teaching poker to a kid

I have a cousin who loves to see me playing poker and he is always asking when will I teach him to play. He is still very young (14) but he really wants to start playing. I am thinking about giving him some lessons, and first I will let him play free money for a month, to see if he can double or triple chips. I know the best way is to give him some books to read, but I don’t know if I can catch is attention to the books. He doesn’t like to study (anyone does?), perhaps he will like to read poker books. What do you say? Whats the best way for me to iniciate him to poker?

I would say breaking out a deck of cards will be easier to teach him at least the basics and hand rankings. It will make it much easier when he ventures into play money online.

I have spent a little time teaching a 9 year old. I let him play sng's on play money tables. Just let him play and give him tips while you watch.

Tell him no, poker has ruined my youth.

I taught my son to play and shortly afterwards we were playing with a few others in an evening tourney. I had A9 spades and with 2 spades on the flop he led out and I called. Another spade on the turn completed my flush and I was actually hoping he would just check as I didn't want to bust him. He bet small and I just called hoping he would give up on the river. Another spade on the river and he really bet big.

What to do? Do I bust my son? What sort of father does that when his kid is just learning the game?

So patronising me just calls and starts to tick him off for his play.

He turns over a straight flush.............

Son 1 Embarrassed dad 0

Lol tangerine soul read on your part IMO

I began playing poker at the age of 5 (might've been '4'). Most of my family played poker... ie. get togethers, holidays, Sunday dinners, even with my Great Grandmother... "Ok.. lets get the cards out!" (& the games would begin, lol). My Mom taught me how to play... her favourite part of the game > "bluffing" (I try to convince her to come play online these days but she's never broken down & gotten onto or into the interwebzz & cyberspace.. she does like listening to poker stories though, lol).

I think it'd be fun to teach a kid to play poker (if they actually wanted to learn the game). As far as 'reading books' (who'd want to?).... I think if a beginner is introduced to the 'right book(s)' they might even enjoy them/it (this is if they're actually into learnin' the 'pokerzz').

Playing poker with family as a kid brings back alot of good memories for me - - it was a cool thing to do while socializing with the family.

well i would say no....i know that we love that game but it's still something like vice....for me playing poker is like having some fun but for some people it could have a really bad impact,it may cause some health damage as well...so don't get me wrong now but it's about your cousin,don't act like it's about learning him to play football :/

My step grandfather taught my cousins and I how to play when I was about 9, maybe younger. I was the oldest out of the 4 cousins, with my sister being the youngest and 4 years younger than I. We never played for real money or anything, but we did have chips and it was always dealer choice. He taught us nlhe,draw, 5 and 7 card stud, omaha, and i think we taught him indian poker(lol). we just learned basic strategy like don't chase inside str8's, and stuff like that, but nothing too advanced, as we were so young. It was a great time and I don't believe there is anything wrong with teaching a kid how to play poker, or any card game. You don't necessarily have to teach them how to gamble, you could just play without chips. I'd suggest playing live poker with them as opposed to try and teach them how to play through online poker tho, but that's just my opinion. If they ask about gambling i would tell them that that is something adults do, and when they turn 18 they can do what they want.
Out of the four of us who all learned how to play poker before age nine, 1 is a biologist, one an engineer, one an accountant, and than there's me the oldest... i'm the only one who didn't go to a university lol, and poker had nothing to do with that.

sryImPro said:

well i would say no....i know that we love that game but it's still something like vice....for me playing poker is like having some fun but for some people it could have a really bad impact,it may cause some health damage as well...so don't get me wrong now but it's about your cousin,don't act like it's about learning him to play football :/

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I look at it more like 'learning to play chess'... but I guess 'it depends' on what people's motivation is for playing poker. I also think it is(was) a cool thing to do to socialize with friends & family (& 'yes', we ALWAYS played for money.... but you could play 'tourney-style' & put other prizes up for the win... ie. loser does the dishes).

Marginal said:

Tell him no, poker has ruined my youth.

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+1

Not everyone can handle poker. I started when I was fairly young (15-16ish) and just played "for fun". I lost quite a bit of money when I turned 18 by playing online before I figured out BRM and things like that. I make money on poker now, but its not for everyone. It really isn't a good idea to teach gambling to kids at such a young age. At 14 you can really influence a kid and get him addicted to gambling. If you teach him now I can almost guarantee he will be grabbing a credit card in 2-3 years and will start losing money online.

