[bruin]

I'm probably gonna get flamed for this, but whatever. I'm 18 years old and going to start college this fall, btw.
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My parents seriously think that I am a degenerate who is "out of control" as my mom put it. I've tried and tried to explain poker to them in the past and they know that I'm a winning player or whatever, but despite this fact they think I'm obsessed and that I have no bearing of the real world (this couldn't be further from the truth). I get in about 25 hours of poker a week during the summer, which really isn't that much.

Here's the letter (I'm pretty damn proud of this, actually)
Feel free to use this as a letter to your parents if you're in a similar situation, changing what you need to change to make it suitable for your situation.
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Dear Mom and Dad,

I decided to write you this letter in hopes of explaining my feelings about poker, seeing as trying to explain in person obviously won’t work. I hope you appreciate my attempt to clear up this issue with as least conflict and noise as possible. Here goes.

My life kicks ass right now. It kicks ass because of two main things: the fact that I can drive, and poker. Obviously, I’m here to talk about the latter.

First off, we need to establish that there is not ONE THING in this world that I can do to make more money per hour at this point in my life… and probably at least for the next few years of my life. If I am able to study and turn myself into a great player, it wouldn’t be out of the question for me to make 100 or even 200 dollars an hour. I’ve always been an ambitious person when I set my mind to something, so I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m making this kind of money within the next year. But that’s a whole other issue, and it’s dumb for me to count my eggs before they hatch.

But like I said, I can not make this kind of money anywhere else. Let’s not forget the fact that I’m basically playing a game while getting paid. Instead of watching television for hours a day like MOST kids my age, I play a mentally challenging and rigorous game for a few hours a day, doing something productive while saving money for my future. I mean, what else do you expect me to do? Save the world, adopt children? If I wasn’t playing poker, I would be sitting on my ass doing something unproductive. You want me to work or get an internship in future years, that’s perfectly fine. I understand that these things are necessary for resume building and future contacts. I know how things work. I’d be fine with working 20 hours a week during the summer somewhere. I’d still be able to get plenty of time for poker in at the same time so it’s not an issue. Something like 40 hours really pushes it. How am I supposed to save money for my car if I’m working at some 8 dollar an hour job? I hope you realize that most kids in my situation have mommy and daddy BUY their car. These kids aren’t rich, nor are we. But we have money and are relatively well off. I’m not saying you should buy me a car, because you shouldn’t, and these kids’ parents shouldn’t either. But how the hell am I supposed to buy my car making 8 dollars an hour? Poker is my solution to this problem.

Let me basically summarize what poker is and what it has done for me: IF YOU READ ANY PART OF THIS LETTER, PLEASE READ THESE FIVE STATEMENTS

1) Poker is a mentally challenging game which incorporates aspects of game theory, statistics, general arithmetic, probability and general gambling theory.

2) Poker has taught me money management skills (bankroll discipline), strengthened my psychological fortitude, improved my personal discipline and helped my logic and critical thinking skills.

3) Poker has taught me how to manage my time. I’ve been playing poker online for much of the past year yet my grades didn’t falter one bit. Yes, you can call me a lazy ass and say that I spend all my time playing poker, but this simply isn’t true. I just don’t do useless and unproductive things such as watching television (something that 90% of kids my age waste time doing).

4) Poker has given me the ability to bolster my social life and to experience things I wouldn’t/won’t be able to without it. I wouldn’t have gone to the UCLA games in Oakland without poker; those two games are something I will NEVER forget for the rest of my life. I wouldn’t have bought my skim board without poker. Money lets me relax and have a good time with my friends.

5) Just like anything else, poker takes hard work. There’s no magic formula. Yes, you must be relatively intelligent (even this could be disputed), but it’s like a lot of other things in life. You must have the talent and the drive. I think that I have both; now it’s just time for me to put in the hours and get results.

To conclude, poker has improved and hopefully will continue to improve my life exponentially. As you may have noticed, with poker, my social life has not gotten worse, but rather it has improved drastically. Even a few people I know have marveled at how I juggle school and poker while maintaining a VERY healthy social life and told me how they respect and admire me for what I do. True, I am no socialite, but I’m much better than how I used to be.

I am not obsessed with the game (I probably was at one point when I first started playing), nor do I want to make it my vocation. It’s just a serious hobby that improves my life in every facet. Chess can be a much more addictive and obsessive game because of the dynamics of the game itself, yet for some reason poker has a much worse image (media, etc).

I do not think poker is morally wrong. The people I’m playing against are trying to take my money just as bad as I’m trying to take theirs…Like the old mantra says: “you play with matches and you get burnt.“ I also plan on donating a small portion of my winnings, to remind myself of the outside world and how I can contribute to it for the time being. Of course, I will pay taxes with money from poker, too.

After reading this, if you still consider my situation to be “out of control” as mom put it, then I just give up. There’s no point in trying to convince you any further if you guys still don’t understand at this point.

Have a nice day,

Jack