Legal way to teach a minor online poker?

Hi. I have a 14 year old neighbor, very bright kid, advanced student, very interested in cards and he wants me to teach him poker.

His parents are Ok with this, as long as everything we do is perfectly legal (including terms of use on websites).

I know even for play money he cannot play on websites like pokerstars etc until he is 18. Are there any other gaming formats that would be legal for him to learn the game mechanics? are there online "poker clubs" and what not that openly allow minors to join and play for play chips?

I think it is pretty awesome his parents are willing to let him learn from you, and even sweeter is his wanting to learn at age 14. I have tried to google some stuff and can't seem to find any site without age requirements.. Maybe try a poker App? I'm sure there are plenty of them in the itunes store and andriod markets. That's about all I can come up with, right now. Maybe zynga? Never played there (not a play chip fan) so mot sure if there is an age requirement.. But figure it might be worth looking into. Best of luck in mentoring the next Stu Ungar (minus the addiction issues.)

missjacki said:

Hi. I have a 14 year old neighbor, very bright kid, advanced student, very interested in cards and he wants me to teach him poker.

His parents are Ok with this, as long as everything we do is perfectly legal (including terms of use on websites).

I know even for play money he cannot play on websites like pokerstars etc until he is 18. Are there any other gaming formats that would be legal for him to learn the game mechanics? are there online "poker clubs" and what not that openly allow minors to join and play for play chips?

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well i must first say i dont support this(his parents esp) but best you can get is zynga.... altho play money vs real money is miles away as you know,but for some basics its ok....
what i would do... is to create account on some minor and unknown site.... and teach him there with fake account... when you are done be sure not to make loads of money there something like pokermira or similar

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whats about zynga, from fb??

did you guys try that out??
idk what's age limit over there

magicius said:

well i must first say i dont support this(his parents esp) but best you can get is zynga.... altho play money vs real money is miles away as you know,but for some basics its ok....
what i would do... is to create account on some minor and unknown site.... and teach him there with fake account... when you are done be sure not to make loads of money there something like pokermira or similar

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Why?? whats wrong with it??
I see no problem teaching a minor how to play poker and showing him the right way to handle money vs pissing 1000s away from not knowing how to play.

His parents are Ok with this, as long as everything we do is perfectly legal (including terms of use on websites).

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Ask starts on their play money tables, since it's not real money they might say it's ok.

Ofc they wont say it is ok to let child gamble.... It is illegal...

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magicius said:

Ofc they wont say it is ok to let child gamble.... It is illegal...

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Playing with fake money is not gambling. But, I see no point in asking Stars, which I assume he meant, they won't allow it.

Zynga poker is probably the way to go.

Let him play for play money on your account Jacki, and teach him like that, only problem with that is the all in monkeys that play play money games but if you persist you might find some play money players that take it seriously.



EDIT:

Or better still let him watch you play and explain to him what and why you are doing what you do.




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suit2please said:

Playing with fake money is not gambling. But, I see no point in asking Stars, which I assume he meant, they won't allow it.

Zynga poker is probably the way to go.

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i meant about stars

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when I was a 14 year old boy ...I would've learned to knit if my female math teacher was willing to spend time with me...

I see nothing wrong with letting him play your personal real account while you are there watching him. But I may be a bad example as I will sometimes let my 12 year old nephews sit on my lap and drive my car.

is it legal? no. Do I care much? probably as much as I care about driving 56 miles an hour in a 55 mile an hour speed zone. But that is me...

And, if you are dealing with another person's kid, well then I guess you will be the blame if the proverbial shit ever hits the proverbial fan.

I'd do it with my own nephews and kids.....not with someone not related though....but again, that's me

punctual said:

I see nothing wrong with letting him play your personal real account while you are there watching him. But I may be a bad example as I will sometimes let my 12 year old nephews sit on my lap and drive my car.

is it legal? no. Do I care much? probably as much as I care about driving 56 miles an hour in a 55 mile an hour speed zone. But that is me...

And, if you are dealing with another person's kid, well then I guess you will be the blame if the proverbial shit ever hits the proverbial fan.

I'd do it with my own nephews and kids.....not with someone not related though....but again, that's me

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I think the closest thing you may get to legal is CLUBWPT. You pay a $25 fee per month to play in unlimited tournaments for real money. The fine line is such that clubwpt is even offered to US players in a completely legal fashion.

So maybe you can let him play a clubwpt account while you watch over him. Its not technically a real money account but you can win real money prizes. This is still probably illegal but seems to be closer to the doing 56 mph in a 55 mph zone scenario than letting the kid play your real money account.

I think that all the suggestions on here so far are illegal. Minors cannot (legally) join the 'regular' poker sites, although I have encountered self-confessed underage players on some of them.