And even if he wins, he misses an opportunity to be young.

I played my first poker at nine with my father in a nickel dime game at the farm. When i was eleven my dad told me i was now playing with my own money. lost it all and did not play for 50 years.

I'm new around here but having a 8yr old daughter that wants to play I would lean to the side of treating it the same as I do alcohol. When your 18 you can drink so thats when you can start to gamble.
Its a personal choice, but with gambling ruining so many lives I think you have to be a lot wiser which comes with age.
I do guess there's the flip side were if you teach them self control and how to play reasonably from an early age they may know better when they are 18.

I remember when I was 13 or 14, me and my mates would play poker using matchsticks as chips with a poker book permanently open on the page that showed which hands beat which hands. It was a lot of fun despite none of us really knowing why we were betting or bluffing etc. If I were teaching poker to a kid, I'd start out with a real deck of cards and walk them through the basics. Then I'd let them watch me play online so they could see the lessons in a real context. If after all of that they were still interested, then I'd point them in the direction of books and videos. As long as the parents of the kid didn't mind them learning poker, then it could be fun and it might also make the teacher explore some ideas they might have forgotten over the years!

Marginal said:

Tell him no, poker has ruined my youth.

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If not pokerz, woulda just been somethin else.

tjharper23 said:

I have a cousin who loves to see me playing. He is still very young (14) but he really wants to start playing. I am thinking about giving him some lessons, What do you say?

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First I say, check with your Aunt and Uncle to see they want their minor son taught to gamble. And if they have no problem with it, definitely start with cards.

What do you mean he is still very young? he is 14. He is becoming an adult and teaching him poker should be very easy. I mean jesus he isnt 5!

If you want to give him something to read, have him join sites like this, get him a subscription for bluff and Card Player, and set him up with a cardrunners account. Then have some weekly tutoring sessions after he's studied the game for a few months and help him work out his bugs. Then, every 6 months or so, have him take a poker quiz, like the ones on Full Tilt Academy, or pokerstars's Poker School, or donkeytest.com. If he continues to improve then get him some more complex education tools and set him up with an online account so he can get 7 years worth of complex play under his belt until he can go to the wsop, and who knows, maybe he'll be the next world champ and have you to thank.

Potheadwoman said:

What do you mean he is still very young? he is 14. He is becoming an adult and teaching him poker should be very easy. I mean jesus he isnt 5!

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I'll try not to rant but I have always had very strong views on how we as a society increasingly forceing adulthood on our youth at an ever earlier stage.

I think its important to let kids enjoy their youth. The fact that they want to do the "Adult stuff", and they all do, is irrelevant. Thats why we are the parents. Its our jobs to be "parents" not "best friends".

Girls suffer the most in this genre the most with sexuality pressure forced on them at an ever earlier stage.

<<<< stepping off box

I gotta go with dont teach them... I see it almost like smoking. Its a bad habit to learn and hard to stop once you do. I wouldnt want to be the one to teach a kid a bad habit. And lets be honest, gambling is a bad habit

d44ve said:

...gambling is a bad habit

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...so do you think the same is true for poker also?

megl said:

...so do you think the same is true for poker also?

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Nice, even still... it doesnt matter how good you are, its still gambling

Poker Orifice said:

I look at it more like 'learning to play chess'... but I guess 'it depends' on what people's motivation is for playing poker. I also think it is(was) a cool thing to do to socialize with friends & family (& 'yes', we ALWAYS played for money.... but you could play 'tourney-style' & put other prizes up for the win... ie. loser does the dishes).

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well you have right about that....if you want to gamble you will play chess for money or something else....so the point is to explain to a kid how hard could be to play for cash,like some1 said here not everyone can handle poker or any gambling game as well...and i like that part "loser does the dishes",that could be a nice motivation not to lose

dont teach young old how to play poker dont get them hooked earky on that he will think that is normal to gamble it aint normal the game of poker is a game that killes the heart and make your self detached from your omation why would you do that to 9 or 10 year
dont get them hokked and when they grown up they will choose for them self