old. There was no hold em then, but we learned the draw and stud games and had fun playing with him.

i see nothing wrong in teaching a 13 year old cards for non gambling purposes. I also agree that for even younger children it can help with math. Plus the younger they start the more experience they'll get and be well ahead of others IF she decides to play for money once she's at the legal age.

Seems to me that as long as you focus on the math & the logic of poker, you will be fine. Parents assisting in the education of their kids is sort of the point.

If she's already playing on Facebook, sounds like it's going to happen with or without you. So you might as well pass your leaks on to the next generation
Seriously though, helping a 13-year old learn to think ahead, anticipate consequences, and improve decision-making seems pretty worthwhile to me.

Poker is just a game where chips are used to keep score. People can wager real money on backgammon, chess, gin rummy, sports, monopoly, pooh sticks or just about anything where the outcome is unknown. Handling one's money well (i.e. bankroll management) is completely different from learning to play a particular game. As for gambling on a game that you don't play well, I think Dirty Harry said it best:

"A man's got to know his limitations"

I have two boy's, 9 and 6 who are already learning to play chess and poker among other games. They get an allowance to help them learn about saving and delayed gratification, and eventually I plan to teach them about handling their money in other situations because I don't want to just send them out in the world trying to figure these things out for themselves. My general philosophy is that the sooner you start learning something, the better you are likely to be at it.

I see absolutely nothing wrong with it. I have started teaching Josh how to play and he is only 9.

I agree with the majority here. So long as your focus is on math and thought process(creative thinking and problem solving), it is ok. I would also make her plan out brm and what she will do with any winnings when she does start to play for real money.

Its pretty much up to your decesion, some parents say no and others allow it and teach it to their children. I personally would not allow it at 13 years old maybe a little older u should start teaching it because it can bring up some bad habits and sometimes can get her addicted to it.

dont you think 13 is a little bit young to let someone start playing for real money? dont bring her in to the world of gambling who knows what the out come could be

I would let her learn!
The problem is what you suggest to her if she should play or not.

If you just teach her when she asks you its okay in my opinion.

I play with my 7 year old. It's all about Daddy/daughter play time.
When one of us loses all of their chips, we start again, so it's not as if we're gambling.

Most kids boardgames are 100% luck. I guess they teach you to count the six spaces that the dice or spinner tell you to move, but otherwise it's all luck. Poker makes you think about hand values, and teaches you to conserve chips and use your resources wisely.

my oldest daughter is 17. she started watching on tv and learning the game around 7 years ago with the moneymaker effect. she would sit it on little side game trnys and starter trnys.. (5$ buyins) on poker night with the guys and win or 2nd consistently. over the years she has won a couple of relay for life charity trnys...couple seconds at some of our charity trnys and over the summer won a 40 person NLHE trny on a cruise she took with her mom. She got a medal and some special perks on the cruise for that. Like someone said before, you can gamble on pretty much anything now a days. i dont see where learning the game and knowing it, and knowing ur limits playing..ie the 5$ buyins, is such a problem. none of the guys she goes to school with will let her play at some of the parties now..which i find kinda funny cuz she whoops em at golf also. She can also hold her own with daddy any day of the week..which isnt saying much.=)

In my opinion the problem is what you suggest to her, when she is young you can easily affect her.
If you just teach her and play for fun its not a problem.
If you then let her play online and all that stuff , then now comes a problem.

She's already playing on FB -- where she will learn how to play poorly. Might as well help her get a real sense of how to play.

It would be best to focus on the other factors besides money. Math, stats, psychology, variety of strategies, emotional control. Bankroll management in the abstract as a factor contributing to emotional control. The reality of variance.

If you are going to play for something (to keep score), it should eventually be pennies or something that has value to her and you. Whatever it is, it should be something that is not unlimited. Might be interesting to play for chores once she starts getting the hang of it. If she wins a session, she doesn't have to do X. But if she loses, she also has to do X. The point of that will be to instill a sense of consequences. Skill/gambling games do have consequences for adults.

Keeping in mind that most of us, as teenagers only thought on a first level, the idea of getting a youngster to begin thinking a little deeper, and learning that there are consequences to their actions can not be seen in any way to be a negative thing.

You have a wonderful opportunity here. Not only can you guide her, you will prepare her for so many other aspects of life. She will have to learn patience, seldom a trait any teenager develops. She will have to develop a BRM frame of mind, which goes hand in hand with patience.

She will have to learn how to deal with bad beats which happen daily in real life.

The only thing you might really have to deal with is the potential for an addictive personality disorder to express itself. So concentrate maybe on the ethics involved with poker.

If you have read Super System, you know Doyle spends several pages describing the unsavory early days of his career. The things he had to endure are not common anymore, and I believe it is because the ethics involved in poker these days has gone way up. Teach her how to be a shark at the table but maintain a decent composure off the table.

Not to mention that you will be spending quality family or father daughter time with her, and she will carry that with her forever.

He clearly said it was not real money - and only dummies gamble at poker. He is teaching her how to play the game - not how to gamble.

teaching her to play how to play poker is fine,but id question her on facebook at a young age. chase the ace

I have a child with learning disabilities, and her school used poker games to help kids with memory tasks, learning how to pay attention to other people's reactions, and teaching a lot of basic math. The kids had fun and learned (the best way to get a lesson to "stick"). IMHO, teaching kids how to read a situation and react appropriately is useful for all aspects of life.

Finally, almost anything can be abused if it's taken to the extreme. Parenting is all about teaching our kids how to handle various situations and how to be smart and stay safe. Poker is just another way to do that.

Shame on you, extorting your child as a means of income.

Only joking mate

If she wants to learn then teach her, the younger you learn, the quicker you can grasp the fundamentals of the game and become a good player.

You want professional advice, PM Beau Akita & ask how old Snow was when she started teaching him to play.

I say go for it. One of my best memories as a kid was playing 7 card stud with my stepfather when I was only 9 or 10. Hell, I didn't even like the guy and it was fun. If he only could have taught me to play well.

As the mother of 4 daughters I wholeheartedly support you in teaching your daughter poker, especially at her critical age. In addition to what everyone else has said, poker is a great confidence builder and teenage girls are often filled with doubt about themselves no matter how "cool" they appear on the outside.

Even math aside, poker is a great way to teach your kids about some rather heady concepts like monetary value, patience, social skills, budgeting, fair play, etc....

Don't let anyone tell you your teaching her to gamble. In fact your probably doing her a service if you can prepare her for the demons that have hounded many poker players over the years.

oh..wait..i thought u were takling to me..lol

i love djs response..

I started playing Poker at the age of 14, got taught by my uncle. I'm 20 and he died on a Sunday morning almost 3 years ago and I'll always remember the last night he was alive, on a Saturday evening playing with him, my brother and my cousin around the kitchen table. I still play now and the things he taught me and the memories I have of us playing always help me and remind me. Teaching her, if you do it right, can't be a bad thing on both those levels- teaching her the fundamentals of good poker and having some wonderful memories of her Father.

I don't think there is any harm in teaching her how to play. I would proably even let her play like $6 sngs online. It's a good game to help you with algerbra (which I'm assuming she is taking in 8th grade)? Either way, I doubt a 13 year old girl will turn into a full blown degenerate,lol. I'd be more worried about a boy having trouble with understanding money at an early age.

No, it's not too early at all in my opinion. I wouldn't look at it as just about making money for when she's older. If she becomes a good player and makes money later on in life, then great. But think of the skills that can be acquired from learning to play poker; math, patience, money management, etc. These skills can be applicable to many things beyond just a game of cards, right?

From: Should We Teach Our Kids Poker?