So far as Zynga, or whatever it is called, is concerned, it matters little what their age limit is, surely local laws still apply regarding age for gambling/gaming.

The only thing I can think of is, as someone suggested, letting him watch as you play whilst you explain the whats and whys. Occasionally asking him what to do but doing the playing yourself.

Even then you might fall foul of the 'contributing to the delinquency of a minor' type of laws, not legally competent to say for certain.

Whatever you do, don't teach him too well though or in a few years you will find a very difficult opponent.

Henry Minute said:

I think that all the suggestions on here so far are illegal...

So far as Zynga, or whatever it is called, is concerned, it matters little what their age limit is, surely local laws still apply regarding age for gambling/gaming.

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Not sure how playing Zynga poker would be illegal, or even considered gambling. Unless I am confused as to what it is. Zynga poker is play money / fake money (not an actual poker site, its like facebook poker) therefore not gambling. Im guessing maybe you're confused, but it might be me.

As far as the comments about letting him play your account, I believe this would be against the TOS (* Even pokerstars.net the play money only site is 18+ only). Letting him watch you seems the only way to show real money games. Im guessing but I would think even sites such as ClubWPT would have age limits.

Of course better yet train on play money because if you create an account on a website that then will be very painful to lose money.

Zynga is perfectly legal for pretty much all ages, it's a Facebook game and anyone old enough for Facebook is old enough for zybga. Although can you really call it poker

Other options might include flash games online against AI that can be beaten by making a big bet every hand and it will only call with the stone nuts. Or just teaching him yourself.

Pfft, where is the fun in doing stuff the legal way? Winners break the law name one winner who hasn't broken a law.. You can't =p

Nothing wrong in teaching a kid how to gamble / play poker. I wish I would have learned poker when I was 14

I don't know what it is about people thinking that the day some one turns 18 or 21 they are now morale able to gamble and drink but a day before is horribly horrific..

Does he want to learn online poker or just poker? I would find some home games for him to play in for pennies and have him watch some HSP or PAD or The Big Game. Play some HU matches against him online and or live have him read some poker books MAKE him learn BRM.

Legal < illegal winners are to cool to follow the rules. Look at Obama openly admits to have smoked pot (illegal) President of the United States. Arnold (not even going to try to spell his last name) openly admits to using steroids, (illegal) Governor of California. Phil Ivey openly admits to underage gambling at land based casinos. Best poker player in the world.

ummm

Disclaimer: I or Cardschat are not responsible for any terrible advice I give follow at your OWN risk.

Possibly a crazy idea... but have you thought of doing it the old fashioned way with chips, cards and a kitchen table?

If you're starting from the start it's not like you need to be multitabling or anything.

Just don't tell anyone or make a forum post about it lol jk but seems like fb poker is as good as it gets

No fb poker is not right way
.. Kid will learn all things wrong... Who raises 3bb on zynga? Shove with J9o cause you have trillion chips?
If u rly want kid to learn something make account on minor site and that pretty much it.... Its not legal but its only way.....

@s3mper. Like we didnt know schwartzeneger used steroids and obama was high i bet obama was main dealer back then :-D

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He wants to learn poker in general. Not necessarily online. We have had 2 kitchen table sessions so far. But honestly, I don't have that kind if time to show him everything in real time. I work 40 hours, I'm a mom and I want to go play poker for real.

So, I want to use some type of "digital" poker to build his volume of hands he's seen so that when we have our "sessions" he will have a knowledge base to build off and thousands of hands of experience.

Also, I don't see how playing for fake money is in the least bit illegal. It's not gambling if you're risking nothing. The fact that cards are involved doesn't make it gambling, it is the presence of currency that makes it gambling. Otherwise go fish, war and rummy would be illegal for minors to play too.

I think we'll look into zynga. Thanks guys!

It's not that it is illegal I think they are just saying that it is against some sites TOS (by sites I mean real money game pokersites) but I don't know.. and Go-Fish would be illegal for minors the way I play it.. =)

Like I said before get him some books let him read and understand the game before trying to drop him in the deep end of the pool with advanced check raising moves that no one at Zynga will understand.

I think play money is a great way to learn the basics of the game and get a feel for it but I think you can only advance so far using play money. So starting him out on play money will be great but it won't be the solution till he turns 18.

play against him HU on a pokersite lol you can even bring the laptops to the kitchen table you get the volume of hands you want while being able to play against him. =)

Well zynga is ok i guess for basics...
Hand rankings,odds etc...
Hey i started with similar site i think its called gamedesire you should check it out,it has tons of games even tourneys! All for fake moneyz....
I played pool before and than i stumbled on texas holdem on that site and thats how i got addicted
Interface is great and opponents are much better than zynga...


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