What is the average age of an online poker player?

[blackmax]

24 i think ...anyway thats the age where kids are smart @$$ and think they know everything! Seriously poker is a young mans game that takes a strong mind to consistantly win.Im in my middle 30's and i feel like im as sharp as ever but the tables are getting younger and younger these days.

 

[Makwa]

How would this be accounted for? You can't just cancel them.

I don't know what you mean by this but there is no statistical significance in using a biased sample. Looking at the observations that are available may give us some idea of what the overall distribution is but we can't have that much more confidence in it than an educated guess.

No but you can make estimates, based on whatever data at hand. Talkin case study here, more validity than reliability.

Its a start and analytic model to work from. So make it a more highly educated guess, which is better than we have now LOL.

And qualitative (and anecdotal) data should be added to test hypotheses re underage, for example, et. al., including numbers from offshore if available (not).

 

[BLieve]

Fascinating. While I can understand your curiosity from a sociological or marketing point of view, I don't get the part about profiling the competition using that information. Are you thinking that poker prowess correlates with age in some way?

Why not write to support at individual sites, especially the big ones? Tell them you're doing a study or something. While you're at it, why not ask about the male/female ratio too? If nothing else, finding out whether they would release such stats would be interesting. You could also contact the various magazines and other poker news media.

No this is pure curiosity I can barely run through all the stats that I have and dont use. As for writing to the sites, that would be a great project but you will have to excuse this lazy bozo to pass that job onto someone else :embarasse

 

[LarkMarlow]

Oh well...I went for the long shot and here's what I got:

----- Original Message -----

To: support@pokerstars.com
Subject: Statistics about pokerstars members

>I was wondering whether you have a data base delineating the
>average/mean age and gender of the players at PokerStars. If so, are
>these statistics available to PokerStars members?
>
>Thanks in advance, as always,
>LarkMarlow

----- Response -----
Thank you for your email.
I am sorry but any statistical information relating to other players on PokerStars is not available to players at all. This is simply to remain within our privacy policy and any such information is used internally only.
I am sorry that we are not able to provide you with any information of the sort.
Please let us know if we can assist you in any other way.
Regards,
Leonard B
PokerStars Support Team
　

 

[M33K3R]

I would say around 20-25

 

[WurlyQ]

Based off of data under "Calendar". It's public data so I don't see any reason this shouldn't be allowed but if it is for whatever reason, mods can delete this.

Disclaimer: As I have stated before, I do not think this is representative of the whole online poker population in the least bit due to bias, potentially inaccurate source data, and a non random sample. This is more or less "just for fun".

 

[Makwa]

^^^^ Nice one, txs.

And it fits with the published number Orifice suggested, 23, modally at least.

Can we get gender breakdown? Location by country?

 

[blackmax]

around 23 i suppose.Thing is every year poker seems to get younger...and us males/females in our 30's are the new OLD FOLKS! Aint that a b!T$$

 

[BLieve]

Great find WurlyQ. I would say this is a semi accurate representation of poker regulars since they have taken the time to register on a poker site.

 

[luckforsome]

love to see the maximum is 108
but cant belive you published my age

 

[Makwa]

around 23 i suppose.Thing is every year poker seems to get younger...and us males/females in our 30's are the new OLD FOLKS! Aint that a b!T$$

Ya is a common occurrence... I teach at university and every year I go back, the students get younger... strange... I don't change but they keep getting younger...

 

[mom2girls98]

wow- I too would be considered an old fart at 40- I am surprised that a few think that the older you are the less you know about computers. This is not true- in fact I can remember in the 70's when computers where just a black screen with flashing letters until you ran your program! haha!

regardless of age I think it is great to play with a mix of people-
good luck e.

 

[Poker Orifice]

Hmm..... maybe a letter to bluff Mag to see where they got their data from when giving their estimate of 23yrs. old (this was for 'online' poker).

 

[zjohnzzz]

i that the avg age will increase over time, baby boomers aging, more free time ie... , and when online poker becomes (legal sort of speak)

 

[joker131]

have a look at CC league . notice the better players , middle to older ages, dont want to put a spanner in the works but the younger players cant get a look in. should we have a cc game 10 to 30 years V 30 to 60 years, what a laugh...............joker131

 

[gomango]

Im a 27 year old online poker player going on 50 and so on love the game. As we all do.

 

[gns2003]

I read through this thread and there seemed to me to be a variable missing from the study. You are querying the average age of the online poker universe, when in fact the question I heard many people asking was, what is the mean/median/mode age of the players they would be facing in a poker hand. In order to answer that question you have to know more than the age distribution of those who have accounts (whether on CC or at FTP or PS etc). You need to consider how often the player plays. I would estimate based on anecdotal evidence that a 21 year old player plays more hands than someone in their 30s given likelihood of other time commitments. To further break this down, you might want to focus on the level of stakes and whether you want to answer the question for MTTs vs SNGs vs cash tables.
I find the questions fascinating to consider, but in my line of work a large part of the job is defining the exact question being explored. It does not seem that focusing solely on average registered age gets at the underlying question, at least for most members on this thread.

 

[WurlyQ]

I read through this thread and there seemed to me to be a variable missing from the study. You are querying the average age of the online poker universe, when in fact the question I heard many people asking was, what is the mean/median/mode age of the players they would be facing in a poker hand. In order to answer that question you have to know more than the age distribution of those who have accounts (whether on CC or at FTP or PS etc). You need to consider how often the player plays. I would estimate based on anecdotal evidence that a 21 year old player plays more hands than someone in their 30s given likelihood of other time commitments. To further break this down, you might want to focus on the level of stakes and whether you want to answer the question for MTTs vs SNGs vs cash tables.
I find the questions fascinating to consider, but in my line of work a large part of the job is defining the exact question being explored. It does not seem that focusing solely on average registered age gets at the underlying question, at least for most members on this thread.

Why not throw in game type played, hour of day, and number of tables played simultaneously while you're at it... It will be near impossible to obtain any sort of significant amount of data to sample from due to site privacy policy as well as inaccurate data provided from those that are under-aged or are legally misrepresenting their age for whatever reason. Any sort of data obtained aside from the sites will be biased even aside from inaccurate data.

If you want to go deeper, having the knowledge of the "age distribution of a poker player" at any given table is useless for player type profiling (distribution is more informative than mean/median/mode which basically describes the distribution minus standard deviation, skew, and kurtosis). I mean, what are you going to do with an expected age? Given no other information, your opponent is likely to be male and in their 20s but could be <15 or >60 with about 10% probability (made those numbers up). Does this mean they will be more likely to tilt / more aggressive? That is some seriously flawed use of player profiling and just using HUD stats is so much more reliable.

Understanding intent and defining the exact question being asked is good if you want to obtain statistically significant results. However, when we are unable to obtain useful data and the result never helping our game at the tables, adding variables unnecessarily over-complicates the original question which was "What is the average age of an online poker player?"

Sorry, I'm pretty anal about statistics because it is so often misused (not saying you do).

 

[gns2003]

I would prefer not to be talked down to about statistics, thank you. In any case we can leave this discussion in the realm of many other barroom conversations along with "how many angels dance on a pin" or "whether Elvis was really an alien". It just seemed to me that several people were looking to be able to use this information somehow in a practical manner. I'm sure we all agree that knowing the statistical distribution of online poker players does not help in beating any one game at any particular point in time. There are at most 9 other individuals at your table at any time and we need to focus on those players in the hands we face them.

Much luck on the virtual felt to all of you. Peace.

 

[Richard Jeffries]

The average age is definitely higher (late 20s?) because of the popularity among middle-aged men and women in their 30s. But I know the UIGEA supporters often claimed that there were a huge number of 15-18-year-olds that never featured in the official stats.

 

[tpb221]

Dam, I remember using punch cards-no screen.


Avg age of online oiker player-23yrs old.

 

[dweezel]

My guess .....USA about 18 ...Euro ..... 28

 

[AUPhoenix]

Average Age

Well, if it is a male in his mid to late twenties. Who the hell is doing all the work is this country? I am 52, last month, I play a couple of hours several nights a week and 5 to 6 hours each day of the weekend.

I play on Full Tilt and have a full list of people who I watch constantly. These people are always on line playing. 6 or 8 tourneys a day, every day. Do most of the people playing on line have real jobs or I am playing against people who are trying to make a living doing this?

 

[damon789]

Im 37 this year so glad to be representing the higher end of the median

 

[Riceman1681]

average age of online poker player

So I read the previous posts on the forum regarding this and they cracked me up. Either I'm getting old or the young'uns are laughably arrogant in their ideas that the average age is 22-25 which seems to be the majority consensus. Listen up newb(ab)ies, poker was being played long before you were a twinkle in your father's father's father's grandfather's eye. And its not just the young who have "computer skills" either. I read the results of a survey which seemed much more likely to me, which stated that the average online player is male and 35. I work with guys in their 50's who are avid players, and I'm certain there's dudes far older than this who enjoy a whiskey, cigar, and game of a weekend. The average age in time is for sure guaranteed to rise, as the "poker boom" 'ers age. And what comes with age? Experience. I for one am looking at poker as a way to support my pension. I can't freakin wait matey! It makes me laugh that everyone hails the "new generation" of "up n'comers". Sure, they might have a lot of experience cos they've been computter savvy since knee high and were playing illegally before coming of age. But its not the "young mind" that assures their success, in poker the thing I, for one, value and respect is experience (partnered with intelligence). I'm 37 btw.